UAE Prime business and residential hub
Abu Dhabi Towers Property Investment company (ADPIC) has launched the Addax Port project Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The project, valued at US$6.5 billion and covering a total area of 81 hectares, Addax Port will have its own private bay setting within Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island. The project will feature four individually designed residential towers and one commercial tower, collectively offering over 300 luxury apartments and commercial offices.
The 50-storey high towers will feature a central shopping area, community facilities, landscaped gardens and a dedicated marina, supported by an extensive road system and connection network to the rest of Abu Dhabi, ensuring ultimate accessibility for its residents and commercial tenants.
UAE Living @ the Stadium
The Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi is to benefit from two additional 15-storey towers to be built at a combined cost of AED 130 million (US$35 million). Work will begin in July 2007 on the two towers located on the north and east corners of the stadium currently under construction. One of the towers will provide commercial office space while the other will comprise luxury residential apartments. Meanwhile, construction of the stadium is progressing rapidly with official opening scheduled for December 2006. Dubai-based Edara LLC is the appointed Project Manager for the two new towers.
SIBERIA Space of extremes
A spa located in the vast open tundra outside Tomsk, Siberia normally calls for a black box, a highly artificial condition cut off from its context. However, Plasma Studio’s proposal is inspired by the landscape with its subtle undulations and radically changing appearance between winter and summer. It is a building characterised by the dialogue between its tropical interior waterscapes and the surrounding landscape.
According to the architects, “this approach goes beyond the familiar transposition into a tropical paradise: it choreographs the experience of both worlds side by side, intensifying each other – more akin to the contemporary virtual reality of zapping through TV, choosing an eclectic soundtrack on an Ipod or flying from Moscow to Crete in less than three hours. It offers glimpses of the external reality as by opening the eyes slightly from time to time like in a daydream state. When sipping a Pina Colada on a deckchair next to the pool – the Tundra has never looked so good”. Images: Plasma Studio
USA The Aqua Tower
Studio Gang Architects has released its design for an 82-story residential high-rise called ‘Aqua’ for Chicago at the Lakeshore East development just north of Millennium Park. The US$300 million project also includes a hotel, offices, retail, conference facilities, amenities, and parking totalling over 176,500 sq. metres.
The design achieves its undulating appearance from the shape of its floor plates whose edges transform over the height of the tower. Jeanne Gang, design principal at Studio Gang wanted the changing floor plates to “create generous exterior terraces” in order to offer outside spaces and real connections to the city. “Design criteria such as views, solar shading and function shaped a vertical system of contours that give the structure its sculptural form. This vertical topography is defined by floor slabs that gradually change in plan over the height of the tower,” she explains. The result is a highly sculptural building when viewed obliquely that transforms into a slender rectangle from further away. Its shape is suggestive of the limestone outcrops and geologic forces that shaped the Great Lakes region around Chicago.
While most tower designs, driven by economy and speed of construction, rely on repetitive floor plates, Studio Gang’s utilisation of digital design tools has made possible their vision of mass-variation at Aqua. Digital construction technology such as GPS (global positioning system) will aid the contractor in realising the building’s dimensions in the field.
The building is being developed by Magellan Development Group and Near North Properties with Loewenberg and Associates as Architect of Record. Plans are being submitted for permit with construction work scheduled to commence later this year and complete by 2009. Images: Studio Gang Architects
GERMANY Your new car Sir!
Construction of the new BMW centre is well under way for ‘brand experience’ and vehicle delivery close to their headquarters.
Designed by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, the main element of the design proposal is a large, hall with a sculptured roof and double cone that emerges in relation to the existing headquarters complex.
The interior topography creates differentiated spatial densities and fluid subspaces. The heart of the building is the ‘Premiere’ vehicle delivery area. Hanging above this space are the customer lounges which allow views through the event space and toward the BMW headquarters. The hall is a marketplace for differentiated and changing uses and an unmistakable sign for the BMW Group. Image: ©ISOCHROM.com, Vienna
SOUTH AFRICA Gotcha!
In its first acquisition since listing on the JSE in February, IFA Hotels & Resorts Limited (IFA SA) will purchase a significant stake in Boschendal Limited, becoming an integral contributor to the landmark Boschendal transformation initiative. The acquisition positions IFA SA to assist with a proposed mixed-use development on Boschendal’s 2,400-hectare estate near Franschhoek in Cape Town.
Future development plans for the Cape Boschendal estate include an upmarket retirement village with 500 individual homes, a boutique hotel with upwards of 120 rooms and a mixed-use development of a shopping centre, offices and apartments. According to IFA, the transformation will also generate jobs and lead to a 30 per cent rise in real wages in the region.
