MANAMA URBAN OASIS

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MANAMA URBAN OASIS

Type

Commercial › Retail
Hospitality + Sport › Restaurant
Cultural › Gallery Cultural Center Museum
Government + Health › City Hall
Landscape + Planning › Public Park
Transport + Infrastructure › Parking

SIZE

1,000,000 +

Bab Al Bahrain Urban Oasis explores the value of the cultural and
natural landscape inheritance as a design opportunity to address climate issues
in public space, while catalyzing the urban potential of the site in the emerging
new city
urbanity. Urban Oasis is called to be the most important public space of Manama, embodying its
dynamic character and showcasing its new sustainable identity. GATHERING
THE HISTORIC AND THE NEW RISING MANAMA. A quiet but profound urban makeover is taking place at Bahrain and especially at its capital, Manama. The city is evolving in the global economy
and becoming the financial hub of the Middle East.
A new urban shape is being unveiled witnessing a dramatic transformation of the
urban fabric, opposing two different urban scales from the traditional historic
city, through the new breathtaking waterfront skyline. Hybridizing urban space with landscape and ecology, the BAB Urban
Oasis represents by its strategic position and historical importance, a great
opportunity to create an exceptional and lively metropolitan interface, able to
link and gather both, the historical tight-knit urban fabric and the new modern
city front. The key issue is how to allow this soft transition while integrating
both, values from historic urban tradition and from modern dynamics, embodying
local landscape character and defining a strong landmark image for this
strategic gathering place of Manama. INTEGRATING
A NEW PEDESTRIAN VOCATION The current reliance on the car as primary means
of transport furthers several difficulties. A ‘drive-in open space’ mentality
has been developed. Therefore the main strategy to reinstate a strong sense of
place is to transform the “passing through” condition of the square into a “stay
in” condition. In the aim to provide a
pleasant pedestrian environment, it must become a social hub with great
attractiveness, with a maximum degree of social interaction and activity. This
pedestrian new vocation of BAB
Square is a key condition to ensure spatial
relationships to connect and recognize the nearby neighborhood context. The urban strategy consists in moving down to the
underground level the current circulation pathway in front of BAB, giving access
by the way direct to the underground parking of the Square. This underground
by-pass will allow relieving congestion in the traffic over the Historic gate,
enhancing East- West urban connectivity, with a more fluid express way.
This measure allows the redesigning of the
existing runabout in order to facilitate pedestrian crossing and minimize the
presence of cars within the square, sewing the cut created by the Government Avenue.
Moreover, a new large unifying pavement surface will integrate a quiet urban
drop-off zone for the new Square and the BAB building. The access to the Suq by
car under the archways of the Bab Al Bahrain will be still allowed enhancing
the position of the building as a gateway to the City. This new shared
interface will encompasses new forms of accessibility and attracts people from all
directions to have a great urban experience.
A
SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE LANDMARK: THE URBAN OASIS Envisioning a progressive attitude towards
sustainability in the MENA region, our proposal introduces an integrated
cultural and ecological vision for Bab Al Bahrain. Very careful attention has
been given to sustainable design principles, in terms to create a main
bioclimatic passive strategy, which allow with simply good practices the
emerging of a unique and world class public space. The BAB Urban Oasis proposal looks forward to
activate the use of outdoor spaces throughout the day, using passive cooling
devices to naturally cool and mitigate the hot daytime environment. Threes, plantings,
land modulations greening, innovative buildings and shade structures are all key
figures to shape a more pleasant environment and to increase a wide range of outdoor
activities. The project is composed of tree main layers
evolving in a symbiotic and sustainable way. In response to the climate, a
monumental urban canopy like a sun umbrella will provide shade, shelter, and
comfort to the pedestrian areas placed below. Climate comfort ensures having a
meeting place that offers a relaxed natural atmosphere, a real oasis away from
the stress of urban conditions, experiencing wellbeing and nature in an organic
artificial topography. Over the cultural programs and under the shade canopy, a
large open space is defined by its artificial geography. It groups silent and
shaded calm zones along its gardens patios and green slopes, rather than
offering a traditional public space. The public urban ground level, with its
open spaces, water landscaping and main public pedestrian and car access, will
host the principal cultural and urban facilities. A gentle descending slope garden
will draws people towards a central entrance accessing some programs and
parking. A
