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Cluster Complex, Dubai

UAE Skyscraper Development – design by Denton Corker Marshall

1 Feb 2011

Cluster Complex Dubai

Location: Dubai

Architects: Denton Corker Marshall

Striking vertical street takes tall building category, international award

Denton Corker Marshall’s design for a commercial tower/mixed use complex in Dubai has won the Tall Buildings category in the MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Awards.

Recognising unbuilt or incomplete projects, the awards take place at MIPIM, the annual international property market attended by the world’s most influential property professionals.

Denton Corker Marshall’s Cluster Complex scheme is conceived as a striking vertical street in Dubai’s Business Bay district, a micro city to meet the needs of 21st-century creative knowledge workers who characteristically blur their social and working lives.

Rising impressively from a podium, the 75-level office tower is composed of four stacks of individual office buildings clustered vertically up a dramatic 225m atrium.

Below the imposing office tower sit smaller blocks of apartments and a hotel. Retail and recreation uses are accommodated in a linear 5-level podium. A continuous mesh canopy envelopes the podium and grounds the towers in a tapestry of green.

To cope with Dubai’s extreme and challenging climate, the structures look outward as well as inward, and are fully merged with generous landscaping which integrates the building program, public spaces, common areas and circulation patterns.

Chaired by Architectural Review’s editorial director Paul Finch, the judges said, “The striking and variegated forms would be in marked contrast to the general run of Dubai’s buildings. The complex as a whole embraces the idea of a mixed use neighbourhood into which this tall building seamlessly plugs.”

Denton Corker Marshall’s work draws on extensive experience in city planning and urban design. The approach embraces wider urban concerns and social aspirations, with genuine benefit to individual project design, explained Director Peter Williams.

“The Cluster Complex was designed to provide Dubai’s globally mobile and largely expatriate creative professionals with a home close to work and recreation, with easy transition from one to the other, and back again. This demands an environment as complex and diverse as any city,” said Mr Williams.

The vitality of Middle Eastern culture is captured in the rich program of spaces and buildings. Like a bazaar, intense narrow streets of activity are interspersed with courtyards and glimpses of lush green zones. The effect is very different from the over-conditioned and over-lit enclosed experience of a typical mall.

“The scheme encourages intense interaction and provides places of solace and respite, both visual and physical,” said Mr Williams.

Director Stephen Quinlan from Denton Corker Marshall’s London office will accept the award at a dinner on Wednesday 9 March being held as part of the annual 4-day MIPIM market in Cannes, France.

images from architects

A Striking Vertical Street

Rising impressively from a podium, the Office Tower is the complex’s core element. Comprised of four shafts, each is a series of individual office buildings clustered vertically along a dramatic 255m atrium.

The clusters are divided into typical 11-level modules by four sky lobbies regularly punctuating each shaft. The larger clusters are broken down to smaller 5- and 6-level blocks, creating two cluster sizes of 10,000m2 and 5,000m2. The shafts connect to form two offices per floor plate, with a typical range of 1,800-2,200m2.

Below the imposing Office Tower sit smaller blocks of Hotel and Apartment towers. Residents – globally mobile and largely expatriate creative knowledge workers – are close to work and recreation, with easy transition from one to the other, and back again.

Singularly Seamless

In Dubai’s extreme and challenging climate buildings are commonly designed to exclude the harsh elements, eliminating any connection between buildings and their surrounds. The structures of the Cluster Complex look outward as well as inward, and are fully merged with generous landscaping which integrates the building program, public spaces, common areas and circulation patterns.

A continuous mesh canopy envelopes the podium, and grounds the towers in a tapestry of green. A sculptural form evoking a sand dune or tent, the canopy’s variable profile creates a wide variety of spaces beneath it. The perforated metal, as both podium screen and building façade, performs well in the harsh environment, setting it apart from other high rise projects in Dubai.

Social Vitality

The vitality and spontaneity of Middle Eastern culture are captured in the rich program of spaces and buildings. Like a bazaar, intense narrow streets of activity are punctuated with courtyards and frequent glimpses of the lush green zones for relaxation and reflection. The effect is very different from the over-conditioned and over-lit enclosed experience of a typical mall.

Public space is fundamental to the concept, from the integration of landscape through to the use of atria and multi-level lobbies encouraging vital horizontal connections. These interstitial spaces extend through the entire complex, promoting discourse and interaction – the social vitality to turn it from a project into a community.

The podium’s fourth level is a lively street scene – a teeming blend of cafes, bistros, performance spaces, art galleries and retail outlets connecting the main Hotel and Apartment foyers with the Office Tower, conference and leisure facilities.

Cluster Complex Dubai – Building Information

Location: Dubai
Architects: Denton Corker Marshall
Office Tower: 75 Levels ; 111,500 m2
Apartment Tower: 21 Levels ; 18,000 m2
Hotel Tower: 27 Levels ; 30,000 m2
Podium – Serviced Offices & Retail: 5 Levels ; 54,500 m2
Gross Floor Area: 214,500 m2

Cluster Complex Dubai images / information from Denton Corker Marshall

Denton Corker Marshall

Location: Business Bay, Dubai