Metropolitan Intervention

Interventions that have an impact on large area of a city and its inhabitants

Apr

2013

Typology

What is a metropolitan intervention?

This is the largest scale type of interventions that take place in the public realm of a city, related to the altering of an important portion of a city. A type of intervention of such magnitude and notoriety that impacts not only at neighborhood scale, but rather the way the city is perceived and experienced, becoming a metropolitan landmark, a metropolitan super-attractor of social interactions, and a trendy international destination for local citizens & tourists.

This typology combines urban planning and landscape design, intervening the city at waterfronts, bridges, parks, or whole districts, by improving the quality of its public realm, creating spaces of opportunity for collective outdoor leisure, mixed-use entertainment spaces, play & joy, etc… Interventions of this proportions catalyze major social interactions across the city, boosting commercial activity and real estate development.

The main objective of this typology is to improve the public realm of an entire city, raising the bar of citizens’ outdoor lifestyle standards, encouraging massive public affluence and cultivating important human dynamics in a given metropolitan area.

Great Green Wall by 100architects

Great Green Wall study Collages

Wavy Beach by 100architects

Open Bottom Tower study model

Starfish by 100architects

City Scape study model

The Ring by 100architects

Urban Piers study model

Type of Intervention

Metropolitan Intervention

Projects

Moments

Projects

A massive public realm activation of pure outdoor leisure and entertainment

Starfish Hub is a massive public realm activation of Saadiyat Marina Village, in the coastline of Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (UAE), a massive development of new urban areas planned for creating an international attracting landmark for Abu Dhabi. The project consists of 5,000 m2 of pure outdoor leisure, fun and entertainment facilities, strategically concentrated in one single multi-functional plaza, seeking a design solution that would transform the area into a major public destination within Saadiyat Island.

STARFISH HUB

Landscape Architecture

A masterplan for a major hotspot for social interactions and outdoor lifestyle

Mamsha Beach Waterfront is a master plan proposal in Abu Dhabi, the design of a waterfront promenade in the coastline of Saadiyat Island, a cultural-maritime enclave that counts with the Guggenheim, Louvre & Zayed National Museums of Abu Dhabi. The project consists of the design of a programmatic waterfront promenade, creating not only a walkway along the beach, but rather a promenade fully equipped with outdoor leisure and entertainment facilities all along the way, in order to massively activate the public realm and transform Mamsha Beach into a major public destination within Saadiyat Island.

WAVY EMIRATE

Landscape Architecture

A masterplan proposal for a riverfront in Seoul

This is a masterplan proposal for the competition launched by the Municipality of Seoul with the purpose of improving the public facilities of the Swimming Pools in Jamsil Hangang Park, not only by renovating the Swimming Pools themselves, but rather by seeking a solution that would reactivate the entire Park as a public destination within the City of Seoul.

THE RING

Landscape Architecture

See More Related Projects >

Publications

Latest

Crystal Pool in Archdaily

Crystal Pool is a creative public space intervention designed for the grand opening of a new mixed-use complex located in the New Bund, the emerging international business center in Pudong (Shanghai), with the aim of fostering entertainment & social interactions among new visitors, appealing to kids, youngsters & adults alike.

Underwater office in Frame

The design of Club Med's HQ in Shanghai was inspired by a swimming pool

Crystal Pool in mooool

水晶池是一项富有创造性的公共空间活动，它因位于上海浦东的新兴国际商务中心-晶耀前滩的新综合用途楼的隆重开业而设计。旨在促进新游客之间的娱乐和社交互动，吸引儿童、青少年和成人

100architects

100architects presenting their recently built project Pegasus Trail in Chongqing.

YouTube Video UCyoOpK5SjZlridYZ2AqFUFQ_EFkx76fOFkY

Mamsha Beach Waterfront is a master plan proposal for Abu Dhabi, the design of a waterfront promenade in the coastline of Saadiyat Island, a cultural-maritime enclave that counts with the Guggenheim, Louvre & Zayed National Museums of Abu Dhabi.

The project consists of the design of a programmatic waterfront promenade, creating not only a walkway along the beach, but rather a promenade fully equipped with outdoor leisure and entertainment facilities all along the way, in order to massively activate the public realm and transform Mamsha Beach into a major public destination within Saadiyat Island.
The master plan design strategy for the waterfront was defined by 3 clear actions:
1. Subdividing the entire length of the beach into smaller and manageable sub-areas, breaking down the project into human-scale sections.
2. Identifying the program of activities and their positioning within each sub-area.
3. Interconnecting all those activities with the pedestrian promenade.
In order to subdivide the 1,500 meters of waterfront promenade into human-scale sections, we created a system of concavities & convexities based on the urban grid of the residential buildings located on the beachfront, resulting in a wavy promenade.

