The buildings are designed to appear as boats, sailing on the lake.

The top floor of each building is designed as a leisure area.

Natural ventilation helps reduce the cooling load of the air-conditioning system.

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Sailing to sustainability

The ogival arches are themselves an Islamic design feature.

"Imagine an upside-down 'V' and then curve the sides, then you have this type of Islamic arch, almost like a Gothic arch," says Nicoletti.

While each building resembles a sail, they also draw influence from traditional Islamic designs.
"The silhouette of each 'building-ship' resembles that of Islamic mosque domes from the architecture of the Arabian Peninsula and Moghul India."

Soulful structure

The buildings are elevated on a podium, which acts as a linked walkway and covered canopy to the individual buildings.

The free space below is designed to incorporate retail space, utilities, healthcare and recreational facilities.

According to Nicoletti, this is important for giving the development a 'soul'.

"In order to create something that will bring life to the area, public activities need to be located at ground and above ground levels," he says.

"This approach takes precedents from other similar developments around the world."

Sustainable sails

Sustainable design played a key role in the winning bid from Studio Nicoletti Associati and Malaysian architects Hijjas Kasturi Associates, who provided the masterplan of Putrajaya.

"I think that our design, at least from a symbolic point of view and a sustainable point of view, was considered the best," says Nicoletti.

As yet, Studio Nicoletti has not sought any form of green building accreditation such as LEED or BREEAM, but Nicoletti argues that extreme climates can beget sustainable designs.

As an example, he cites the design of a previous project in Kazakhstan-the Astana Concert Hall-which required a comfortable building despite a temperature that fluctuates from -40°C in winter to 40°C in summer.

Extensive experience in extreme climates led to a wealth of information on how to make buildings more efficient.

Nicoletti personally has thirty years of experience in 'bioclimatic architecture'-architecture designed to respond positively to the environment, rather than challenge it-which helped inform the design of Precinct 4.

"We have adopted a lot of bioclimatic experience in order to protect from the sun and heat," he insists.

"For example, each apartment has at least two terraces on either side of the building and everything is protected by sunshaders."

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