CREEK PLAY

Creek Play
Dubai Creek Harbor | Dubai | UAE

Creek Play is a project to enhance the public realm of Dubai Creek Harbour, for its upcoming opening. The latest ambitious project from Emaar Properties is pedestrian friendly, with humanly scaled streets, spaces for leisure and fun, active public spaces, walkable and discoverable. A new hotspot in the city of Dubai.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

Due to the upcoming release of this world class development, 100 Architects was commissioned to design an outdoor project to enhance the public realm experience of residents and visitors from the Creek Island. A stimulating permanent intervention for entertainment, developed in a linear way along 350 meters of waterfront promenade at the Creek Island’s Marina.

Official Video | 100 Channel
Dubai Creek Play Video

Conceptually conceived as a playful village, the proposal is manifested as an eye-catching playscape for the joy of kids and adults alike, adding a pinch of color and playfulness along the meandering promenade. The area to intervene was so long that we decided to split it in 7 focal nodes of activity evenly spread along its entire length.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

These 7 different stations create a journey of fun, a circuit of eventful surprises along the promenade, offering an alternative playful experience to the mesmerizing creek and Dubai skyline views.
The 7 nodes have a symbolic meaning related to the federation of the 7 emirates as the United Arab Emirates. Hence while each node is rendered as a little village by itself and can be understood as an independent entity, all of them are part of a common project, linked to each other.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

The 7 focal nodes of activity are connected to each other through a series of colorful walls and floor graphics inspired by Dubai’s vernacular arabesque shapes, as the ones used in traditional doors, windows and other elements of vernacular architecture.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

Besides enhancing the vernacular touch of the installation, these sections in between nodes support the immersive experience all along the waterfront promenade, strengthening the connection between nodes and encouraging the transit from one node to another.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

Each node is composed by a conglomeration of capsules forming a stimulating village of fun, in which each capsule offers a different instant function, such as sitting, swinging, sliding, climbing, laying down, playing, hanging, etc…, all of them encouraging the occurrence of social interactions.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

While some of the capsules are mostly focused on kids, some other are thought to be also used by adults. This familiar approach of combining spaces for kids and adults has result in a perfect public space for visitors and residents of all ages.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

Creek Play Moments| Official Video | 100 Channel

Creek Play Interaction | Official Video | 100 Channel

Creek Play Village | Official Video | 100 Channel

CREDITS:

Project Name: Creek Play
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team:Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Marta Pinheiro, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong.
Production: Hong Yang Advertising (Shanghai) + 100architects (Shanghai)
Client: Emaar Properties
Location: Dubai Creek Harbor, Dubai, UAE
Area: 400 linear meters of waterfront
Completion: December 2018

STARFISH HUB

Starfish Hub
Saadiyat Island | Abu Dhabi| UAE

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.

Hidden Starfish Hub | Official Video | 100 Channel

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.

Fractals used in arabesque architecture

Concept diagram of functions concentrically arranged

Functional layout diagram

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.

Credits

PROJECT NAME: Starfish Hub
DESIGN: 100 Architects (Shanghai)
100 ARCHITECTS’ TEAM: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Keith Gong, Cosima Jiang, Inés Chicurel, Adeline Le Cocq.
CLIENT: Undisclosed
SIZE: 5,000 m2
STATUS: Concept Design
LOCATION: Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi (UAE)

AZALEA ECO-BUS STOP

Azalea Eco-Bus Stop
Jiaxing | Zhejiang Province | China

This proposal is part of a series of 2 renovation of bus stops inspired in flowers in Huancheng Nan Road in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China.

“Azalea Eco-Bus Stop” is an eye-catching proposal for the new generation of bus stops located in Nº2: Huancheng Nan Road.

The proposal is inspired in flowers and natural elements due to its nice balance between natural and urban character, in direct relation with a park and the river right next to it, but at the same time located in a very consolidated urban space.

The proposal is strongly inspired by local nature, dragging inspiration from Azalea flowers, often seen in not only in Jiaxing City, but also in Zhejiang Province. The design strategy is over-scaling the leaves of Azalea flower in order to create structures which offer shelter to citizens and users of the bus public transportation.

