Architects RMJM commissioned for Madinat Al Soor

International architecture practice RMJM has been signed by Nakheel to design the million square metre Madinat Al Soor mixed use development at Dubai Waterfront.

The project, whose name means ‘city of the wall' will provide a sustainable, pedestrian city for around 20,000 people, and includes housing, civic facilities and hotels. The project will be developed by RMJM's offices in New York and Dubai.

"The Madinat Al Soor development will tie together the best elements of the ‘Old Dubai' and the ‘New Dubai'," said RMJM's New York-based design studio director Steven K. Gifford. "It will be unlike any other city or development in the region - liveable, walkable and sustainable."

The development will make use of Arabic town planning techniques and a reinterpretation of vernacular architecture. "The project takes its inspiration from traditional architecture and spatial forms, yet the final design for the individual buildings and spaces will reflect a contemporary understanding of the Arabic architectural vernacular," said Bahram Shirdel, design director of RMJM in Dubai.

RMJM plans to make use of local sustainable design techniques with an emphasis on passive solar shading and siting to achieve a natural cooling effect. Buildings will have a combination of solar shading and light ventilated roof systems.

The name ‘Al Soor' or ‘The Wall,' originates from the development's most prominent structure - a large, inhabited wall element on the western tip of the site. The site is surrounded by water on three sides - the north side has a beach and the south, a quay.

Nakheel's Dubai Waterfront aims to transform 1.4 billion square feet of empty desert and sea into an international community for an estimated population of 1.5 million people.

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