Dubai Design District: The Five Areas of the d3 Masterplan
Meraas is expanding Dubai Design District across 18 million square feet. The masterplan holds five areas. Each one is built for a different life, and the land inside each one splits a different way. This page sets out what each area holds, and what the split tells you before you choose one.
The five areas, side by side
Every area at d3 divides its land between homes, workplaces, open space and facilities. Meraas has set that division for all five. It is the fastest way to read the masterplan.
| Area | Homes | Open space | Offices | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sanctuary | 78% | 17% | — | Facilities 5% |
| SOHO | 64% | 31% | — | Hospitality 5% |
| The Creekside | 50% | 34% | 9% | Hospitality 7% |
| Design HQ | 32% | 10% | 50% | Facilities 8% |
| The Mindspace | — | 6% | 24% | Facilities 32% · Industrial 31% · Utilities 7% |
Read down the first column and the masterplan explains itself. The Sanctuary is the most residential place at d3, at 78% homes. The Mindspace is a workshop district — facilities, industrial space, offices and utilities, with no residential allocation. Design HQ leads with offices at 50%, so half of it works and a third of it lives.
Read the second column and it flips. The Creekside holds the most open space at 34%. SOHO, the most urban area in the masterplan, holds 31%. The Sanctuary puts its density into homes and takes its green from beyond its own edge, where the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary sits under protection.
The Design Line
A pedestrian-first route runs through the whole district, car-free end to end, and it is the first of its kind in Dubai.
It connects all five areas through one continuous public realm shaped by landscape, architecture and cultural expression. Public art, community events and dedicated facilities run along it.
Each area keeps its own rhythm and character, and the Line carries you between them on foot.
Meraas is expanding Dubai Design District across eighteen million square feet. The Design Line is the spine that makes it one place rather than five.
The Creekside
The flagship waterfront and premier residential address at d3, defined by elegance and shaped by water. Along its edge sits a collection of waterfront residences.
Homes 50% · Open space 34% · Offices 9% · Hospitality 7%
The activated promenade is the width of a street on its own. It carries an urban inland beach, a boardwalk, a marina, a marine ferry station, a jetty lookout and a central promenade with an entrance plaza.
The area connects to Dubai Creek and to future marine mobility, with residences positioned to capture sunset and skyline views and the tranquillity of the surrounding mangroves.
An intimate relationship with the water and sweeping skyline vistas. A refined, resort-like atmosphere with lively energy along the promenade, composed and elegant in tone, with the vibrancy concentrated at the waterfront edge.
AmenitiesThe Design Line cascade, fitness areas, play areas, an amphitheatre, a splash pad, a garden sikka, a sports club, activity lawns, food trucks, curated landscapes and a water feature projection.
Atélis at d3 rises along The Creekside shoreline. SOM designed it.
Design HQ
The creative anchor of the masterplan, and the only area where offices lead. Design HQ builds on the spirit of the original d3 and evolves it into a design-forward urban centre.
Offices 50% · Homes 32% · Open space 10% · Facilities 8%
Design studios, fashion houses and creative offices, with residents drawn to a district where culture and work connect. It is the most concentrated creative cluster in the masterplan.
Energetic and urban, with a creative edge shaped by fashion, art and design. Lively streets built around cafés, retail and social spaces, and a natural evolution of the original d3 identity.
AmenitiesA sculpture park and sculptural lawns, tree-lined landscapes, an urban fitness station, art and sculptural features, pocket activity areas, integrated seating, a central water feature, a mosque plaza, landscape planters, the Design Line cascade and a hotel plaza.
SOHO
The social and cultural heart of d3 — a lively urban neighbourhood carrying the district's key cultural and entertainment destinations.
Homes 64% · Open space 31% · Hospitality 5%
SOHO carries no office allocation. Two thirds of it is homes and almost a third is open space, which is more open space than any area in the masterplan except The Creekside.
Lively and urban, yet intimate in scale. Shaped by active laneways, cafés, dining and cultural venues, alive from day to night.
A signature urban plaza, interactive art and sculpture, pocket activity spaces, the Design Line steps and its podium connection, an activated pedestrian street, an amphitheatre and stage, cascading landscapes, a water wall feature, a multi-use central lawn, a multi-use pavilion, stepped seating, retail pavilions, sculpted lawns, interactive play features, tree-lined landscapes, learning pods and the Design Line lookout pavilion.
