Ambitious architects aim at breaking barriers - after all the term ‘skyscrapers’ is less a descriptor as it is a fantasy put into words. In a city known for its skyscrapers, an Egyptian architect dreamt of linking the earth to the heavens rather than merely scraping it. KDSV, an award-winning design studio based in Dubai Design District, envisioned an ethereal waterfall that pours out of a sleek steel canopy called Gateway to Heaven.

“Gateway to Heaven is a spiritual invitation to connect and wonder,” KDSV’s Founder and Design Director, known as MAK, tells #SceneHome of the concept, which he exhibited at Dubai Design Week in 2021. MAK went to the Arab Academy for Science and Technology in Egypt where he was accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and awarded the RIBA President’s Medals Student Award for a project he later exhibited at RIBA’s headquarters in London.

“It’s a gateway to a timeless connection that bridges heaven, sky and earth,” MAK continues. The design is made possible by a reflective mirror and a stainless steel canopy that is carried by 60 columns. “The reflective quality of the stainless steel canopy creates an optical illusion of an opening in the sky with water pouring through infinitely,” he explains. “At this point, the barriers between the sky and earth vanish, resulting in a unique experience of connection.”

MAK got to experience the region’s leap in modern architecture, having worked with Lebanese architect Bernard Khoury who left a footprint on Middle Eastern design during the turn of the century. He went on to work at a plethora of renowned firms across the region with projects that took him around the world, from Baku, Azerbaijan to Cape Town, South Africa.

One of the projects MAK led was Dubai One Tower, which - if built - would be the highest residential tower in the world, and the fourth tallest overall. As for Gateway to Heaven, MAK is offering a different approach to modern architectural thinking; one that is horizontal and introspective. If there’s any place where this concept would come to life, it would probably be Dubai.