What is URBAN DESIGN

What is Urban Design?

Urban design is the process of arranging the physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages, in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes, and establishing the processes that make successful development possible. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has been linked to emergent disciplines such as landscape urbanism.

Zayed University Campus - Abu Dhabi

This project for the design and construction of the new Zayed University campus, is a joint venture between Habtoor Leighton Group and Murray & Roberts.

The finished building will provide educational facilities for 6,000 students and related faculty and support staff. It will be constructed on a plot of approximately 75 hectares and feature a built-up area of 200,000 square metres.

The new campus is located in New Khalifa City, near Abu Dhabi International Airport. It contains academic buildings, recreation facilities, and residential accommodation, with separate facilities for men and women.

Contract Value US$ : 818 Million

Client : Mubadala Development Company

Commencement : 2008

Completion : 2011

DUBAI PEARL

Expected to be the largest single building in the world, Dubai Pearl will be an integrated city for 20,000 people. The project covers a built-up area of around 1.9 million square metres.

It will comprise four 73-storey mixed-use towers housing fashion and technology brands, and the Baccarat Hotel and Residences, and will provide a 24-hour living city with commercial, retail, residential and leisure facilities.

The project will also include a 2000-seat state-of-the-art theatre and a luxury fashion precinct with a premier shopping mall.

The scope of work for this project includes the construction of the composite structural frame, masonry works, complete architectural works including metal works, wood works, thermal and moisture protection, doors and windows, aluminium and curtain wall finishes, elevators, electro mechanical and external works.

The extensive piling and preparation work for the project was undertaken by Habtoor STFA Soil Group (HSSG), part of the Habtoor Leighton Group.

Location : Dubai, U.A.E.

Contract Value US$ : 2.4 Billion

Client : Pearl Dubai

Commencement : 2009

Completion : 2014

Elite Residences - Bead-Architects

This project is positioned at the most extreme end of luxury. The design goal is to surpass developers and end users expectations, both in immediate visual impact as well as long term practicality. Each single living unit is conceived as a scarce treasure, a must-have for a high society member. As a boutique building it communicates a prestigious life both from the inside and the outside. Discerning residents will choose these apartments for their visionary spaces, the luxury of being served by state-of-the-art and built-in interactive systems, and the numerous superb facilities.

Location

Abu Dhabi

Location

Abu Dhabi

Location:  Abu Dhabi

Location

Abu Dhabi

TAIYUAN MUSEUM CHINA

Taiyuan, China 2007-2009

The Taiyuan Museum of Art works as a cluster of buildings unified by continuous and discontinuous promenades both inside and outside. The building responds to the urban parkscape in which it is set; visitors are encouraged to pass through the building while not entering into the museum itself. An exterior ramp threading through the building connects the heterogeneous hardscapes, lawns and sculpture gardens. The integration of building and landscape registers multiple scales of territory ranging from the enormity of the adjacent Fen River to the intimacy of the museum's own particular spatial episodes.

Inside, the security of museum space is maintained by a highly controlled interface between gallery and non-gallery programs including an auditorium, bookstore, restaurant, library, education center, and administrative wing. The individual sets of elevators and cores are distributed to guarantee easy access and easy divisibility between zones regulated by different schedules and rules of access. At the garage level, the services are intricately planned in order not to interfere with parking lots for staff and public.

The museum galleries are organized to ensure maximum curatorial flexibility. The galleries can be organized into a single, spiraling sequence for large chronological exhibitions or into autonomous clusters operating independently. For visitors architectural cues offer - the placement of ramps and portals, the expansion and contraction of space - provide a means of wayfinding. The building gives visitors the freedom either to follow a predetermined chronological sequence or to skip from one set of galleries to another, in a nonlinear fashion.

Exterior light weight honeycomb panels with stone veneer produce an evocative and elusive material effect and the perception of an exceptional scale. The panels are reflective as if metallic, seemingly too large to be stone panels, but clearly possessing the properties of both materials. Advanced parametric software allowed panels to conform to standard widths, reducing material waste.

Interview Konstantin Grcic at Qubique 2011

In this movie filmed by Dezeen at Qubique 2011, industrial designer Konstantin Grcic talks about Cape, his sofa for Established & Sons with a loose cover draped over the structure like a blanket that can be changed with the seasons.

Brazil, Manaus Arena da Amazônia

Direct commission after study 2009
Design Volkwin Marg and Hubert Nienhoff with Martin Glass, 2008
Project leaders Martin Glass, Maike Carlsen
Project leader, Brazil Burkhard Pick, Sander-Christiaan Troost

Seats ca. 43,500
Length of the stadium ca. 240 m
Width of the stadium ca. 200 m
Height of the stadium ca. 35 m

Located in the middle of the jungle, 1500 km from the sea, Manaus is where the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões run together to form the Amazon, the world’s mightiest river.

