Yas Island October 2009
The site
In 2006, Yas Island was a flat landscape of desert and scrubland surrounded by navigable water, east of Abu Dhabi City and close to the main highway past the existing airport. To the north the views stretched out past low lying islands to the open ocean of the Arabian Gulf. A well engineered canal created a moated edge to the site and to the west further canals ran past mangrove nature reserves inhabited by migratory birds.
A blank canvas
The Island is a serene but featureless landscape; a vast sprawl with few undulations, yet it is not remote. Recently constructed roads cross bridges to connect into the site and the alignment of a new 10 lane highway links the Island and new airport to the heart of Abu Dhabi City itself.
Though flat and fairly featureless it is the stark beauty of the edges of the Island that give the clue to the real opportunities. The island’s sandy shores are gently lapped by the azure waters of the south-eastern Arabian Gulf. The surrounding sea presents the opportunity to allow water to penetrate deep into the heart of the Island, creating a real sense of place, a sense of island living.
The Client – Aldar Properties
Aldar Properties PJSC is undertaking multi-billion Dirham civic projects to help develop Abu Dhabi, the capital Emirate of the United Arab Emirates, into an international business magnet and tourist destination. As the Emirate’s premier real estate development, management and investment company, Aldar’s vision is to establish Abu Dhabi as the UAE’s most dynamic forward-thinking real estate market by creating unique and prestigious developments that can be used as a benchmark of quality, whilst adhering to the cultural and natural heritage of the city.
Since launching in 2005, the company has announced assignments worth more than $75 billion USD, in a property development portfolio diverse in scope and style, attracting considerable worldwide interest and inward investment. The development company is owned by leading Abu Dhabi institutions, shareholders and investors, providing them with a sound long-term portfolio.
Aldar Properties has a key competitive advantage due to its sound financial backing, large resources, the high level of management expertise and the Government’s support in undertaking large-scale, market-driven projects which add value to the Emirate’s booming property industry.
At the core of what Aldar stands for is the corporate focus on balancing the evolving needs of a modern city while maintaining and conserving the environment. Aldar’s projects seek to prioritise both the immediate and future physical, social and economic requirements of the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi for the benefit of those who live and work in the region.
The Aspiration: A Resort Island Destination
Aldar’s aspiration for Yas Island is very simple – to create the high quality resort destination of choice the UAE but also the world – a uniquely powerful and sophisticated blend of quality environments, attractions, lifestyle sports, entertainment, major events, living, international brands, local character and flair.
Yas Island represents a key component of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Vision and will help to significantly raise the profile of leisure and tourism in the region, while asserting Abu Dhabi as a key player on the global leisure stage.
The Yas Island Masterplan
Benoy set about developing the ground breaking Yas Island masterplan by establishing the contextual relationship between the key leisure components and the Retail Hub that serves as a community destination for the region. Water and theme parks to the west, stadia and performance arena to the east, residential parks and community spaces to the north, and Benoy’s Ferrari World Abu Dhabi to the south, all align with the masterplanning of the track facilities to create the world’s most amazing and intensive island destination.
The central highway is a key feature for orientation, as was Aldar’s requirement for phase 1 elements to be sited to the south. Large format facilities will not only be obviously visible from ground level but also from the neighbouring flight path, a fairly unique chance to exploit some pure geometric forms. A landmark shopping centre is located as the visible central community hub of the island, with spiral arms of associated retail and leisure radiating out into the landscape to meet the surrounding hotel and golf developments.
The southern marina village links to the key track-side urban edge through a strong matrix of streets and squares. This connects with a string of active waterfront piazzas, full of cafés, restaurants and boutique hotels along a waterfront promenade. A huge marina with yacht havens cluster against the promenade, flanked east and west by iconic resort hotels that exploit key views and waterfronts.
Running up the west side of the island is a links golf course in a naturalised landscape; creating a buffer against the nature conservation area. Further north the golf development dovetails with lagoon resort hotels, arranged on the beach or golf frontage opposite the picturesque mangrove reserves.
The northern part of the island, beyond the central highway, contains beach resort hotels, an equestrian centre, desert golf course, northern marina and business areas, all with dramatic views out to the Arabian Gulf.
Ambitious Triumvirate
Benoy’s Concept Masterplan is a creative response to Aldar’s aspirations for the site. It has a strong core vision and an overall critical mass of high quality, resort style destinations clustered around the Island’s core elements – Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the Race Track and world class retail.
Yas Mall
At the commercial heart of Yas Island sits the 300,000sqm Benoy designed Yas Mall; the building acts as a true focal destination and is arranged within a circular plan form orientated to embrace the visitor from around the globe. A number of entrances encourage a focus into the heart of the centre. Whether it’s from the 650 key gateway hotel, or between its bustling flagship department stores.
This ground breaking three storey super-mall features more than 700 shops, a world class health centre, female crèche, a large ‘kids zone’, multiplex cinema, flexible event spaces, a hotel and over 100 luxury residential apartments.
Race Track
State of the Art International motor racing facilities brand destinations across the globe and Abu Dhabi is no exception. Designed by Hermann Tilke (known worldwide for race circuits such as Shanghai), the proposal brings together everyone’s best experience of international motor sport events at the highest level. The track can accommodate the full spectrum of racing formats, right up to Formula 1. (It is divided into two key sections – a permanent track, for ‘everyday’ events, and an extended street circuit looping around a spectacular marina to take the circuit length up to F1 requirements.) The venue is overlooked by a hotel and residential development as well as iconic grandstands and corporate lounges.
A full range of pit, paddock lounges and team facilities, uniquely arranged along the marina waterfront brands the Abu Dhabi circuit as a very distinctive place in the world of motor racing. In addition, spectacular stadium sections of track bring spectators very close to the action, delivering a unique electrifying experience. The architecture of the team buildings around the track will take their cue from a reinvention of local vernacular themes from the Emirates adding a stark contrast to the adjacent sleek modern forms of the Marina Hotel and Benoy’s Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/dubai/ferrari-world-abu-dhabi-building