A partner with Turkish firm Tabanlioglu – the architects behind Crystal Towers at Dubai’s JBR – has said that ‘Dubai phase II’ will be interesting, clever and focussed on the needs of residents.

Speaking to Big Project Middle East during Cityscape, Melkan Tabanlioglu, said the new projects coming online would benefit from the lessons learnt during the pre-2008 boom.

“I think the second phase of Dubai will be very interesting for all the developers and architects. Before development was all around the city and there were a lot of projects, sometimes visible sometimes not visible, sometimes things aren’t full.

“But the second phase will have more visible projects that are built to budget, occupied and are clever. And clever doesn’t just mean the green buildings, but it will ask who the end users are,” she explained of her prediction.

“We are making architecture and sculptures but they are social sculptures; there is life inside,” Tabanlioglu added.

Speaking specifically about the Crystal Towers development – a twin tower project built on the beach opposite the existing Jumeirah Beach Residence and The Walk – Tabanlioglu added: “In our philosophy we always focus to create a location.”

The project has come under scrutiny from residents in the are who are concerned about congestion and access issues, however in response Tabanlioglu said that a full press conference will be held “not so far from today”, during which all concerns will be addressed.

It is the firm’s first GCC project and one Tabanlioglu describes as “the product of nine years of work”. The firm’s portfolio includes Astala Stadium in Kazakhstan and Sapphire Tower, Istanbul, the world’s 15th highest building.