The seating features and flower pots within the proposal, are also inspired by nature, designed as bending flower stems where people can sit on. To complete a very nature-driven proposal, floor graphics are added to the design, mimicking the shadows of the Azalea leaves projected on the ground.

The natural shape of Azalea plants is actually perfect to act as rainwater collectors, allowing us to reuse the water for the irrigation of the new vegetation decorating the bus stop.
The design of this Bus Stop is not only thought as a sheltering structure, but also as eye-catching and recognizable Urban Landmark for the city of Jiaxing.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Azalea Eco-Bus Stop
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Cosima Jiang, Ginger Huang, Marcial Jesús, Javier González
Client: Young Bird Plan and Jiaxing government
Area: 40m2
Completion: March 2020
Location: Jiaxing, China

LOTUS ECO-BUS STOP

Lotus Eco – Bus Stop
Jiaxing | China

This proposal is part of a series of 2 renovation of bus stops inspired in flowers in Huancheng Nan Road in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China.

“Lotus Eco-Bus Stop” is an eye-catching proposal for the new generation of bus stops in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China.

The proposal is located in Huancheng Nan Road, Jiaxing, China. The site is next to the historical Huancheng river which provides of a very interesting balance between natural and urban character since is in direct relation with a park, but at the same time located in a very consolidated urban space.

The proposal is strongly inspired by nature connected to South China Culture, dragging inspiration from Lotus plants, often seen in Chinese Paintings from the South.The design strategy is over-scaling the Lotus plants in order to create structures which offer shelter to citizens and users of the bus public transportation.

The seating features and flower pots within the proposal, are also inspired by nature, designed as rolling stones where people can sit on. To complete a very nature-driven proposal, floor graphics are added to the design, mimicking the shadows of the Lotus leaves projected on the ground.

The natural shape of Lotus plants is actually perfect to act as rainwater collectors, allowing us to reuse the water for the irrigation of the new vegetation decorating the bus stop. Each Lotus plant is equipped with a solar panel on the top, to collect enough energy to recharge the phone batteries of users and light up the LED lighting at night.

The design of this Eco-Bus Stop is not only thought as a sheltering structure, but also as eye-catching and recognizable Urban Landmark for the city of Jiaxing.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Lotus Eco – Bus Stop
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Cosima Jiang, Ginger Huang, Marcial Jesús, Javier González
Client: Young Bird Plan and Jiaxing government
Area: 40m2
Completion: March 2020
Location: Jiaxing, China

CUCKOO HOUSE

Cuckoo House
Shanghai | China

Cuckoo House is a permanent interior intervention designed to beautify an atrium in a new kids’ commercial space located in the New Bund, the emerging international business center in Pudong (Shanghai), with the aim of fostering entertainment & social interactions among kids.

The mission was to create a visual link between the 2 floors dedicated to kids’ entertainment and kids-related shops, through the atrium that connects both floors. A playful & habitable landmark object arranged in a vertical way, as a tower of cuckoo houses stacked on top of each other.

Taking advantage of the only column that goes from bottom to top through the atrium, the design strategy consisted on dressing it with a system of houses structurally anchored to the column itself.

A simple yet effective beautification exercise crowned on the top house with the cuckoo bird that comes out every hour to indicate the time and entertain the kids.
A vivid and vibrant color palette was carefully selected to make the installation striking and eye-catching to all visitors who approach the kids’ atrium, boosting its visibility from all the angles.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Cuckoo House
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Gong Xun, Marie Anseaume, Cosima Jiang.
Client: Tishman Speyer Properties
Area: 15 m high
Completion: October 2019
Location: Shanghai, China
Photographer: Amey Kandalgaonkar

SEA HORSE

Sea Horse
Chongqing | China

Seahorse is a water park designed for the public space of a new residential area in Chongqing (China).
The surrounding public areas count with a swimming pool as well, which is complemented with this water playscape for kids, with the aim of fostering entertainment & social interactions among kids and adults alike.

