The Guild DFIC Dubai

ARCHER HUMPHRYES ARCHITECTS Reveals Dubai’s largest hospitality venue, The Guild, DIFC

Set in the landmark ICD Brookfield Place in Dubai’s financial district, DIFC. The Guild redefines dining, drinking, and entertaining with multiple independent experiences; taking guests on an anticipatory and exhilarating journey through a ‘formal garden’, inspired by the different acts of a theatre play. Dubai restauranteur, Tom Arnel, approached Archer Humphryes with the unique dining concept brought to life.

Each section has its own menu, ambiance, and service, with interior architecture defining each experience and providing a unifying identity and theatre. Social spaces sit amid avenues of trees, terracotta pathways, timber structures, a rockpool, and open fires – while tucked in cosy corners are secret garden-like intimate spaces.

Working in Dubai, the client was adamant that the design would be indigenous to the city and not be a replica of themed restaurants that have been developed or brought from elsewhere. The nature of the site, the enormous volume and the expression of the structure and services that support the Brookfield Tower, were retained through the design and are felt by each guest from entering in every part of the project. The individual spaces were developed architecturally with the idea of a garden landscape or implied spaces rather than complete finished buildings and can be found in the charm and individual character of the external rooms that comprise many English gardens.