Landscape Architect & Specifier News

FEB 2015

LASN is a photographically oriented, professional journal featuring topics of concern and state-of-the-art projects designed or influenced by registered Landscape Architects.

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34 Landscape Architect and Specifier News groundscape mitigates these variable conditions or uses them to its advantage, resulting in a project that is simultaneously innovative and stunning. As an example, an exhaustive process of wind-tunnel studies led the team to use tree canopy in several areas to overcome the wind's force and make the spaces habitable. Creating this landscape required a thorough understanding of the building's multiple functions and inherent mixed-use nature, as well as the multi-model traffic coordination entailed by its adjacency to a bustling urban center. Multiple entries and drop-offs, service access points, garage and structural considerations, and public versus private entrances were just some of the many circulation nodes considered on the ground level, prompting the design of clear navigation and wayfinding graphics to direct visitors towards building entrances as well as public oasis, cooling, and garden areas. Each circulatory system had to be carefully designed and sequenced for the project to function seamlessly, but also consider the nuanced social interactions in Middle Eastern culture. Beyond the choreography of various circulation and access paths, there were coordination complexities induced by fixed design elements, such as emergency exits, intake and exhaust vents, and structural beams and girders, as well as the sequencing challenge of designing the surface landscape while subterranean parking structures were in the midst of construction. Technical and structural complexities abounded as well. How can a robust landscape thrive on layers and layers of structural and mechanical infrastructure that allowed limited soil depth? Last, but certainly not least, were the project's numerous environmental considerations: How can the landscape evoke an oasis within a desert while minimizing water use? The solution to all of these concerns was to stay mindful of locality. Cultural and social customs yielded interwoven circulation and outdoor rooms; local artistic traditions showed up in the use of Islamic patterning as a recurring motif; and finally, an indigenous plant palette maximized scarce water resources and minimized the need for deep soil.

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