Dubai Dancing towers

by Zaha Hadid
Here is a comprehensive set of images of the Dancing Towers
development in Business Bay, Dubai, designed by Zaha Hadid.
The project was launched last year and, when complete, will
consist of three interlinking towers containing offices, apartments
and a hotel.
The towers, which share a single podium, will form the
centerpiece of the Business Bay development.
Below is a statement from the architect:
–
Architectural Project Narrative
Designing an Icon
Zaha Hadid’s design for the Dancing Towers confirms the role of
Business Bay Development at the very forefront of Dubai’s rapidly
changing future. The three towers rise above the creek and
project themselves as an icon for the surrounding developments
and for the gulf region.
The tower's striking design creates a new presence that
punctures the skyline with a powerful recognizable silhouette. The
fluid character of the towers is generated through an intrinsically
dynamic composition of volumes.
The towers are inter-twinned to share programmatic elements and
rotate to maximize the views from the site towards the creek and
neighboring developments.
The design quality of the towers to act as a symbol and icon
extends beyond their scale and location. These qualities are
derived from the boldness of the architectural concept, from the
'choreographed' movement that combines the three towers in one
overall gesture and 'weaves' with a series of public spaces
through the podium, the bridges and the landscape beyond.
Context
There will, in the future, become a silhouette of towers, whose
pinnacles will represent the hearts of the new districts within the
greater metropolitan area of Dubai.
On the ground, the Business Bay development site will become
stitched into the proposed extended road and infrastructure
Network of the enlarged metropolitan area. The new pedestrian
routes and roads passing under and around the Towers
development will extend across the creek, bringing people directly
from Sheikh Zayed Road via a grid of major and minor
thoroughfares and boulevards.
Connectivity and Public Space
The site is composed by 4 different parts: (A) central circular plot,
(B) an elongated park plot, (C) the surface of the creek on axis of
plot A and (D) a rectangular plot across the creek at the west
margin.
Connectivity between these parts becomes therefore central to
the project; in order to produce an articulated design that
encompasses both the scale and the different qualities of each of
the parts, transforming them into a coherent scheme.
The circular shape of the plot and attached vehicular circulation
layout creates a barrier of vehicular traffic around the site,
generating an island that detaches the plot from the waterfront
promenade.
By incorporating the design of two new link bridges and a new
ground the project effectively multiplies the potential and
connectivity of the site, linking the park at the East - via the towers
with the water's edge at the West margin of the creek
The site's spectacular location at the waterfront engages the
project in the continuous promenade that links through the whole
development. By converting the semi-circular road into a tunnel
next to the waterfront the proposal releases the ground surface to
the pedestrian, significantly enlarging the public space of the
promenade. The podium addresses the waterfront by extending
it's landscape across and inducing pedestrian movement into the
promenade at ground level.
The enclosed bridges allow for people to walk from one point to
the other in a comfortable shaded environment. During the
summer the bridges would be fully air conditioned. During the
winter they would be opened and operate with natural cross
ventilation.
The bridge across the creek has a double deck that allows for two
different uses: one fast - crossing the creek aided by escalators
and travelators, and the other slow with the possibility of having a
restaurants and shops on its wider section. We envisage plot D as
a landing building attached to the bridge, programmed with leisure
or entertainment activities.
This 'habitable' bridge, with its prominent location at the centre of
the creek' - its own programmed and design - will undoubtedly
establish itself as an icon in its own right: a destination for Dubai,
attracting local public and foreign tourists alike.
The bridge to the east links the park (B) with the retail podium and
the Offices' tower. The design of the park carefully knits the built
environment with nature. The proposed soft landscape and water
features create a more intimate atmosphere, with a terrace of
restaurants and bars embedded at the end of the bridge.
The creek waterside promenade and the park promenade
address the water elements in two different scales of intervention.
The creek public promenade offers the public broad views and
vistas. The park provides a more intimate scale surrounded by the
trees. The two interventions enrich the overall development by
creating a diversity of spaces that allow for multiple uses and
different ambiances.
In the proposal a new ground is created with a raised landscape,
additional levels that contain program underneath. Under the
great arch formed by the merging of the Residential and the Hotel
towers, this canyon - like arch space extends linking the two sides
of the site and breaking the perimeter circulation. Arrival at the
Hotel drop-off is done under the arch and plaza - townscape, with
reception and concierge services, lounge area, as well as bars
and restaurants underneath.
This canyon - like space between the towers has a seamless
character, connecting the landscape around the podium, with a
proposed network of pedestrian paths weaving around the base
of the three towers and the podium various entrances and drop-
offs. In the interior, the canyon links the two cores of the Hotel
with the podium.
Program
Programming of public and private life is an active tool to inject life
into the space, integrating new layers of activity and landscape,
creating a network of synergetic uses that can develop a new
urban ecology.
The program was addressed as a whole with the three towers
corresponding directly to the three main functions: offices, hotel
and residential. Together, the towers generate a critical mass of
sustainable programmatic relationships.
The towers share a common base / podium, designed as a
materialized shadow of the towers and programmed with retail,
restaurants and amenities that support the demand from the
tower's population. The podium also contains peripheral functions
of the Hotel like the Banquet Hall complex and all the residential
car parking.
Under the podium 4 levels of basement accommodate all the
necessary heavy back of house / servicing program, underground
technical and plant rooms and car parking for the Retail and Hotel
(1st basement) and for the Offices (remaining 3 basements).
The podium terraces / rooftops create outdoor spaces for leisure
and recreation, featuring public swimming pools, spa, sports
areas and esplanade restaurants. The textured landscape quality
of these terraces creates a new ground that interconnects
between the towers.
The three towers are conjoined two by two, the Offices and the
Hotel at the base and the Hotel and the Residential at the top.
Through these adjacencies, the towers are strategically organized
in a symbiotic relation, sharing certain segments of the program.
On the 7th level, the floor plates of the Hotel and the Office towers
merge creating a link to the Hotel Business Centre (part of the
Offices tower) with meeting rooms, office facilities and services for
guests.
The Residential tower shares a core with the hotel, enabling all
the back of house / servicing spine to be combined. At 38th level,
where the floor plates merge, the apartment residents can share
some of the collective program of the Hotel, like the indoor
swimming pool and other amenities.
At the top of the Hotel, 65th Level, the three towers share a
panoramic restaurant with breathtaking views over the creek,
Business Bay Development area, Burj Dubai downtown, and the
Gulf beyond.
The advantage of conjoining the three towers in one organism,
resides in the fact that the development can be lived in a full day
cycle: anchored in its residential population, it reaches the peak of
activity during office hours and it mutates through the diversity of
the ever-changing population of the hotel.
The heterogeneous population mix creates a cosmopolitan urban
environment, constantly energized and renovated through its own
life.
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