Golf Course & the Coming Mall

Tee Time!


Golfers have hit the greens of Al Hamra. For the rest of us, the completed greens make for a beautiful backdrop. (21 July 2007)


The Golf Club is open and reportedly has 80 members signed up. I presume the first 9 holes are open, with the remaining to come online later. Even as temperatures soared past 40°C eager golfers plied the beautiful new course. For those interested, the Golf Club offers 3 levels of membership: Classic, Country & Recreational with individual annual fees ranging from 3000-9000 AED. (Info at alhamragolf.com.)


The golf hills, green and sand as seen from the Al Hamra Fort Hotel townhouses. The course is lit-up with floodlights until about 9 p.m. I guess all the light posts count as additional hazards!


One of several water hazards and the Golf Apartments in the background.


The new Al Hamra Place Hotel separated from the golf links by an internal road. The planned 7-star hotel is slated for a 2008 opening--give or take a year... or two.


The greens are separated from the row of freehold villas and townhouses by the lagoon.


Golfers (below) make use of carts to travel the pathways, in the 40°C heat. The Al Hamra Fort hotel, in the distance, marks the end of the course.


The Golf Apartments border one side of the links.


In the line of fire of bad swings?


A row of freehold townhouses (below) also borders one end of the course.

21 June 2007 article: RAK golf gets profile boost

Reserve a tea time online
 
Al Hamra Mall


The shopping mall stretches for a half-kilometer or so and clearly has a long way to go before completion. The concave wall appears to be part of the main entrance.


Coats of paint of differing colors have already been applied to varying sections of the complex. I don't know whether these will be the final colors--hopefully not! The architecture, nonetheless, is attractive and well-suites the overall theme of the larger development.


The mall as seen from the rear side, opposite the Golf Apartments.


Behind the concave entry way is a large open rotunda. Impossible to capture in a single frame, this expansive hall forms an impressive centerpiece with escalators at the head of the two wings that extend in either direction.


Workers finish tasks or mill about as the end of the day shift approaches.
 
The Golf Apartments


The evening sun casts a warm glow on the Golf Apartments, some already complete with residents having moved in. One wonders, however, why these were designed in such an uninspiring urban style more suited to Karama (a fading mid-income residential district of old Dubai), rather than in the beautiful Arabic-classic style of other Al Hamra structures.


Oddly, an underground passage sits, juxtaposed between a couple of Golf Blocks and near the golf course. With a matching ramp in the opposite direction only a few meters to the side and beyond this one, it doesn't appear that the tunnel goes under anything of note--??


Construction of the Golf Apartments pool appears to be complete, although not yet filled with water. One wonders, however, whether any greenery will be applied to the complex. Unfortunately with its simple rectangular design, full-concrete covering and concrete walls all around, the complex again looks more suited to an urban environment than a resort community.


Uninspireing design notwithstanding, the pool itself appears to be constructed of the same quality of materials as the nearby Fort hotel's pools.