Soma Residences

Soma Residences is a low-rise development by Origami Development, situated on Dubai Islands and scheduled for completion in September 2028. It comprises a single building of five residences, with asking prices ranging from AED 1.67 million to AED 4.42 million.

# The building and its position on Dubai Islands

Dubai Islands sits off the Deira coastline, a cluster of five man-made islands that represent one of the emirate's more considered coastal planning exercises. The area is designed to carry a mix of residential, leisure and hospitality uses, with direct road connections to the mainland and a setting that keeps central Dubai within reasonable distance.

Soma Residences occupies this context with deliberate restraint. The architecture favours a sculptural, low-rise silhouette finished in sun-bleached stone tones, sand-coloured surfaces and weathered timber. Generous balconies run across every residence, making the building's relationship with its surroundings a structural part of the design rather than an afterthought. In a district that will accumulate taller, denser towers as it matures, the low-rise scale here is a considered position.

# Residences, layouts and interior finish

The building holds five residences across formats that include one-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments and duplex units. Sizes run from 878 sq ft to 2,355 sq ft, giving the range enough breadth to suit a single occupier or a family requiring more generous floor area.

Interiors were designed by XBD Collective, a practice with a track record in European-influenced residential work. Three-metre ceiling heights and floor-to-ceiling acoustic glazing define the spatial quality throughout. The material palette draws on oak tones, tactile stone and porcelain, with integrated joinery used to consolidate storage and give each room a cleaner finish.

Kitchens are fitted with porcelain surfaces, warm timber cabinetry and integrated Bosch appliances. Bathrooms specify fittings by Geberit, Grohe and Zucchetti, all established European suppliers with a presence across Dubai's better residential stock. The project is enrolled to pursue WELL Gold Certification, a standard that frames building performance around occupant health and environmental quality.

# Wellness facilities and amenity programme

The amenity offering is oriented around a wellness and leisure model rather than a conventional gym-and-pool formula.

A 20-metre infinity pool serves as the central outdoor feature, accompanied by a children's pool and a sunken lounge with fire pit. The fitness centre is equipped by Technogym, with a separate yoga and movement studio that opens onto an outdoor terrace. A treatment room and dedicated sauna and steam rooms extend the wellness provision beyond equipment-based exercise.

The clubhouse includes a lounge, a terrace and a café that doubles as co-working space, which reflects a shift in how smaller residential buildings are now approaching communal areas. At the top of the building, a residents' lounge and a padel court occupy the rooftop, giving the highest point of the structure a functional rather than merely decorative purpose.

# Dubai Islands: access and urban connectivity

Dubai Islands connects to the mainland by road, placing residents within reach of Deira and, further on, the broader city network. Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina and Palm Jumeirah are all accessible by car, though journey times will depend on traffic conditions as the wider development area fills out over the coming years.

The islands are still in active development, which means the full picture of local amenities, beach access and hospitality infrastructure will take time to materialise. Buyers purchasing now are, in part, making a judgement on where the area arrives by the time Soma Residences completes in late 2028.

# Who this building suits and where it sits in the market

At five residences, Soma Residences is a boutique proposition in a city that defaults to scale. The price range, AED 1.67 million to AED 4.42 million, positions it in the mid-to-upper tier of the Dubai Islands market without reaching the price points of the emirate's most prominent waterfront addresses.

The buyer profile this building targets is specific: someone who wants low-density coastal living, a considered interior specification and a wellness-led amenity programme, without the anonymity of a large tower. The duplex formats, in particular, suit buyers seeking the floor area of a villa within a managed residential structure. For internationally mobile buyers from the UK, Europe or the GCC accustomed to European finish standards, the XBD Collective interiors and the European bathroom and kitchen brands offer a recognisable reference point. The risk, as with any purchase on a developing island, is that the surrounding infrastructure takes longer to arrive than the building itself.