Bayt Al Mamzar, Dubai

They say a grandma’s home never runs out of hugs and cookies. For Emirati brothers, Khalid and Gaith Abdulla, their own grandmother’s home – House number 2, in the tranquil neighbourhood of Al Mamzar, Dubai, was one such saccharine-laden address they kept coming back to - be it from their travels, on weekends or during festivals. So, in 2018, when their grandmother moved to a new locality, the brothers took on the task of turning the Bayt of their Yado (grandmother’s home) into an art and culture haven, renaming it Bayt Al Mamzar.

The single-storey structure a few hundred metres away from the scenic Mamzar beach opened in November 2021, as part gallery, artist studio and co-working space with a library. “This home has been that one constant in our lives,” says Khalid, 36, an independent curator who has previously worked with Louvre, Abu Dhabi. “We lived here, for a few years in our childhood. Then after college, I came back and turned one of the rooms into an art studio. During Eid, our extended family would gather here. That’s why instead of choosing the option to rent the house, we decided to give back to the community by making it an accessible creative space providing the same nurturing environment, we had received when we visited our grandmother.”