Sowwah Central Park

Sowwah, UAE

An invited landscape architecture competition for the design of a central park and plaza at the heart of the financial district of the island.  The goal of the competition brief was to create a distinctive identity for a linear park that would become the centerpiece of the island as well as a cascading plaza that would resolve a grade difference of 11.25 meters.
The goal of this project was to create a distinctive identity for a linear park and cascading plaza that would become the centerpiece of the island.  Titled “A Tale of Two Carpets,” our concept combines a green carpet inspired by geometric patterning with a woven carpet of vertical connections.  The green carpet is punctuated by a series of shade gardens sheltered by 11-meter high flower canopies, with each flower garden distinguished by a particular color of flower bloom.  The woven carpet sits directly over a subterranean retail corridor and is punctuated with colored glass light boxes, ‘woven’ outdoor rooms, small planting areas, and a series of jewel-like vertical connections to the retail that turn the plaza above into an active souk where one could grab lunch and then descend into the shade to enjoy it.  In the location of an 11.25m grade change, the carpet turns into a cascade of patterned shade rooms and planted spaces that spill down to the lower level.

LOCATION
Sowwah, UAE

CLIENT
Private

FACILITY
Park and plaza

SIZE
9.2 Acres

STATUS
Competition