Spin off: All expenses paid for one year... Palm al Jumeirah (Dubai) or Meixi Lake City (China)

The Palm Jumeirah is an artificial archipelago created using land reclamation by Nakheel, a company SQUARE owned by the Dubai government in United Arab Emirates and was designed and developed by HHCP architects. It is one of three islands called the Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira) which extend into the Persian Gulf, increasing Dubai’s shoreline by a total of 520 kilometres (320 mi). The Palm Jumeirah is the smallest and the original of three Palm Islands under development by Nakheel. It is located on the Jumeirah coastal area of the emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The lake provides for boat transport linkages, creates conditions for edge gardens, provides a habitat for fish which encourages recreational fishing, and makes places for cultural venues, reports Arch Daily. Around the circular heart of this water body is wrapped the mixed use CBD. Here, high rise building districts are connected by a pedestrian tram street, reducing the need for car use in the city center.

A series of canals will branch out from the lake, winding their way through the city like spokes on a bike wheel. “These radial canals extend into the heart of the distinct residential communities that surround the mixed‐use CBD, said KPF Design Principal Trent Tesch. At the end of each of these radial canals is a vibrant town center which is meant to provide identity and services to the community.”

Each community cluster will house about 10,000 people, and will include its own village center featuring a school, shopping area, and other public functions. These neighborhoods are separated from one another by green buffers which accommodate exercise fields and natural landscape zones. The architecture of each “village” will be different, but material and formal coherence will be encouraged within each zone so as to create a sense of place.

Other environmental strategies include collective gray and black water systems, distributed energy plants, and urban agriculture. A river flood plane is turned into a linear park which includes recreational areas, micro farms, and residential rows.



Read more: Meixi Lake City: Kohn Pedersen Fox Designs a Water-Centric Pop-Up City for China KPF-Master-Plan-Meixi-Lake-Project-2 – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building