Waterfront City masterplan by OMA, Dubai

Very well known architectural studio Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has completed the Masterplan of Waterfront City, a city to be built by development company Nakheel in Dubai. Waterfront City is a part of larger 140,000,000 m2 Waterfront development that includes also a project called The Palm Jebel Ali, which is a complex of artificial islands of palm tree shape. Waterfront city is Dubai’s largest development providing homes for 1.5 million new inhabitants, effectively doubling Dubai’s population and creating one million jobs.

Located against Dubai’s western border, Waterfront will occupy the prime position between Dubai as the emerging metropolitan centre of the Gulf and neighbouring Abu Dhabi. OMA’s masterplan has total floor area of 11,800,00 m2 consisted of a central island district surrounded by four neighbouring districts - the Boulevard, Madinat Al Soor, the Resort and the Marina and there is also connection to 6 artificial islands meant for residential housing.

Dubai developer Nakheel commissioned OMA in early 2007 to design a high density development that was free from dependency on the car. As a solution to this, Waterfront City is designed with the density of Manhattan in mind and offers a compact solution for a modern day metropolis. Commerce, retail, culture and private accommodation are programmatically mixed to create a lively city centre within the Waterfront development.

The central Island district is the defining element of the design of Waterfront City, surrounded by water on all sides it stands alone as a landmark itself. With a gross floor area of 7,000,000 m2 the Island is based on a grid of five streets by five streets. This creates a city on a human scale ensuring not only the ease of traffic passing through the city but also creating walkable distances between blocks. In one corner of the square will be built remarkable building the World in the shape of a sphere. This, even though its appearance recalls the Death Star of the legendary sci-fi film Star Wars, should include a hotel, offices, shops and restaurants.

To ensure maximum shading and climate control in the city the higher building masses are concentrated on the south side also making efficient use of wind flows for cooling. To guarantee further protection from the sun each city block is lined with arcades and planted with trees.

Each of the five districts making up Waterfront City possess their own individual character.

All of the surrounding areas as well as the Island are connected by a comprehensive public transport system, including Dubai’s new metro train system. Waterfront City will have a direct link to the Al Maktoum International Airport, currently under construction and set to become Dubai’s main airport hub.

With a predicted residential population of 92,000 and a working population of 310,000 people Waterfront City is set to become a lively city centre 24 hours a day.

This project is led by Reinier de Graaf and Rem Koolhaas whose past projects include Gateway City (also an entire new city development) and the Jebel al Jais Mountain Resort for the Emirate of Ras al Khaimah, as well the design for the Riga Art Museum and the development of the EU barcode.