Luxury Retail & Commercial Office Fit-Out
Al Khaznah Leathers Nation Towers
A high-end turnkey design and build retail gallery and HQ office fit-out for Al Khaznah Leathers, seamlessly delivered inside a premium working mall in Abu Dhabi in 12 weeks.
The finished project
See the luxury space, completed.
Al Khaznah Leathers has been producing premium camel leather since 2003, originally founded by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. This strategic location in Nation Towers serves as the brand's flagship branch, doubling as the corporate HQ offices directly behind the public gallery floor. It also proudly houses EBL, one of the group's sister luxury leather brands.
Arcave delivered the complete 650-square-meter unit as a turnkey commercial interior design and build package within an aggressive 12-week timeline. The footprint was strategically split between a striking 200-square-meter retail showroom at the front and 450 square meters of highly functional operational offices at the back. The brief required two distinct spaces that functioned as two separate business arms while sharing one premium address.
The Challenge
A raw shell with unusable services, strict mall criteria, and conflicting operating schedules
The unit was handed over as a raw shell and core, burdened with obsolete MEP services left by the previous tenant. Recognizing the poor condition of the existing infrastructure, Arcave initiated a completely fresh MEP integration across the floor plate. Concurrently, Nation Towers mall management enforced rigorous shopfront design criteria, which had to be flawlessly executed without compromising the client’s vision for showcasing premium leather products.
Logistically, the retail gallery needed to operate seamlessly into the late evening, while the corporate offices adhered to standard business hours. These two zones had to feel entirely separate to walking customers. Furthermore, all demolition, fit-out, and MEP installations had to be completed within the mall's non-negotiable 12-week window, restricting major construction and material loading strictly to night shifts.
Arcave's Solution
Precision lighting, strategic zoning, and genuine camel leather architectural cladding
Because leather tone and grain degrade under poor lighting, the gallery's lux levels and high-CRI fixtures were meticulously calculated and installed to ensure accurate color rendering. Raw leather hides were displayed as architectural elements on bespoke wall panels, while select products were presented in custom millwork cases akin to high-end jewelry displays. To physically separate the environments, Arcave constructed a full acoustic gypsum partition featuring a card-access hidden door, preventing public access to operational areas. A private rear VIP entrance was also established for staff and priority clients. Crucially, the showroom and office power, HVAC, and lighting systems were engineered on entirely independent MEP circuits to support their different operational schedules efficiently.
Despite a late-stage addition to upgrade the office's dry pantry to a fully functioning commercial staff kitchen—requiring new water lines and mall drainage connections mid-construction—Arcave successfully secured all necessary approvals without delaying the handover. The crowning interior feature is the gallery walls themselves, wrapped in genuine camel leather architectural cladding sourced directly from the client's own AKL and EBL production lines.
Design phase
From concept to drawing board.
Gallery display concepts, mall design criteria compliance drawings, and office layout studies.
Construction progress
Built, step by step.
From shell handover in Nation Towers to grand opening day. Drag the marker or click any stage below to explore the fit-out progress.
"Managing a dual-purpose luxury retail and corporate office fit-out within the strict parameters of a high-end mall is no small feat. Arcave's ability to seamlessly integrate our brand identity—right down to the camel leather walls—while handling complex MEP zoning and night-shift logistics was exceptional. The final space perfectly balances premium customer experience with operational efficiency."
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