The Sanctuary
The most residential area at d3, and the one that looks onto protected land. Residences sit around lush gardens and intimate courtyards.
Homes 78% · Open space 17% · Facilities 5%
The Wildlife Sanctuary sits beyond its edge. That is the single strongest fact about this area — the view is over protected wetland.
Built for familiesShared parks, play areas and sports facilities support an active, family-focused life. Peaceful and green, with a slower and more mindful rhythm.
A multi-purpose court, an adventure park and play areas, a table tennis court, an activity and sports lawn, a paddle tennis court, an urban fitness and skate park, integrated seating and recreation areas, a mosque plaza with a water feature, mosque gardens and an open lawn, public art and a sculptural water feature, a retail pavilion, a pump track loop, wetland and nature-themed play, stepped seating and gallery spaces, a lookout tower with viewing pods, a nature trail, a canopy walk along the Design Line, water-sensitive landscape design and an activated undercroft play feature.
The Mindspace
The ideas hub, built for creative production, experimentation and learning — artists, designers, makers, educators and innovators.
Facilities 32% · Industrial 31% · Offices 24% · Utilities 7% · Open space 6%
The Mindspace carries no residential allocation. It is where d3 makes things. If you are buying a home at d3, you are buying in one of the other four areas — and The Mindspace is what sits behind them, feeding new thinking into the district.
Raw and flexible, with a strong sense of creative freedom. Purpose-built for making, prototyping and hands-on experimentation, with art installations and exhibition spaces woven into daily life. The spaces run large-format and adaptable.
AmenitiesA multi-use pavilion, an open lawn for seasonal events, Design Line stepped seating, outdoor exhibition spaces, interactive art and sculpture, basketball and skate parks, pocket activity zones, integrated seating and co-working spaces, and feature art and sculpture.
Where d3 sits
Dubai Design District sits near Dubai Creek, next to Business Bay and Downtown Dubai. Al Khail Road runs past it and becomes Ras Al Khor Road on the way to the creek.
This is a central address that reads as a district rather than a tower.
| Destination | Minutes |
|---|---|
| The Dubai Mall | 6 |
| Downtown Dubai | 7 |
| City Walk | 7 |
| Burj Khalifa | 10 |
| Business Bay | 10 |
| DIFC | 12 |
| DXB Airport | 15 |
Getting around
Al Khail Road runs along one edge, the marine station sits on the water, and the Design Line carries you between the five areas on foot.
Four large public car parks hold around 2,800 vehicles — two under canopy, two open. d3 is not charging for public parking at this time. Underground parking is reserved for registered business partners.
Buggies rotate between the buildings through the day. Hop on, or order one from any building reception.
Line DC3 connects Al Jaddaf Station with the Dubai Design District Marine Transport Station, in both directions, on a heritage abra. The fare is AED 2 a stop. It runs Saturdays and Sundays, four in the afternoon until eleven at night, every thirty-five minutes.
The other end matters: RTA runs the line to give access to Creek Metro Station on the Green Line. Line DC2 works the canal side, connecting Waterfront, Marasi, Business Bay, Godolphin and Sheikh Zayed Road at the same fare, Monday to Saturday from eight in the morning to ten at night.
d3 names Dubai Mall Metro Station as its nearest Metro station, and RTA Bus Route D03 runs in and out of d3. Al Khail Road runs past d3 and becomes Ras Al Khor Road on the way to the creek. Both are the E44.
Inside the district, you walk. The Design Line is six kilometres, shaded, car-free, and it reaches every one of the five areas.
Who is already here
d3 opened its first buildings in 2015 and it is a working district, not a plan. Eleven buildings opened in that first phase.
Fashion houses run their ateliers here — Michael Cinco across couture, jewellery and ready-to-wear in Building 4, Saiid Kobeisy in Building 6, Bouguessa and Kristina Fidelskaya in Building 7, Maison Yeya in Building 4, Hiba Jaber in Building 2. L'ÉCOLE School of Jewelry Arts teaches at d3.
Design and interiors carry the rest — Artemide and Lasvit in Building 6, PORCELANOSA, Delta Light, Dedar and GESSI in Building 1, Cosentino, Interface and Lutron in Building 4, Haworth in Building 7, Humanscale in Building 3, Marazzi in Building 9, Sicis and Atlas Concorde in Building 8, and Aljoud Lootah Design in Building 7.
The Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation has its campus in Building 4. It teaches a Bachelor of Design and a Master of Design, and it crafted its curriculum together with MIT and Parsons School of Design.
in5 Design sits on Level 2 of Building 3 — a prototyping lab with 3D printers, CNC machines and digital fabrication tools, a fashion lab, training rooms, meeting spaces and coworking. It has supported more than 120 start-ups in the design sector.
Phase 2 adds six Grade-A office buildings and more than 500,000 square feet of gross leasable area, an AED 825 million development targeting completion by the first half of 2028, built to LEED certification standards.
The waterfront park at d3 carries a skate park, open-air basketball and volleyball courts, climbing walls, an urban beach and outdoor seating.
Dubai Police runs a smart police station at d3, offering 27 key services and 33 sub-services round the clock in six languages.
Eating and shopping at d3
Backyard and All Day Minimart in Building 1 · Qinwan in Building 2 · Bageri Form in Building 4 · Mohalla and One Life Kitchen & Café in Building 5 · Bistro Royal in Building 6 · Home Bakery Kitchen and Otaku in Building 7 · La Lupa in Building 8 · PEOPLES Honest Eatery & Coffee in Building 9 · Smat in Building 10 · Acai Berry and Mayg in Building 11
Frame is the concept store, on the ground floor of Building 7. Double J Collective Gallery sits beside it, and Sevil Dolmaci shows here too. Around them runs a long list of furniture, lighting, surface and fashion showrooms.
Schools and nurseries
Blossom by Babilou sits on the ground floor of Building 2. It takes children from 45 days to FS1 and teaches the British EYFS enriched with Reggio Emilia, Pikler and Montessori, trilingual in English, French and Arabic.
| School | Curriculum | KHDA rating | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| GEMS Modern Academy | Indian / IB | Outstanding | Nad Al Sheba |
| Horizon English School | UK | Outstanding | Jumeirah |
| Dubai English Speaking School | UK, primary 3–11 | Outstanding | Oud Metha |
| Swiss International Scientific School | IB | Very Good | Al Jaddaf |
| Hartland International School | UK | Very Good | Sobha Hartland |
| Safa British School | UK | Very Good | Al Safa |
| The Indian High School | Indian | Very Good | Oud Metha |
Short-notice KHDA inspections resume from the 2026–27 academic year, with no more than 24 hours' notice.
Healthcare
Dubai Healthcare City holds the two hospitals most residents will use.
Mediclinic City Hospital sits inside it, and its Comprehensive Cancer Centre occupies Building 35, North Wing. Al Jalila Children's Specialty Hospital — the first dedicated children's hospital in the UAE — sits in Al Jaddaf, in Dubai Healthcare City Phase 2.
Mediclinic Dubai Mall runs a clinic on Level 7 of the Fashion Parking, and Emirates Hospital Clinic runs a multi-specialty clinic on the mezzanine at Bay Avenue in Business Bay. A BinSina Pharmacy operates inside d3.
Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary
The wetland beyond The Sanctuary is protected land, and the protection is written into law.
Dubai declared it a protected area on 1 March 1998, under Local Order No. 2 of 1998, and brought it under Law No. 11 of 2003 on protected areas. In 2007 it became a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention — Site No. 1715, the first in the country. BirdLife International lists it as an Important Bird Area.
Dubai Municipality counts 201 bird species, and in winter the number of birds may reach 25,000. Ramsar has counted more than 3,000 Greater Flamingos, and twenty-four of the species here sit on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
More than 90,000 visitors from over 100 countries have come to see it. The Flamingo Hide and the Lagoon Hide take walk-ins during opening hours, with registration; schools, universities and tour companies pre-book through Dubai Municipality. The Mangrove Hide is temporarily closed.
The first phase runs to around AED 100 million and completes by the end of 2026. It increases mangrove coverage by 60%, from 40 to 65 hectares, and delivers a 144% increase in water bodies, expanding them to 74 hectares.
The second phase adds a purpose-designed visitor centre, birdwatching towers, commercial and recreational facilities, 5.6 kilometres of cycling tracks and three kilometres of walking trails.
The Sanctuary at d3 carries an observation deck over it.
The year at d3
More than a hundred events run here every year. Two of them bring the world.
Dubai Design Week runs 3 to 8 November 2026 at d3. The 2025 edition brought more than 1,000 designers, architects and creative practitioners from over 50 countries, and put more than 30 installations through the district. Downtown Design, its anchor event, runs 4 to 8 November 2026.