Meanwhile, Boschendal has also pledged 270 hectares of land including 40 hectares for 500 homes, 110 hectares of viable agricultural land and 120 hectares of nature reserve towards a Trust for locals.
Boschendal is the latest of the IFA group’s resort development projects worldwide, including its major investment of more than USD 2 billion in The Palm, Jumeirah development off Dubai. In Africa, IFA has major development projects in Zanzibar and Kenya and is currently exploring opportunities in the Indian Ocean and Asia.
CANADA Absolutely curvy
A twisting and undulating tower designed by Beijing-based MAD Architectural Design Studio has won a competition for a 56-story apartment tower in Mississauga, Ontario. The winning design was chosen by a nine-member panel of architects, urban planners and urban design experts, as well as 6,000 ballot-casting residents.
The Absolute Tower US$114 million concrete-and-glass condo promises to be one of Canada’s most adventurous-looking buildings. Inspired by nature, the tower reflects and emphasises the complexity and sensibility of nature and human life. The building is surrounded by a continual balcony, thus each resident has a window with different views and where they can feel the sun, the wind, and nature.
The building rises 56 stories above the ground with a surface that continues to change as the building rises. The elliptical floor plates ‘rotate’ around the central core to create the curved exterior expression of the building. As the entire floor plates rotate, the floor plates on each floor are identical and the full benefits of a repetitive same floor outline can be realised. The design allows two-dimensional facades to morph into three-dimensional curved forms by shifting the plates by different angles: from the ground, the first 10 stories rotate one degree each, the next 14 stories rotate three degrees, the next floor at five degrees, the next 15 at eight degrees, the next 10 at three degree and the final six floors at one degree. The simple design creates an extraordinary high rise sculpture that expresses the universal language of audacious sensuality and romance.
Toronto-based developers Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Development Group say construction will be under way within 6 months. Once complete in 2010, the high-rise is set to become the flagship for their five-tower ‘Absolute Community’.
Burka Varacalli Architects, a Toronto firm has been appointed as MAD’s local partner. Images: MAD
ITALY Casa della Musica
The Tronchetto is an artificial island in Venice. During the last few years, the Tronchetto island has been the object of many proposals to improve its role as the portal of access providing the city with necessary reception, technology and intermodality as well as architectural infrastructures for entertainment, social and cultural life.
‘Casa della Musica’ (house of music) was completed in 2005, and was aimed at collecting ideas to design a public space and a complete multifunctional structure organised into three themed environments (Music, Ballet and Theatre) dedicated to events, exhibits, laboratories and schools.
G²Z Architects proposal attempts to design the day and night skyline while accessing the historical city via road and railway and presenting a startling iconic image against the repetitive structure of parking blocks and obsolete docks all around: a visually permeable/coloured facade (like coloured Murano glass) with tree evanescent forms floating behind it and reflecting above the lagoon.
Three kinds of translucent ‘keels’ (like ancient Venetian merchant ships) containing each concert hall for music, ballet and theatre, are suspended in an empty space above the main basement foyer. This empty space is intended to house the reception, cafe/restaurant, bookshop, multimedia library for visitors, spectators and students: this inner plaza is visually connected to an external plaza, an open air amphitheatre staging cultural events in front of the lagoon.
The other main component of the programme is the school with learning labs and workshop classes for theatre, ballet and music accessible by means of stairs from the inner plaza. School departments and labs are contained in a three-level suspended block behind the coloured facade. In order to separate flows of visitors, students and spectators inside the building and to permit the normal passage to the ferry station outside, the public space and entrance to the building are characterised by an architectural structure of different bridges and suspended corridors which interpret the traditional famous Venetian bridges that cross the ‘canals’.
A sculpted form of blades and wings permits different ‘promenade’ access to levels of the ‘keels’ and contributes together with the stained-glass wall to make the building a landmark on the Venice lagoon. Images: G²Z Architects
UK Life on a bus
Double decker buses have long been an iconic part of daily life in Britain and now London-based Double Decker Living has come up with an innovative new idea that will give the old buses a new life while resolving the ever increasing demand for comfortable, value for money, short-term accommodation that exists within cities.
Each bus has been designed to accommodate areas for sleeping, eating, dressing, showering and relaxation. A communal lounge/dining area downstairs has comfortable sofas, a table, a state-of-the-art LCD TV and a DVD player. There is even a full service kitchen that features a fridge, hob and microwave where meals can be prepared.