SOLAR CANOPPY A bioclimatic passive strategy generates a three shaped structure
roof introducing a large scale architectural element which deals with climate
issues and with the new metropolitan scale of the new waterfront. It allows
several possibilities to integrate a solar photovoltaic system, powering the
complex, saving energy consumption and reducing CO2 emissions. Moreover, the
canopy allows northern light to penetrate while no direct sun rays enter, while
natural convection is encouraged, benefiting from its exposure to the breezes
and prevailing winds through the complex.
The geometrical roof structure embodies a classical timeless
reference to Arabic spatial culture, creating at the same time an exiting
pedestrian experience under the visual roof continuity, becoming a world-class
cultural and leisure destination. Defining itself as an urban ecological device,
the canopy will become a strong metropolitan image, such an iconic horizontal
landmark which will provide identity to the whole area. PUBLIC
SPACE AS A MODERN URBAN CATALYST Instead of proposing divorced programs hosted by separate buildings
over the square (relocation of the Central Post Office building, the National
Archives and the Children's Museum), we propose to identify strategic programmatic
overlaps between them bringing together certain public activities, and adding new public activities to intensify the
social gathering. Therefore URBAN OASIS could be defined as a new modern urban
catalyst. Re-assembling the different program units and the new additional
cultural infrastructure into a living 24-hour open public space, the proposal seeks
to introduce a permanent “all-day program core structure”. While irrigating a
constellation of little urban amenities such shops, bookstores, gift shops, flower
markets, cafes, and restaurants, living open spaces, etc, mixed with leisure
and wellness programs like multipurpose hall, showrooms, art craft galleries
etc, this strategy uses the resources of one program to amplify the potentials
of the others, what could be impossible if they remains conventionally
segregated and stratified. Introducing a new integrated system of soft mobility (like shuttles,
personal electric devices or small people movers) and keeping the same amount
of parking spaces in the underground, the project aims to become a small scale multimodal
hub, drawing people in from all around.
In such way, the new BAB square project creates a programmatic link,
benefiting from the pedestrian network of the Manama Suq entrance, connecting
it with the attractiveness of the Bahrain
Financial Harbor
complex, creating a dynamic spot, gathering a very wider public coming from
both destinations. Responding to the evolving lifestyles and changing needs in the
Arab World, this urban strategy fulfills the permanent display of new urban
practices, for a wider range of users, encouraging visitors and citizens to
rediscover BAB as the “greatest place in Manama”
between the Historic
City and the new modern
waterfront skyline. THE
LANDSCAPING FLOATTING DECK This passively
cooled new terrace will provide an innovative urban place, such an artificial
topography, which lends an extraordinary fluidity to the flexible open space, allowing
a network of quiet places to make a pause and enjoy sightseeing. Placed at 5 meters above the square
level, this public space displays great views toward the waterfront, reviving
the memory of the sea on the site. A comfortable footbridge over the King Faisal Highway
will link at this level the Deck with the BFH, creating a continuous pedestrian
pathway from the BAB building to the sea. Views to and from this deck, will ensure
animation to passersby and users, helping to create a livable place. Uses here
would include cafes, small retail frontage, information points and restaurants.
Visitors
stroll up the gentle curves, several informal places are displayed where enjoy
a small pick-nick or laying down for a rest or a quiet evening meander,
allowing a wide range of participation for Manama’s visitors and residents. This deck
will reduce the temperature from soft coastal winds, also moderated by the
shading structure and by the gardens. The pre-cooling fresh air coming from the
gardens will create natural convection to reduce the mechanical cooling
equipment needed for the cultural infrastructure.
BIODIVERSITY:
THE BIOME GARDENS Among the
green areas proposed to reduce the ambient temperature while creating the new
square microclimate, we can find a very special green features: Seven circular
sunken gardens which will be showcased as world vegetal biomes, which will
enhance local and foreign biodiversity. Those gardens of scents will be like
glazed clusters, such a protected special areas. The URBAN
OASIS World Biomes will show the connection between the continents, welcoming
plants from the Arabic world as well as others from the five continents at the
same latitude as Bahrain.
The biomes have a didactic vocation, like open books offering a world wide
botanic panorama. To reduce water consumption, the gardens will filter a part
of the waste water produced by the cultural facilities using purifying natural
plants. The deep courtyard biomes will be irrigated with this recycled water to
create the humid and dry landscapes and encourage biodiversity.