With the design of the new Manaus stadium, the aim was to come up with a very simple but highly efficient stadium that would at the same time specifically symbolize the location, particularly the fascination and natural diversity of the tropical rain forest.
With a capacity of 45,000, the stadium lies directly on the central traffic axis linking the city with the airport. Integrated into a sports park that is also home to a sambodrome, athletics facilities, multi-purpose venues and a swimming center, it is part of the “Arena da Amazônia”, which offers ideal conditions for professional and local sporting events.
The basic design was developed in cooperation with our local partner STADIA, São Paulo and with

 the structural engineers schlaich bergermann & partner, Stuttgart.

The roof structure is made up of mutually supporting cantilevers, whose steel hollow core girders function simultaneously as large gutters to drain the immense run-off of tropical rainwater. Given the hot, humid Amazonas climate, the roof continues into the façade to provide shade and shelter for spectator circulation areas and vertical access points. The fields of the roof and façades consist of translucent fiberglass fabric, whose low-emittance coating reflects heat radiation and thus has a cooling effect. The natural ventilation arising in combination with the façade apertures creates a pleasant microclimate.

Under the banner of a sustainable World Cup, the stadium will be one of the first to be certified as compliant with the LEED (leadership in energy

The integrated ecological scheme takes account of the choice of location, construction sequence, transport routing and primary energy content of individual materials, water resource management, energy consumption, regulation and control systems, waste management and a permanent monitoring of ongoing operations.

As one of the most important centers of ecotourism in South America, Manaus will acquire a characteristic landmark that will do justice even in the long term to the requirement for a responsible treatment of natural resources.

Wuxi Xidong Park Bridge design by L&A Design Group

L&A Design Group has developed an exciting contemporary bridge design as an architectural highlight of Wuxi Xidong Park, located in Jiangsu province, China. The bridge is planned to be the main connection between the north and south foreshores of the parks lake and allows visitors access to a small island destination that commands views over the water as well as café facilities and pocket gardens. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Courtesy of L&A Design Group

The important position, jutting out over the central water body, encouraged a dynamic design response. The design team has envisioned a signature iconic structure that is attractive, has a flowing modern form expressing the importance of Wuxi’s relationship with water and is functional in its connections to the island, foreshores and allowing boats to pass underneath its elevation.

Courtesy of L&A Design Group

Designed as a whole volume, the bridge presents unique curves and a platform that widens as the bridge crosses the island. The platform creates a focus for the bridge maximizing views out across the lake under a shaded canopy, integrates ramp access to the island and forms an intimate space for the cafe underneath.

Courtesy of L&A Design Group

To reduce the long linear scale of the bridge an “S” shape plan was created to provide closer vistas for people accessing the park from both sides of the lake. It is a bridge with a ‘twist’. As the bridge reaches its island destination the shape stimulates a dramatic interaction between architecture, landscape and water. Construction will utilize lightweight steel structures, light colored outer panel skins for a sleek look that can be elegantly lit up at night and polished timber detailing to tactile surfaces such as seating and railing.
Architects: L&A Design Group
Location: Wuxi, China
Project Team: Sean Shi, Kevin Wang, Liang Meng, Ning Ye
Client: Wuxi High-speed Railway Commercial Zone Committee
Project Year: 2011

2018 Russia - World Cup

 Dynamo Stadium in Moscow. Built in 1928 and currently under reconstruction the new stadium expects to hold 44.920 people

 Proposed stadium in Rostov-on-Don. Located on the left bank of the Don River, just opposite the centre of the city on a site of 52 hectares

 Spartak Stadium in Moscow for Spartak Moscow

Stadium 2018. Russia

 Stadium in Kaliningrad. Situated close to Poland, Kalingrad will host its matches in this 45,015 all-seater stadium situated on an island.

 Stadium in Krasnodar. Set to accommodate 50,015 fans - making it the third biggest stadium of the tournament.

 Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod. Yet another stadium located in stunning environs, and with a capacity close to 45,000 (44,899 to be precise)

 Stadium in Samara. Situated at the confluence of the Volga and Samara rivers, this 44,918 all-seater stadium has yet to built

 Stadium in Saransk. A small city with a population of only 300,000, but due to have a striking 45,000 all-seater stadium.

 Stadium in Sochi. This will be a host venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics as well as the World Cup. Its capacity should be 47,659.

 Stadium in Volgograd. Built in the city formerly known as Stalingrad, this 45,015 all-seater stadium will be the centrepiece of a vast new park close to the Mamayev Mound WW2 memorial.

Yekaterinburg stadium in Yekaterinburg. On the fringes of Kazakhstan and with a population of 1.3 million people this city will be home to a 44,130 all-seater stadium.

UAE- Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre