CREJ - Building Dialogue - September 2015
Brent Lloyd’s first tour of the Abu Dhabi park land that would be transformed into Mushrif Central Park over the next eight years, trig gered an unusual exercise. “We traveled to -- the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a walkthrough and they vacated the park to allow our all-male team to spend time there,” shares Lloyd, principal of Denver-based ValleyCrest Design Group. “At the time, it was a destination for women and children only.” That was merely the beginning of Lloyd’s discovery of Middle Eastern culture. As a park designer, a number of elements in the aging Ladies and Children’s Garden puzzled him. “The site was surrounded by walls so high you couldn’t tell what was inside. The majority of the park’s surfaces were hardscape, and the benches were sitting in full sun with no consideration for shade in a climate that can reach up to 115 degrees,” he recalls. “There were also huge fountains everywhere, none of which were working.” “When my client, Al Ain Properties, asked, ‘What do you think of my park?’” he adds, “I said, ‘I love the location and the existing trees, but everything else has to go.’” Lloyd’s planning and landscape architecture firm came back with a rough proposal outlining what the park could be, ultimately landing the $48.7 million project in the 2008 to develop a new master plan, multiple facilities and a more modern design aesthetic for one of the oldest and largest parks in the Emirates. His team’s effort to create a community amenity – a park for the people – would also be the first in the UAE to fully demonstrate environmental sustainability. “Because of the importance of family in their culture, and their more European approach to using parks, we encouraged them to open up access to the whole family,” Lloyd explains. “They like to stroll the park in the evening together, so everything is lit up and open for business as late as midnight.” He adds, “This was fascinating to me, and it really impacted our design. In the U.S., we’re campers. We set everything up in one place, then stay put. In their culture, they’re strollers, so the park had to be designed with that in mind.” Integrating the Architecture In 2009, as various elements of the 40-acre park developed, Lloyd began to assemble his team starting with Denver-based Semple Brown Principal Thomas Gallagher, who was tasked with refining the vision and developing design concepts for the dozen or so structures that would eventually introduce shade, architectural interest and a variety of public amenities. After studying the climate of Abu Dhabi, how sun is controlled, and how structures are brought to life under the region’s harsh desert light, a series of culturally sensitive buildings (including an Entrance Pavilion, Amphitheatre, Botanical Garden Shade House, Children’s Garden Pavilion, Evening Garden Pavilion and Friends of the Park Pavilion) were designed based on a common architectural vocabulary and high-quality materials. Today, each building demonstrates a signature expressive element that sets it apart, and all buildings respond to and sculpt with the strong Middle Eastern sun. Although overt cultural references were avoided, the overall design effect is a coherent, elegant, crisp and tactile modernity fitting of its context. Because the client was more comfortable with face-toface interaction than email or teleconferencing, Semple Brown’s design concepts initially were shared via booklets hand-carried to Abu Dhabi by Lloyd, who logged more than 30 trips over the eight-year period. “I once traveled 53 hours roundtrip for a three-hour meeting!” declares Lloyd. Once they were able to meet the client, their development team and project manager, the process became much the same as it is in the U.S. “It quickly became an interactive process with fat pens, tracing paper and Sketchup loaded on our laptops,” recalls Gallagher. “In fact, I think seeing 3-D computer models being spun around for them instantly was both a new experience and an epiphany for them. That really sealed the deal for our design.” Building construction was also strongly impacted by culture. “The way they construct things there is very different than what we’re accustomed to,” explains Gallagher. “There is a greater emphasis on construction documents in the U.S., while in Abu Dhabi, most of the details and coordination happen in the field with more oversight of the contractor. Also, the vast majority of architecture is constructed of concrete due to its cost effectiveness and heating and cooling properties.” Although concrete is very labor intensive to build with, the manpower pool is so plentiful and cheap in the UAE – and there is so much sand and aggregate readily available – that it’s easy to see why so few structures are made steel or wood. “The whole experience was kind of surreal,” reflects Gallagher. “Sitting in this ornate palace with our laptop hooked up to an old school projector ... between jet lag, and all the redesigns, which required working all night so they could be presented the next morning, I never slept much while there. All in all, though, it was an amazing experience.” On Site in Abu Dhabi In 2010, Denver-based S. A. Miro Inc. was brought on board as architect/engineer of record under the leadership of Milton Lanser, managing director of its Abu Dhabi headquarters, to complete the design and construction documents, and to oversee onsite construction administration and program management. The designer of the park’s 14 stunning fountains, Toronto-based Crystal Fountains, also became a critical contributor to the overall park experience. Lanser reflects on what he has learned about working in the Middle East. “Because 85 percent of the population of Abu Dhabi comes from somewhere else, English is actually the second or third language for most of our local staff. So, when it comes to project management, communication and cultural sensitivity is key,” he shares. He also explains that in the UAE the percentage of project cost devoted to labor is dramatically different than in the U.S., one of the reasons why cast-in-place concrete is so popular. In addition to reduced material costs, manpower is a fraction of what we’re accustomed to. “Constant negotiation is also somewhat of a sport there,” laughs Michael Miro, director of project management in S. A. Miro’s Denver office. “If you have a signed contract, you can never be sure if that’s the deal until you’ve completed the contract and have been paid. In the U.S., the contract is a milestone. There, it’s merely a point in time.” In the end, the project, completed in the spring of 2015, was a huge success for the Denver-based team with an extraordinary 50,000 people visiting Mushrif Central Park on its opening weekend. Perhaps even more notable, however, is the statement in a recent Emirate of Abu Dhabi invitation for a park design competition: “Entrants should consider the newly developed Mushrif Park, Abu Dhabi Island a benchmark in the design quality, design resolution and innovative approach towards enhancing the recreational life for the Abu Dhabi public.” An exemplar for Middle East park design is certainly a fitting ending for this nearly decade-long cultural odyssey on the other side of the world.