Just when you thought development in the United Arab Emirates couldn’t get any crazier, here comes a new UAE eco-city to rival Masdar. Intended to be entirely sustainable and cater to residents’ every conceivable whim within its four walls, the new Ras al Khaimah eco city development in the United Arab Emirates, design by Rem Koolhaas’s OMA office, is often likened to that of the zero-carbon, zero-waste Masdar. Cutting-edge solar technology will power the 1.2 million square meter city, built using locally-sourced Arabian materials and aesthetic styles to support the city’s overall ethos of sustainability. Leave it to Rem to design something so grand it could possibly upstage Masdar- we’ll see how it unfolds!
Cunning planning means that the least amount of direct sunlight will strike the city’s buildings during the warmest times of day. Lots of narrow streets and open green spaces have also been incorporated to increase natural lighting, shading and resident happiness.
The Gateway Eco City will herald a new era in the development of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, the furthest north of the UAE’s seven emirates and the fourth largest in terms of population. The emirate is endowed with a wealth of natural resources and occupies a prime position on some of the world’s most important trade routes.
The development will consist of five phases, extending over 400 million square feet. Phase 1 will consist of an integrated city to service, support and supplement the capital city of Ras Al Khaimah. The estimated time for completion has been set at 2012.
+ Ras Al Khaimah Eco City
+ Rem Koolhaas/ OMA
It’d be interesting to see how the spacial planning works here… And the densities seem odd for a city like this - two lines of tall buildings away from the centre, very strange… Still, I’m sure there’s some logic behind it. I hope the building design takes something from the vernacular Arabian courtyard houses (which strangely enough were on Around the World in 80 Gardens last night) and don’t go for too technical a solution - I don’t think climatic design is quite there yet to work at this scale successfully…
Great to see so much architecture coming through on the site though, I assume that’s what we’ve got Cate onboard for? Great articles, cheers!