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THE PEARL

year: 2008 | typologie: commercial | status: concept

The “The Pearl” project is an urban development concept in Mirfa in the United Arab Emirates. As a first step, a master plan was drawn up that formed the basis for a large number of individual construction stages and development steps. The analysis of the local identity and building culture as well as the determination of the spatial program stood at the beginning of the planning process. In the United Arab Emirates, from the oil boom to the global economic crisis, pearl fishing and pearl cultivation played a central economic role. Therefore, both in terms of urban planning and in the individual appearances of the building, the formal motif of the pearl, as a reference to history, is taken up. The hotel was not only re-embedded, but a completely new concept - from golf clubs to underwater houses - was also developed.

A project of the architecture collabartion lechner lechner schallhammer. The architecture office is loacted in Salzburg. The project is located in V.A.E in Mirfa.

It was of fundamental importance to adapt the existing Mirfa hotel in Abu Dhabi to the demands of contemporary travelers. The declared goal of the United Arab Emirates is to become independent of oil in the long term and to invest more in tourism. The accessibility of the waterfront, adequate equipment with sports facilities and sufficient leisure opportunities were the requirements that were formulated by the client. A port district with an urban character, a promenade as a promenade, a golf club made up of various small islands, a racecourse, a diving station in the sea, as well as a variety of different residential typologies were designed. The urban form is based on the shell of a pearl. By creating small islands, most units have access to water.

The diving stations are located in the sea, and in their formal language they appear like floating pearls. In front of the beach, settlements in the water, between mangrove forests growing in the salt water, are projected. Behind it stretches the beach with its promenade. The transition from the golf course area to the beach is formulated by a wave in the landscape, under which a row of shops extends. As a final point, underwater houses are designed, which finely structure the transition into the sea.  The entire urban development area is encased by the racecourse. Access by land is in close proximity to the port district via a bridge over which a building structure serves as a lobby.

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