The project concerns a building complex consisting of a big scale Shopping Mall along with residential and office buildings, with a total build area of 440.000 sqm underground spaces and 580.000 sqm over the ground spaces. It is located in a plot area of approximately 78.000 sqm, in the north-west side of Erbil in Iraq – one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world – just one kilometer away from city’s airport.
The proposal is based on a City in the City concept. Mall’s articulation with Residential and Office uses, gives the whole premise a dynamic and lively character. The intention is to create an architectural context that will develop into a tempting integrated urban destination for the whole province. Shopping, leisure, relaxing, all visitors’ needs satisfied in a commercial and entertainment Center that will combine high-class services with exquisite recreation and will attract both tourists and permanent city habitants.
The shopping Mall, a linear crest emerging from the ground, like a dominant “citadel” creating a delicate basis on which multi-storey buildings are rising up. Office volume is formed like a geometrically minimal solid form and articulated in horizontal shapes that sketch a calm background in front of which Residence towers twist like upright glowing prisms in different colors. The whole complex is set up like a tectonic synthesis that is articulated like precious stones – Erbil’s Jewels – floating to the sky.
Inside the Mall, main public corridor is formed like a River Oasis, a rapture in the fabric of nature, a challenge to discover the amazing, blending nature and tradition with contemporary aesthetics, offering the visitor a whole new experience.
Mall buildings facades and main features are articulated as a combination between solid and transparent, folded in a delicate metal “lace”, inspired by the shapes created from tree shadows in the woods.
Nature, Water and Sky Light are the main inspirational elements used to quilt building’s indoor and outdoor public spaces.
A raised Plaza on Mall’s roof is the main open square, creating the impression of a “corniche”, a leisure promenade that attracts visitors and modulates the “peak” through this new retail experience, giving the impression that nature is “climbing” over the whole premise. This Plaza offers the city a leisure place for all climatic conditions, with areas completely open and others that can convert from outdoor to indoor.
This sequence of hanging gardens promotes nature’s image in long distances away from the building, acting together with glowing gem Towers, as an insignia for the whole district.
Status: Proposal
Energiers Exhibition Stand
The current study has to do with the design of an exhibition stand for the “ENERGIERS” company.
Generally speaking, exhibition stands are rather complex, usually indoor, constructions. This complexity has to do with the dual purpose of an exhibition stand, which is (through the impression of being a shop) not only to project the firm’s identity among other stands, but also to advertise its products.
For these reasons we focused on prevailing the same design principles as the ones used at the shop of the same company. These design principles are the “dynamic” facade in accordance to the “smooth” internal space. In order to maintain that dominant nature there is a need of expanding the shop windows to both sides of the structure by constructing new projection benches.
The stand’s use of space is distributed along two zones. The first one includes the shop windows and the second the exhibition of the products. The basic morphological characteristics are the sliding panels of the exhibition stand’s facade, the gaps at the ceiling which have the shape of the recesses used in the shops, the shop’s windows benches at both sides of the structure.
As mentioned before the spatial organization of the exhibition stand shows a division between two functional parts; one projecting the stand to the visitors and a second one for the exhibition of the products. This partition also accommodates a small storage unit following the same design principles. A customer service desk and a number of seats have been allocated in front of this unit. The central area of the stand includes a sitting- socialization area surrounded by free movement exhibition space.
The exhibition stand’s furniture conceptualization follows the same design principles as the ones used in the store’s furniture in order to provide simple and fast manufacturing.
These are the curvy forms, the differentiation of the colors on the surfaces (which leads to a more prominent outline of the furniture) and the use of the firms basic colors (light gray, dark gray, red).
U shaped counters in two different sizes are recommended in order to minimize the space use and to create more projection surfaces for the products.
The design of the customers service desk, which is placed in front of the storage unit reminds, morphologically, the cashier furniture used in stores.
Structurally it has two basic elements. The first one which is at the front, visible to the visitor, a rectangle shaped with rounded corners surface and the second one is a service bench at the other side, not visible, with storage spaces.
Villaggio Hotel
The project concerns the Design of Villaggio Hotel, a five-star hotel, located at Doha, Qatar. The total hotel room capacity is 213 guestrooms comprising of 132 standard rooms, 40 executive rooms, 10 junior suites, 20 one-bedroom suites, 10 two-bedroom suites and one presidential suite. The total built up area of the Hotel is 50.635 sq. m.
The hotel extends at 8 levels. Basement including 300 parking spaces, ground floor including the entrance lobby, cafes, restaurants, ballrooms and other common facilities, a partial service mezzanine, a second mezzanine including club lounge, specialty restaurant, gym-spa and certain guestrooms with private gardens, 3 main floors with guestrooms and a rooftop restaurant. Guestroom floors are organized in two wings, parallel to the main roads in the north-west end of the site. At mezzanine level an extended terrace is provided including a swimming pool with pool bar, restaurant’s outdoor spaces and planted areas.
The building has two public entrances: a main entrance for the Hotel (west façade) and a ballroom entrance (east façade). Both entrances include sheltered spaces in front of them. A third service – staff entrance is provided with loading bay, which is optically isolated through a special peristyle formation.
The main lobby of the hotel constitutes a tall double height space, which unifies the various levels giving grandeur and luxury to the building. Additionally all guestroom floors are unified through openings created at floor slabs. The formed vertical spaces (atriums) are covered by glazed roofs bringing natural light inside the building. The main lobby is directly connected to the adjacent Villaggio Mall.
The building is served at all levels by a central vertical communication core with 6 main lifts and three service cores, each of which includes 2 lifts (for clean – soiled materials/waste) and an attached escape staircase. There is no interference between FOH and BOH circulation.
The basement garage is accessed by two separate ramps, one for entrance (east side) and one for exit (west side). The parking layout is suitable for parking either by valets or by self-parking.
Landscape design includes sheltered drop off areas in front of the two entrances, reflected pools, parking spaces and planted areas.
The morphology of the building has references to the Renaissance period, according to client’s requirement. Facades’ configuration follows the typical division ‘base-stem-head’. Balconies and windows follow a symmetrical and repetitive arrangement. Façades are enriched with many decorative elements such as arcades, pilasters, columns, capitals, lintels, cornices, balustrades, statues and other ornamental features of the period. Decoration is heavier at the ‘base’ and gets lighter at the ‘stem’ of the building. The ‘head’-third floor appears as a mansard roof with dormer windows. A grand dome at the corner of the building signifies the importance of the building and emphasizes its monumental character.
Internal public space design follows the same style of the façades, highlighted by elaborated decorative features (curtains, rugs, special furniture, chandeliers etc.). The big atrium connecting the lobby with the guestroom floors carries a façade relevant to the exterior thus connecting perceptually inside with the outside.
Mezzanine terrace is enclosed by an arcade which is the continuity of the relevant decorative element of the façade, providing privacy to the area. A similar arcade with glass windows acts as a screen that divides the public terrace from the private guestroom gardens, isolating public from private use. The isolation is enhanced by dense planting on both sides of the screen.
The proposal aims at providing the hotel with a strong identity that will make it the focal point of the district.