The concavities offer opportunities to create the accesses to the beach and place certain activities on the sand, while the convexities allow a claim for space to the beach, with protruding mini-piers in key areas that establish a system of triangular plazas suitable to allocate bigger groups of entertainment facilities.
Thus the 1,500 m. of Mamsha Beach Waterfront gets subdivided into the following 4 sub-areas:
Zone 1: Active Beach Zone (370 m.)
The most dynamic section of the promenade, more focused of young people, which concentrates most of the sport and fun related facilities, including an Active Triangular Plaza, a Triangular Enchanted Forest, a Sport Platform on the sand and a Wavy Deck.
Zone 2: Watersports Zone (500 m.)
This zone is a balanced area between playful and relaxing, focused on families & kids, which includes water related activities such as the Half Moon Pool, 2 relaxing lounge areas and several kids playgrounds in both sides, the sand and the promenade.
Zone 3: The Pier (500 m)
The waterfront ends up becoming a happening long pier, which hosts all the water sports facilities, short-stay cabanas, a vertical helix park, viewing decks with views over the Guggenheim, sunbathing platforms and large esplanades for big events, performances and shows.
Zone 4: The Private Beach
On the Eastern end of the beach the client envisioned a private beach, meant to be a quiet zone. However, our holistic design approach includes that section of the promenade as a continuation of the same design language, displaying a private lounge pool, a mini-forest with lounge and shading areas, and some other private facilities.

The combination of all the platforms together, arranged along the promenade, makes of this space a major hotspot for social interactions and a model of outdoor leisure lifestyle in the Saadiyat Island, acting as the catalyzer of fun & entertainment activities in Mamsha Beach.

Wavy Beach masterplan introduction movie

YouTube Video UCyoOpK5SjZlridYZ2AqFUFQ_tUmuWLWhzR4

$The Project context Starfish Hub is a massive public realm activation of Saadiyat Marina Village, in the coastline of Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (UAE), a massive development of new urban areas planned for creating an international attracting landmark for Abu Dhabi. The project consists of 5,000 m2 of pure outdoor leisure, fun and entertainment facilities, strategically concentrated in one single multi-functional plaza, seeking a design solution that would transform the plot into a major public destination within Saadiyat Island. The targeted users are families, children and youngsters seeking a premium destination for spending the day, looking for many different types of entertainment and leisure opportunities, such as water sports, pools, outdoor cinema, concerts & events, commercial spaces as well as dining experiences while enjoying a seaside lifestyle. The Retail street Our first design action was to blend both programs together in only one general proposal and create an eventful retail street that ends in the entertainment space that will act as the attractor and catalyzer of outdoor lifestyle dynamics for the entire activation plot. The Entertainment and Attractor platform. To approach the design of this urban landmark & entertainment space we first studied all the functions and program of activities considered essential and necessary for having an outstanding outdoor lifestyle experience. In that regard, activities were chosen having into consideration all group ages and encompassing all possible interests for young users. The Design We drew inspiration from the starfish commonly found in the Arabian coast. We were inspired by fractals used in arabesque architectural patterns, that when revolving around a central axis, it creates a star-like shape where all the “arms” connect with the center. The 12-pointed Starfish Plaza was conceptually conceived as a radial addition of 12 different programmatic platforms with 12 different functions, concentrically arranged towards a common center, which remains empty as the central plaza to host major events, performances and fairs. The design carefully distinguishes each programmatic platform with its own identity, its own function and even its own monochromatic color palette, in order to make them all eye-catching by themselves and easily recognizable within the system. However, it is the combination of all the platforms together, radially arranged, what makes of this space a major hotspot for social interactions and a model of outdoor leisure lifestyle in the Saadiyat Island. The 12 functions embedded in each of the 12 platforms are such as Outdoor Cinema, Relaxing Pool, Pier Pool, Amphitheater, Chill-out Plaza, Sunken Lounge, Omni-Sport Pitch, Forest Plaza, Hammock Plaza, Tree-House Playground, Picnic Plaza, and finally the Crossing Pedestrian Walkway, which connects the retail street with the beach over the central square. Every functional platform is a component has its own identity and function for a specific user and time of the day. This the project becomes a unique and giant mix use platform of public and entertainment spaces where all leisure activities can be found converging in one single center. The new multi-functional plaza complements the open-air retail street at its end towards the beach, acting as the catalyzer of social entertainment and outdoor activities for the entire plot.$

STARFISH HUB official Movie

YouTube Video UCyoOpK5SjZlridYZ2AqFUFQ_eb6KgITQapY

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