The public servants won’t be some remote administrators taking decisions behind thick walls, but will be visible in their daily work from all over the market place via the light wells and courtyards. From outside the panoramic windows allow the citizens to see their city at work. In reverse the public servants will be able to look out and into the market place’s making sure that the city and its citizens are never out of sight nor mind.
The building’s tallest corner is lifted up to m in order to maximize the inflow of natural daylight as well as views towards Gärdet and the Frihamnen port for most of its units. The modules cascade down to the building’s lowest profile at just m, gradually extending the wooden development into the park. &Park appears like a gentle hillside, seamlessly blending into the nature around it.
At street level the floors are shifted backwards and forwards to create green terraces and canopies facing the park. In the middle of the silhouette, where the tower turns residential, the floor plates slide out in a spiraling movement, creating terraces and outdoor space for residents. In its upper section the tower returns to a simple stack of optimized floor plates, completing its twist to rejoin the orientation of the floors below. These inhabitable movements bring human scale from street level into the skyline, embodying the unique character of Frankfurt.
Al Wasl Plaza will be the heart of the Dubai World Exhibition as well as the center of the future community of the legacy neighborhood. During the day it will serve to shade thousands of visitors as they congregate at the center of the Expo between visits to the plethora of pavilions. At night it will become the arena for the rich program of performances and spectacles that will take place every night during the expo.
Rather than a square tunnel through the building, the gateway is conceived as a smooth transition from one façade to the other, turning the surface of the museum inside out. In the direction of the bridge, the building will consist of a procession of parallel concrete frames that change in scale, from generous to intimate as you pass through. Similarly, the species of trees will range from big to bonsai and back again. The façade will seem to cave in like a loophole from front to back. Viewed from the front, the building is opaque and enigmatic. As people pass through, it turns out to be an entirely transparent space with works of art in all directions. The passageway becomes a promenade through an art archive. The building’s insides will be exposed on the outside, and its main façade will