• Ajman, United Arab Emirates

    Location:

    Ajman, United Arab Emirates
  • 8,300 sqm

    Area:

    8,300 sqm
  • Currently ongoing

    Status:

    Currently ongoing
  • Type

    Residential
  • Built Area

    15,600 sqm
  • Client

    Solidere International

Located on a sandy site close to the Arabian Gulf and Ajman in the U.A.E., the project was designed to respond to the urban scale of the client’s large Al Zorah Resorts development.

Several vast and apparently insubstantial, although solid, sheets form broad roofs that mark the outlines of the building for this 8,300 sqm project which consists of a permeable ground level and six upper residential floors. A series of superimposed white concrete slabs penetrate from Marine Square through a forested core that links the Landscaped Parkway, Boardwalk, Resort area and seashore. The protruding slabs change in shape in response to embedded lateral gardens and terraces. They allow interiors of all the apartments to benefit from abundant natural light and sea views. The residences are designed as series of small private villas housed vertically between the floating white slabs. Layered, the building consists of flowing expanses of inhabitable concrete.

  • Diagrams
    Diagrams
  • Section AA
    Section AA
  • Section BB
    Section BB
  • Diagram
    Diagram
  • Diagram 3
    Diagram 3
  • Diagram 4
    Diagram 4
  • Site Plan
    Site Plan
  • Mass Plan
    Mass Plan
  • Plan
    Plan

The design challenges the notion of boundaries and norms in urban space. The pre-stressed white concrete structure is taken to the limit of its flexibility and is supported by a simple grid layering of small columns.

This treelike structure creates an interesting duality between the intimate interior of the building through its planted core, and the infinite visual presence of water on four sides through the lateral private gardens of the apartments. In continuity with linear boardwalk activities, several small-scale low follies wrapped with a reflective, translucent cladding, are inserted between the trees of the landscaped central core of the project. The project is intended as a vertical and horizontal hub for the surrounding context.