Seahorse Video | 100A Chanel

Following with the themed series of Horse playgrounds from our client, they commissioned us this new playscape with the particular request that this one had to include water features in it.
When relating the Horse theme park and the water features, it was obvious for us that the twist of this project had to be a Sea Horse approach, the Horse of the water realm.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

Therefore, the water park features a main sunken wet area in the shape of a Sea Horse, which can be understood not only from a pedestrian point of view within the playscape, but also from all the surrounding residential towers.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

As main wet area, the Sea Horse sunken platform hosts the big majority of water features, customized in the same color palette, and sprinkling water towards the interior of that sunken wet platform. Those dry playful features are designed in a circular shape, mimicking water ripples of activity.

The surrounding areas of the Sea Horse are treated in a contrasting striped color palette, defining a dry play area which contains dry playful features in order to make the playscape usable & playable also during winter months.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

The resulting image is a colorful and eye-catching playscape, which includes playing features for kids as well as shaded seating features for adults, visible from all the residential towers surrounding the central public space.

©Amey Kandalgaonkar

CREDITS:

Project Name: Seahorse
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Mónica Páez, Lara Broglio, Gong Xun.
Client: Dongyuan Dichan
Area: 650 m2
Completion: September 2019
Location: Chongqing, China
Photography: Amey Kandalgaonkar

HANG OUT

Hang Out
Pingjiaqiao lu | Shanghai | China

Hang Out is a creative public space intervention designed for one of the main plazas 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. The big hexagonal structure is divided in 6 smaller equilateral triangles. Each of the 6 triangles offers a different hanging function for the public space.

Hang Out Movie 1

Inspired by the triangulation of crystals’ structures, the project is shaped as a huge hexagonal structure from which different fun features are hanging down, creating a suspended public space. This is a particular design approach that has been researched and tested for a while in our office, and has been finally implemented in an outdoor public space.

A hanging public space in which all the functions are provided from above, experimenting with the feeling of gravity added to daily public features. Each of the 6 equilateral triangles is equipped with a different hanging function designed to encourage and foster social interactions among users.

The functions are hanging ball-swings, hammock nets, a hanging picnic, a pipe forest and a hanging lounge. The hexagon arises from the graphics on the floor, combining two of the typical typologies researched in the office: Painted Scapes & Grounded Objects.

It is intentionally designed that way in order to provide a more immersive experience, which starts from its surroundings when approaching the object. The Painted Scape on the floor makes it also more eye-catching not only to passersby, but to residents and workers that from the surrounding towers can have a top visual of the graphics.
The resulting installation is a very stimulating & instagrammable space for having fun, interacting with others, resting, playing and whiling away for some time in an open area.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Hang Out
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Gong Xun,
Yevheniia Likhachova, Marie Anseaume, Cosima Jiang.
Client: client -ShangHai Renyao Real Estate Co.&ShangHai Renlu Real Estate Co.
Area: 750 m2
Completion: September 2019
Location: Number 36 ,Pingjiaqiaolu ,Pudong new district.Shanghai, China
Photography: Amey Kandalgaonkar

CRYSTAL POOL

Crystal Pool
Crystal Plaza | Pingjiaqiao Road | Shanghai | China

Crystal Pool is a creative public space activation 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.

The main installation is a gathering of playing and resting functions for kids, youngsters and adults alike. It aims to activate for the entire commercial area attracting users from all over Shanghai.

Official Video | 100A Channel

The project comprises the staircase that connects the street level with the public rooftop of the commercial building, and also the landing area on the street level in an attempt to link both levels through an eye-catching intervention which could encourage visitors to use the staircase as a public space as well.

The staircase was sprinkled with “water drops”, different typologies of mini-tribunes, carefully designed to provide a range of different seating & lounge positions overlooking the whole central intersection plaza. Those “water drops” would then create a “water puddle” on the bottom landing area, a pool of fun for the younger visitors, containing an obstacle track and a virtual pool with fun features as a playscape. The resulting intervention is rendered as a playscape on the street level, filled with basic geometrical objects such as bubbles and waves to be colonized by kids, besides shaded seating features for adults.

