Grounds by Martha Schwartz Partners

Qatar Petroleum grounds by
Martha Schwartz Partners

Landscape architects Martha Schwartz Partners have designed the grounds for Qatar Petroleum headquarters by architects SOM in Doha, Qatar.

The design comprises artificial dunes made of stabilised sand and gravel mix, with gardens and water features interspersed between them.

Here’s some more information from the architects:
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MARTHA SCHWARTZ PARTNERS TO BRING STRIKING LANDSCAPE DESIGN TO QATAR PETROLEUM HEAD QUARTERS
Internationally renowned landscape architects Martha Schwartz Partners will be providing Doha with a striking new landscape design for the Qatar Petroleum head quarters.


Peeling away the arid desert environment, Martha Schwartz Partners has created a striking contrast within the landscape by revealing a luxuriant, green oasis in the lead up to the headquarters. This duality of the landscape also provides a logical visual allocation of energy resources.
Working closely with architects Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the sculpted geometry within the headquarters is extended out into the landscape through a series of dunes that curve around the roads and lead to the headquarters. Comprised of a stabilised sand and gravel mix, these weather resistant dunes provide those driving past the site with a rich visual aesthetic experience, whilst at the same time accentuating the shape of the desert.
Weaving between the dunes before tapering off at the edge of the site, the ribbon gardens draw the green of the oasis out into the desert, gradually becoming more indigenous towards the edge of the site away from the protective micro climate of the buildings.
Oasis garden spaces are also an integral feature of the landscape masterplan, occurring adjacent to the recreational spaces, corporate training centres and carparks. Aesthetically absorbing, the oasis gardens refer to the traditional agricultural language of the oasis through the incorporation of water features and crop planted areas, whilst adding a sense of texture and intimacy.
Martha Schwartz, Head of Martha Schwartz Partners said, “As one of the major workplaces in Doha, we felt it was crucial to go beyond international design language and make the public realm specific to the area. The oasis, dunes and plants will create a truly striking visual display, while retaining a sense of cohesion with the hardscape.
“I always relish the opportunity to work on projects like this in the Middle East; clients tend to be really willing to try new ideas and I think this project is really symbolic of that open-mindedness.”
About Martha Schwartz Partners Ltd:
Martha Schwartz Partners (MSP) was founded in 1990 to provide a full range of landscape design services conceived and executed at the highest artistic level possible. Over the years, our practice has evolved from providing landscape services primarily for private sector urban environments to large-scale public projects, land reclamation and planning studies on complex sites.
With considerable talent and experience, MSP brings balance between environmental practice and aesthetics to national and international projects ranging in scale and scope from public plazas, parks, master plans, reclamation, mixed-use developments to art commissions and private residences.

REEM ISLAND - ABU DHABI, U.A.E.

A Canopy as Social Cathedral, New York

One of the best new works of architecture in New York isn’t a flashy skyscraper or museum but a fairly modest structure, an angular glass canopy over an obscure but busy pedestrian street called North End Way, in the shadow of One World Trade Center no less.

The canopy designed by Preston Scott Cohen covers North End Way, a pedestrian alley in Battery Park City.

The angular glass canopy, commissioned by Goldman Sachs for its headquarters, elevates a gap between two buildings into something almost as inspired as the nave of a Gothic cathedral.

Designed by Preston Scott Cohen, the canopy covers 11,000 square feet of an easement in Battery Park City; effectively, North End Way is a north-south passageway or alley, lined with shops and restaurants. Part of what makes this a notable public space is the quality of construction: the granite sidewalk, the lighting, the stainless-steel and glass storefronts, the street furniture. Goldman Sachs, whose headquarters at 200 West Street backs onto North End Way, owns and developed the arcade, which is zoned for public use. But it’s the canopy, which Goldman also commissioned, that formally elevates what is really just a gap between two buildings into something almost as inspired as the nave of a great Gothic cathedral.

It is composed of three tilting, jagged triangles. Picture giant shards of glass. They filter light gracefully through enameled panes, the light shifting with the passing day. The longest triangle is Mr. Cohen’s big statement: It slices the arcade, which bends toward the south end, along the diagonal. That sweeping diagonal brings together what could otherwise be — precisely because North End Way isn’t straight — a disjointed space. Stretching the length of the easement, the diagonal provides counterpoint to the regular beat of the canopy’s steel ribbing and the modules of 200 West’s facade.

This all may sound complicated, but there’s an elegant simplicity to the three triangles slung from the same long wall. Those glass planes explode outward, upward and downward from the horizontal line where the canopy connects to 200 West. The tension between that steady horizontal and the fun-house effects of the triangles is what gives North End Way its architectural drama.

The arcade belongs to an informal network of pedestrian circulation on the West Side of Manhattan, which includes the riverfront paths and parks, among them the High Line. It’s kind of an inside-out High Line. People walk the length of the High Line to go from one spot to another but also just to be up there and look around; they pause in the arcade too, because the canopy makes it a destination.