Waterfront City in Dubai is a masterplan of possibly unprecedented scale and ambition, aiming to generate a critical mass of density and diversity in a city that has seen explosive growth in recent years but little cultivation of the street-level urban activity that most metropolises thrive on. The development consists of an artificial Island linked to four distinct neighbourhoods – Madinat Al Soor, the Boulevard, the Marina, and the Resorts – which together are twice the size of Hong Kong Island and yield a total floor space of 11.8 million m2 across various building types and programs. The masterplan takes an optimistic view of the future of urbanism and exploits two usually opposing elements of 21st century architecture: the generic and the iconic.
The Island, measuring 1,310m x 1,310m, is divided into 25 traditional city blocks that permit a rational, repeatable, and exponential urbanism redolent of Manhattan. An equal distribution of residential and office space stimulates a natural flow of street life night and day along arcades shaded by trees and tall buildings. The highest towers are strategically clustered along the southern edge to provide maximum protection for the Island against the desert sun. Perched on the western corner, a gigantic 44-storey Sphere is an extreme iconic counterpoint to the generic constructions encouraged elsewhere on the Island.
The Island connects to the mainland by bridges on each side of its square, fusing with Dubai's imminent public monorail system. Along the southern and eastern periphery of Waterfront City a ring road deflects passing traffic. This road is lined by a protective arc of buildings overlooking the water and enclosing a mixed-use area – the Boulevard – consisting of offices, housing, hotels, mid-rise culture, retail, and civic amenities, and low-rise retail and restaurants. The Boulevard also contains a large plot that could accommodate a stadium or a significant cultural institution. At Boulevard Park, citizens can access the water along beaches and mangroves.
Located in the north of Waterfront City, Madinat Al Soor is primarily a residential neighbourhood, employing the vernacular qualities of historic Arab settlements: an intriciate and varied composition of shaded buildings and alleyways where privacy is embedded and public interaction inevitable. The name Al Soor, meaning The Wall, refers to a large inhabited wall on the western tip of the site, jutting out into the Gulf. The dense building clusters, irregular streets, and pedestrian paths connect a patchwork of delights in this town, all of them walkable: beachfront resorts, souks, canalsides and waterfront promenades with views of the Sphere – and, across the water directly opposite, Waterfront City’s second elemental geometric icon, the Spiral. This is an 82-storey coiling tower evoking classical Arabic architecture and serving as a beacon for the entire development.
Waterfront City's other neighbourhoods are the Resort, consisting of three large plots for hotels, and the Marina, with a vital mixture of street life guaranteed by its juxtaposition of waterfront commerce and high rise, mostly residential, towers.
The Island, measuring 1,310m x 1,310m, is divided into 25 traditional city blocks that permit a rational, repeatable, and exponential urbanism redolent of Manhattan. An equal distribution of residential and office space stimulates a natural flow of street life night and day along arcades shaded by trees and tall buildings. The highest towers are strategically clustered along the southern edge to provide maximum protection for the Island against the desert sun. Perched on the western corner, a gigantic 44-storey Sphere is an extreme iconic counterpoint to the generic constructions encouraged elsewhere on the Island.
The Island connects to the mainland by bridges on each side of its square, fusing with Dubai's imminent public monorail system. Along the southern and eastern periphery of Waterfront City a ring road deflects passing traffic. This road is lined by a protective arc of buildings overlooking the water and enclosing a mixed-use area – the Boulevard – consisting of offices, housing, hotels, mid-rise culture, retail, and civic amenities, and low-rise retail and restaurants. The Boulevard also contains a large plot that could accommodate a stadium or a significant cultural institution. At Boulevard Park, citizens can access the water along beaches and mangroves.
Located in the north of Waterfront City, Madinat Al Soor is primarily a residential neighbourhood, employing the vernacular qualities of historic Arab settlements: an intriciate and varied composition of shaded buildings and alleyways where privacy is embedded and public interaction inevitable. The name Al Soor, meaning The Wall, refers to a large inhabited wall on the western tip of the site, jutting out into the Gulf. The dense building clusters, irregular streets, and pedestrian paths connect a patchwork of delights in this town, all of them walkable: beachfront resorts, souks, canalsides and waterfront promenades with views of the Sphere – and, across the water directly opposite, Waterfront City’s second elemental geometric icon, the Spiral. This is an 82-storey coiling tower evoking classical Arabic architecture and serving as a beacon for the entire development.
Waterfront City's other neighbourhoods are the Resort, consisting of three large plots for hotels, and the Marina, with a vital mixture of street life guaranteed by its juxtaposition of waterfront commerce and high rise, mostly residential, towers.
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