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Putting the culture back into the village
As it continues to cultivate a modern cityscape, Dubai continues to look to its past to shape its future. While efforts have been made to secure or recapture its Creek-side heritage in areas such as Bastakia and Shindagha, newer projects such as the Madinat Jumeirah also demonstrate a keenness to evoke traditional elements in modern developments. This is being taken one step further with Dubai Properties' Culture Village.
Located on the Creek, south of Garhoud Bridge on previously unused land, the project, with an estimated value of US $14 billion (AED50 billion), is being specifically designed to re-establish culture to a city that has embraced progression over tradition.
"The whole area is going to be a heritage zone," explains Farhad Seddiq, project director, Dubai Properties. "We have been given a challenge, which is to build it, and we have to bring players into the market that are culturally inclined."
Current plans being outlined are for a new art gallery in the mould of the Tate or National Gallery, a Fine Art University as "there aren't any currently in the UAE to attract young people", and a museum with a heritage maritime theme. Talks are also being held for an Islamic Art Institute and last year, Dubai Properties signed one of the UAE's most prominent artists to keep a permanent workshop.
"Ideally the project should try and educate people about the local culture through museums and art galleries, but this shouldn't overlook the part outside influence has played in its development," says Seddiq. "Don't forget [that] Dubai is a melting pot of cultures, and has been for a long time, so we don't want to miss out on that." Therefore, Culture Village will incorporate local heritage as well as outside culture, with painters from India or Tunisia, for example.
The masterplan has been divided into residential, commercial and retail zones with hospitality and entertainment sub-districts. The residential district will feature traditional low- to medium-rise buildings offering studio, and one- to four-bedroom apartments, while the commercial zone will house cultural institutions including schools, academies for art, music and other crafts. The retail district will feature hotels, restaurants, craft galleries and a souq, which will be the focal point of the retail district.
Culture Village will be completed in three phases. Phase one will be a mix of residential and commercial and phase two is commercial plus entertainment, with Dubai Properties trying to vary the footprint. Each phase will be approximately 1.2 million m2, although the gross floor area will differ within each phase. There will be an estimated 15,000 residents living in phase one, although this may still change.
To ensure that the Culture Village does not become an isolated development within the multitude of projects in the Emirates, discussions are being undertaken to integrate the project with the rest of Dubai. One of the ideas is to ensure one of the two (or possibly three) planned metro stations connecting with Culture Village will be linked to Dubai Airport, so that the large numbers of passengers who are in transit can easily access the development during their stopover. The Roads & Transport Authority has also invited the developers to start communication on the new marine transportation system, which is being developed.
Construction on the site began approximately a year ago, with infrastructure works currently underway and expected to be completed by the first quarter 2008. This includes canal excavation and dredging. There will also need to be some reclamation of some land as the masterplan features five extensions into the Creek. Besix is the contractor for infrastructure and marine works, with Halcrow the consultant and masterplanner. While discussions are still ongoing with developers, firms involved include Emirates Sunland, which is developing Tower D1, reputed to be 80-storeys and designed to be the Middle Eastern version of the Q1 in Australia, which was the tallest residential building in the world.
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