Urban Oasis / X-Architects
Dubai based X-Architects recently unveiled the Urban Oasis, their latest sustainable master plan for Al Ain. The 12-hectare urban development was conceived as a “micro-specific, compact, and passive sustainable urban oasis.” Inspired by the existing natural environment and the traditional dense urban fabric of Islamic cities, the master plan develops an “environmental synergy between landscape and urbanity.”
More about the master plan after the break.
“Carved out of a site that was formerly a park, the new development brings this latent oasis condition to the fore through the way the natural environmental condition is woven together with the dense urban fabric,” explained the architects.
The new master plan is comprised of a highly refined mixed-use program organized into four clusters. The placement of the clusters creates a “porous urban infrastructure that encourages pedestrians to circulate and filter through its intimate and public spaces”. The master plan favors pedestrian-friendly spaces as cars are limited to three drop off areas and the parking is located on a subterranean level to eliminate pollution and congestion within the immediate areas. A spa and a wedding hotel, a central plaza with a mosque, a cultural center with gallery space and library, and a sports/daycare center, are placed through the site to build upon the oasis idea and generate a vibrant ‘micro-public realm’.
The design strategy combines the modern sophistication of contemporary materials with ancient processes. The old and the new ways compliment one another while developing innovate methods to create a sustainable environment. For instance, structural metallic mesh covers the facade and prevents solar glare, while ancient water methods create a cooling system. ”These age-old passive sustainable strategies-which had been highly developed in traditional Middle Eastern cities and forts-are simple, energy-efficient ways to combat the harsh desert condition without excessive technological aids,” stated the architects.
In fact, Estidama, the government body in charge of developing the sustainability code for the UAE, has specifically chosen this master plan as its pilot project for 2009. Estidama was impressed with the architects’ resourceful use of energy and precious water, but also by its ”respect for the natural conditions of the site and creating a ‘livable city’ in terms of quality of life.”
The project is scheduled to begin construction later this year.
All images courtesy of the studio. To see another project featured earlier on by AD about X-Architects: Houseboat.
Urban Designers:
X-Architects (Dubai):
Partners-in-charge: Ahmed Al-Ali, Farid Esmaeil
Design Team: Mathan Ramaiah, Luca Vigliero, Sven Van Loon, Francesco Moncada, Miguel Faria, Dario Cavallaro, Lidia Barbiero.
Collaborators:
Buro Happold (London/Dubai)
Commissioner/Developer:
Al Qudra Real Estate
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6 comments »
a technical problem:
rendering in the Arabic area always looks so shiny , does anyone know how to do it in photoshop?
thank you very much for a such beatiful invironment
What a joke. Ok so first of all, Al Ain is a terrible terrible place. No one from Dubai or Abu Dhabi even visits this city because it’s so bad.
Secondly, all projects like this that attempted to get off the ground in Al Ain failed, even during Dubai’s hayday. This is because there is nothing out in Al Ain, no jobs, no business besides from some run down shanty shops, just nothing.
Thirdly, Dubai has failed bigtime over the last year. They can’t sell anything which is why property prices and rentals have plumetted. If Dubai has proven to be a failure, how can a development in a city 100 times worse than Dubai succeed?
Finally, the majority of the development is a lame copycat attempt to reproduce Abu Dhabi’s Masdar development, without all the zero carbon initiatives. I swear that the images of this development have just been slightly altered from the Masdar development pictures. It’s a shame that everything in the United Arab Emirates is just either a copy of another “iconic” development, whether in the UAE or another country, or just a complete disaster, eg having raw sewage dumped into the ocean right infront of the Burj Al Arab hotel so that tourists can swim in absolute filth.
I should have check my grammer before posting the above message.
bad copy of fosters’ masdar renderings… however, a sustainable design might look more believable, when you leave the sportcars out of the images… put some bikers in, some e-cars or some camels….
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