Dubai Fashion Week is the city's official fashion week and it is held at d3 — d3 co-founded it with the Arab Fashion Council. Around them run Sole DXB, Icons of Porsche, e& MOTB during the Dubai Shopping Festival, Art Dinner Nights and Coffee Mornings.
The projects at d3
Meraas is building three residential projects inside the masterplan. All three are freehold to all nationalities. Registration is 4% of the price plus the Oqood fee, paid once with the booking, and Meraas pays us, so you pay no commission.
The Creekside · Architect SOM
Rising along The Creekside shoreline. Uninterrupted water views and panoramic skyline vistas, blending resort-style serenity with the energy of urban living.
Three sculptural towers on the water, defined by rhythm and balance. Soft edges, continuous balcony lines and sky gardens carry light and greenery through the building. Prices, the payment plan and what is available.
At the heart of the district. Apartments with sweeping city views, contemporary amenities, stylish lobbies and quiet spaces.
Which area suits which buyer
If you want the water. A promenade 25 to 50 metres wide, a marina, a ferry station, and homes positioned for the sunset and the mangroves.
The SanctuaryIf you want the quiet and the family life. Gardens and courtyards, a pump track, a nature trail, and an observation deck over protected wetland.
If you want the energy. The cultural and entertainment heart, alive from morning to late night.
Design HQIf you work in design, fashion or art and want to live where you work. The most concentrated creative cluster in the district.
The MindspaceWhere you make things rather than where you live. It carries no homes.
Dubai Design District (d3) — Questions buyers ask
Is Dubai Design District freehold?
Yes. The homes at d3 are freehold to all nationalities, with full title.
How many areas are there at d3?
Five — The Creekside, Design HQ, SOHO, The Sanctuary and The Mindspace. Four of them carry homes.
Which area at d3 is the most residential?
The Sanctuary, at 78% of its land.
Which area has the most open space?
The Creekside, at 34%.
Does The Mindspace have apartments?
No. The Mindspace is built for making — facilities, workshops, offices and utilities. The homes at d3 are in the other four areas.
What is the Design Line?
A six-kilometre pedestrian-first route running through the whole district, car-free end to end. It is the first of its kind in Dubai and it connects all five areas.
Where is the nearest Metro station to d3?
d3 names Dubai Mall Metro Station as its nearest. RTA Bus Route D03 runs in and out of d3 from there.
Can you reach d3 by water?
Yes. d3 has its own marine transport station. Line DC3 runs an abra between Al Jaddaf Station and d3 for AED 2 a stop, giving access to Creek Metro Station on the Green Line. It runs Saturdays and Sundays, four in the afternoon to eleven at night.
Is parking free at d3?
d3 is not charging for public parking at this time. Four large public car parks hold around 2,800 vehicles — two under canopy, two open.
Are there schools at d3?
Blossom by Babilou is inside d3, on the ground floor of Building 2, and the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation has its campus in Building 4. Around d3, Al Jaddaf, Sobha Hartland, Oud Metha, Jumeirah, Al Safa and Nad Al Sheba carry schools rated Very Good and Outstanding by KHDA.
Where is the nearest hospital?
Dubai Healthcare City holds Mediclinic City Hospital and its Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Al Jalila Children's Specialty Hospital, the first dedicated children's hospital in the UAE, is in Al Jaddaf at Dubai Healthcare City Phase 2.
What is Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary?
A protected wetland, declared on 1 March 1998 under Local Order No. 2 of 1998 and registered as Ramsar Site No. 1715 in 2007. Dubai Municipality counts 201 bird species there, and Dubai is investing AED 650 million in it. The Sanctuary at d3 carries an observation deck over it.
How many businesses are at d3?
More than 1,100, with 20,000 creative professionals and three academic institutions.
What events happen at d3?
More than a hundred a year. Dubai Design Week runs 3 to 8 November 2026 and Downtown Design 4 to 8 November, both at d3. Dubai Fashion Week is held here too — d3 co-founded it with the Arab Fashion Council. Sole DXB, Icons of Porsche and e& MOTB run through the winter.
Who is the developer at d3?
Meraas is the master developer of the residential masterplan.
Do I pay you a commission?
No. Meraas pays us.
Buying at d3?
Tell us which area you are looking at and what you need from the home. We sell at zero commission, and we will send you what Meraas has released.