Upstairs, five individual sleeping areas provide a place to relax and each berth has its own entrance, window, a single bed, power supply and lockable storage. Towards the front of the bus, there is a vanity area with dressing table as well as dressing room with lockable wardrobes that provides ample private space to ready for the day.
The environmentally sound buses are fully mobile and can be connected to local supplies or operate independently. Each bus is fitted with a solar panel to minimise electrical consumption while ‘run quiet’ generators and heaters reduce noise pollution. The WC waste is rapidly converted to compost and is collectedly regularly as is waste water. Refuse and recycling bins are also integrated into the design. Even transport has been carefully considered and two folding bicycles are included for residents’ use! Images: Double Decker Living
UAE The local star
Al Seef Investments LLC, the Dubai investment company, recently launched the company’s first real estate property Dubai Marina Star and has promised to launch no fewer than seven real estate projects over the next year! The total project development presently under portfolio at Al Seef Investments is valued at 2 billion UAE Dirhams. Phase one sees the launch of Dubai Marina Star a ground plus 24 floor tower located in Dubai Marina with an expected completion date of November 2008.
Designed by local architects, Dimensions Engineering Consultants (DEC), Dubai Marina Star comprises 206 units – including studios, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments, villas and penthouses with marina, park and sea views.
PAKISTAN New communities
Emaar Properties, the leading property developer, announced three real estate developments in the cities of Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan. The projects, with a total investment of AED 8.8 billion (US$2.4 billion), will include a series of master planned communities that are promised to set new benchmarks in commercial, residential and retail property within Pakistan.
The nation’s capital, Islamabad, is home to two Emaar Pakistan projects: the Highlands and Canyon Views. With 1,500 acres between them the Islamabad communities offer 9,000 luxury single-family town homes and villas in a range of architectural styles with easy access to amenities including retail centres, community club houses, parks, lakes, schools and mosques.
Karachi will be home to Crescent Bay, a 75-acre development featuring high- and mid-rise towers for residential and commercial use, a shopping centre and five-star beachfront hotel. The towers will contain approximately 4,000 residential apartments.
Halcrow International are responsible for the master planning of Karachi’s Crescent Bay development with architects Norr and Holford while master planners WATG, RNL and JZMK are working on Highlands and Canyon Views projects. Architects for the Islamabad projects are Mazen N. Issa, Alexandra Hayes, Bassenian Lagoni and Saunders & Wiant. Image: Emaar PJSC
PAKISTAN A hi-tec future
Construction of the new Software Information Technology Park in Lahore will improve international communications in the IT sector, and generate economic activity worth billions of rupees, according to the Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. His comments came at the signing of the agreement between Punjab IT Board and the Cooperative Business Society (CBS) who will provide the land for the Park.
Designed by an undisclosed Singapore-based architectural office, the new park will be built on 4.38 acres of land at a cost of Pak Rs 1.5 billion (US$26.6 million) on Ferozepur Road, Lahore. It is expected to create 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities for science graduates, software developers, network engineers and management graduates. Work commenced on site on July 3, and it is expected to be ready for occupation within the next 12 months.
UAE Reaching the Summit
ETA Star, a leading freehold property developer in the UAE has launched its latest project, The Summit, a 38-storey commercial and office tower located between Dubai Media City and Dubai Marina on Sheikh Zayed Road.
The AED 700 million (US$191 million) project is offered with the innovative condo office concept that guarantees occupancy and investment return through a special rental pool system.
The Summit takes its name from the tower’s imposing design with a total built-up area of approximately one million sq. ft (92,900 sq. metres). Comprising four basement floors, a ground floor for commercial space, six parking podiums and 31 floors of office space, the tower will house a total of 420 small office units of varying size.
UAE Floating bridges to divert traffic crisis
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai recently sanctioned The Floating Bridge project on Dubai Creek, 0.5 kilometres to the south of Al Maktoum Bridge. The new bridge will stretch across the surface intersection near Deira City Centre and Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, and will end at the intersection to be built on Riyadh Street between Dubai Courts and Creek Park.
The Floating Bridge project is part of an integrated system being implemented by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) that aims to reduce traffic congestion by 37 percent on Al Maktoum Bridge, over which more than 150,000 vehicles pass each day. The number of lanes that cross Dubai Creek will increase from 19 to 38 by 2007 and to 45 lanes by 2008.
The Floating Bridge, an innovative project in the United Arab Emirates, will be built out of 20 metre wide hollow concrete blocks that will float on water. These kinds of bridges are widely used by the military as they can be built quickly. The Floating Bridge is a temporary solution until the Authority successfully completes the design and construction of a permanent bridge at the same place.
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