Al Sufouh, a mixed-use district in Dubai, currently benefits from strong transportation links, most notably Sheikh Zayed Road and Hessa Street, with future upgrades and a new Metro line already started.
Within the small cluster of towers overlooking Sufouh Gardens a broad variety of land uses exist. The Al Sufouh Tower is the first vertical mixed use building focused on exclusive Co-Working/Living spaces.
The tower form is divided in two with each use having their own optimal floorplate proportions.
Grade A commercial offices fill the lower half, entered via Sheikh Zayed Road, whilst the upper half consists of luxury residential apartments, with their entrance from Sufouh Gardens.
The residential portion of the tower is then offset towards Sufouh Gardens to maximise important views along the coastline and impact the perceived mass on both primary elevations.
Each element is further divided in half again to form a tower of four 7 – 8 storey cube blocks echoing the scale of the low buildings in the district. Each of the four cubes is further orientated to align with important contextual events.
Our approach seeks to embrace solidity. Incorporating large 3.6m x 3.6m windows into a grid of precast concrete maintains expansive views while making the complex negotiations between unit interiors and facade easier to accommodate.
The solidity also creates a set of buildings that emerge more seamlessly from the neighbourhood. The precast panels are textured via a series of angled planes. Works with the change in orientation to emphasize the finer scale of the towers’ mass—a dynamic relief that reacts to the movement of the sun.
We finally see that Dubai towers typically try to both maximize the views to the water and establish a distinct, even iconic frontage within the skyline. Too often that means turning away from the neighbourhood, creating a “back” side and disengaging the tower from its context. By virtue of a cantilever—extending the residential building 7.3m from its base—faces Northwest towards Palm Jumeirah and presents our most dramatic facade to Sofouh.
