Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Images: Foster unveils green utopia in the desert
8 May, 2007
Foster + Partners says the walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi will be the world's first zero-carbon and zero-waste city
Foster + Partners has revealed these images of what it claims to be the first zero carbon, zero-waste city in the world.
The Masdar development in Abu Dhabi is a 6 km sq, car-free “walled-city” scheme. The development is being driven by Abu Dhabi’s Future Energy Company and will include a new HQ for the company as well as a new university.
Norman Foster said: “The environmental ambitions of the Masdar Initiative – zero carbon and waste free – are a world first. They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”
Unveiled today at the Cityscape conference in Abu Dhabi, Foster + Partners said Masdar would be a dense, walled development constructed in two stages. The first phase would see the construction of a large photovoltaic power plant, which would later become the site for the second phase.
The surrounding land will contain wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, so that the city will be entirely self-sustaining, the architect said.
The development is set to open in late 2009.
Readers' comments
Truly inspiring.
A very interesting and possible project, but a very important part was not mentioned - potable water and sanitary waste treatment. Without some mention of these, it is difficult to discuss a truly carbon and waste-free sustainable environment.
Excellent article.
It is inspiring for the educational aspects but is it necessary to build? The process of construction of a 6 sq km site would consume so much resources and energy that it could take years and years to cover the resources that they have used. Apart from that, it is a one-off educational scheme - where do you get clients like that these days? Is it gonna be set as an example to be mass produced throughtout the whole world or are we yet again building Norman Foster's ego?
The images are great, but they are a little too green for that climate... it will be interesting to see where all the water will come from and who will be the engineer to actually make it work...
This certainly lacks details. Great if it can be done but let's say I'm a tad sceptical. There isn't enough information in this blurb to inspire rapture, folks. Maybe you read lots of convincing prose somewhere else.
Am I the only one who sees a bladerunner future here? The darkness of the images and the fact the city is self-contained, like a large version of a gated community or, worse, a barracks is not inspiring to me, but makes me weary of where this is going.
We are one planet. This project may sound great, but we are interconnected even if we all become self-sustaining. Where is the colour, the daylight, the life?
It's a very hard and angular scheme, a welcome change to the free flowing curves of contemporary design.
The planning and layout is more comparable to a fortress than a desert oasis.
It is an echo, a structural manifestation, of an ancient Aztec civilisation (minus the solid gold monument devoted to the Sun God).
This represents an archaic pattern, more like Mohenjodaro and Harrapa. The ideas of the future are not to be walled. A freedom and an inspiration which we need to see in the future cannot be forseen with such an inhibited approach.
Sustaining is crucial, but this is premature and archaic as a system. The future of urbanism is far more complex than this idea.
Well. Whether it gets built or not and whether it works or not, what it will demostrate is the possibilities and the errors which we can learn from before the next venture.
Having said that the images are too fantastic. I mean, I know architects need to sell the vision through visuals but c'mon they didn't have to put in those super-future railroads and stuff.
They also miss on technicalities (at least in the featured article). The rest is fine. I have no complaints. Look at . See C quarters Doha.
The phrases 'zero-carbon' has become copmpletely debased. How much energy, dreived from carbon-based fossil fuels, will be used in constructing this city? Of course if you invest enough energy at the start of the project by providing wind turbines and PV cells you can make the city energy self-sufficient in operation. But it is in no way 'carbon neutral'.
As a long-time resident of the UAE, it will be interesting to see if the goal can be achieved, set against the back-drop of one of the most energy-intensive, wasteful societies on the planet (a duffle coat is needed in the shopping centres and hotels, even mid-summer when it is 45 deg C outside).
Bon chance!
The embodied energy of Creating 6sq km of built work is going to be massive, and it will take years for any sustainable environment to make that up. I don't think they've made solar powered dump-trucks and hoist-cranes yet.
Plus, it's been proven time and time again that people will not thrive in a rigidly prescribed urban context. People need opportunities for growth, change and spontaneity. Cities need to develop with well intentioned guidelines and rules, not with pre-ordained forms and layouts.
This will be an interesting learning experience if it is completed. But Rome wasn't built in a day, sustainable or otherwise.
Theoretically it's a music to the ears - a city that is entirely sustainable. But to consider this as something more than just a theoretical utopian idea we need to hear more, much more about the way this is going to be built, the materials used, the techniques applied, the current state of the site and so on.
Good sustainable intentions are a worldwide trend but only a few designs end up being truely sustainable. I hope that we will be able to hear more from Sir Norman Foster about how this idea is going to become a reality. Stories in architect magazines tend to be "teasers" rather than a true share of information and we readers have to get more than just nice fantastic pictures and promises.
Without the background information about what concepts might be applied, both the title of ths story and the images might be rather misleading and provocative.
Carbon Neutral? Sell ice to eskimos, tents are carbon neutral. What is the true cost of Foster's new build? Foster's projects tend to embed excessive energy very early on in their conception and during construction.
History has shown that the production of waste is a human condition. Is this city for humans?
This a grand experiment for certain. It will be fascinating to see how it unfolds. The comments on the wall surprise me. I'll bet 90% of those knocking the wall are died-in-the-wool anti-sprawlers. How ironic.
I can only Applause, this project is one of the most ambitious I have ever seen. I think this is the next Era of architecture. YES YES i like it sooooo much, Lord Norman Foster and his partners are on top.
this is just awe-inspiring
Wow! I will be an RA at MIST- university at MASDAR CITY- and then student. I hope to be very nice.