The resulting intervention is rendered as a playscape on the street level, filled with basic geometrical objects such as bubbles and waves to be colonized by kids, besides shaded seating features for adults. Plus a funky staircase, turned from just a circulation space into a space to stay, to rest, to lay down and contemplate the urban enclave.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Crystal Pool
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Gong Xun,
Yevheniia Likhachova, Marie Anseaume, Cosima Jiang.
Client: client -ShangHai Renyao Real Estate Co.&ShangHai Renlu Real Estate Co.
Area: 680 m2
Completion: September 2019
Location: Number 36 ,Pingjiaqiaolu ,Pudong new district.Shanghai, China
Photography: Amey Kandalgaonkar

SPECTRUM

Espectrum
Crystal Plaza | Shanghai | China

Spectrum is a series of 2 indoor interventions in the main atriums of the commercial space from 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. The base of the project is a multi-functional platform that provides simple and colorful volumes that can be used for playing and resting for kids and adults alike.

The project is inspired by the physical phenomenon of the spectrum of colors derived from a light ray when intercepting a crystal, in which the light ray gets split into a range of different colors.
A colorful and rather sculptural installation designed to beautify the main indoor social spots of the commercial space.

From the skylights of both atriums, a group of colorful light rays represented by colorful nylon strings invade the voids, creating rainbows of colors that cross the 25 meters of void from top to bottom until reaching the floor, where they create colorful plazas.

The colorful plazas at the bottom consist on a group of circular platforms of activity, shaped by the light rays, intersecting each other to compose a unitary space under the strings. Seating features and playful domes arise from those circular platforms, providing the functionality of the installation.

The result is a stimulating space for interacting with others, resting, playing and whiling away for some time. Visible from all floors, the colorful strings are an eye-catching element that triggers the curiosity of visitors to approach the atrium and look into the void to discover the what is happening.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Spectrum
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Gong Xun,
Yevheniia Likhachova, Marie Anseaume, Cosima Jiang.
Client: Crystal Plaza
Area: 750 m2
Completion: September 2019
Location: Crystal Plaza ,Pingjiaqiaolu ,Pudong, Shanghai, China
Photography: Amey Kandalgaonkar

BIG BANG

Big Bang
Crystal Plaza | Number 36, Pingjiaqiao lu | Shanghai | China

Big Bang is a creative public rooftop activation designed for a new mixed-use building 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. It is a “painted scape” that acts as a platform that offer multiples activities for different age groups. From shading structures with resting features to playing, performing and learning areas.

Big Bang Movie | 100A Channel

The project is located in a 2-story rooftop which is always open to public, with direct access from the street level and the indoor commercial space. It sets an outdoor public platform for social interactions.

The design was conceptualized as an explosion of colors in the public rooftop of the commercial building, releasing colorful debris from the epicenter to the sides, which becomes either seating features or shading structures.

In the epicenter of the explosion emerges a hill of activities, dividing the multifunctional platform in 2 areas. One side of the hill is dedicated to playful activities for the entertainment of the younger visitors, such us slopes, tunnels, climbing surfaces, etc…

The other side of the hill was designed to host small gatherings, events and workshops, not only for kids but for youngsters and adults as well, and therefore it features different types of tribunes and mini-amphitheaters.

The resulting intervention is rendered as a system of 4 transversal stripes of triangulated colors and various activities, occupying the rooftop from border to border. A public platform for social interactions and dynamics impossible to miss when walking through the rooftop.

CREDITS:

Project Name: Big Bang
Design: 100architects (Shanghai)
Design Team: Marcial Jesús, Javier González, Lara Broglio, Mónica Páez, Gong Xun,
Yevheniia Likhachova, Marie Anseaume, Cosima Jiang.
Client: client -ShangHai Renyao Real Estate Co.&ShangHai Renlu Real Estate Co.
Area: 1040 m2
Completion: September 2019
Location: Number 36 ,Pingjiaqiaolu ,Pudong new district.Shanghai, China
Photography: Amey Kandalgaonkar