PHASE 4 - Street Edge

Focus Area Plan

The street edge area is the public face of Al-Hamriya. Since the overall master plan is focused on local, sustainable development, it does not accommodate for large amounts of new traffic or development. Therefore, the street edge must accommodate a large amount of parking and be attractive to visitors and locals. The main strategy is a streets cape that provides shade, and a variety of moments including a central plaza, quieter garden spaces, and shaded walkways.
Upon further analysis, we found that the surrounding area does not have many parks (none within walking distance). This and the convenient topography of the mountain lead us to propose a park that would connect to the plazas, and serve mostly people from outside of the area (probably living within 1-2km).

Street Edge - Area Plan

The Area Plan works to integrate the functional need for parking. Since there are other proposed developments such as the souk, there need to be parking and links between the two sides of the road which are well designed and pedestrian friendly.  Several buildings will be demolished for this to happen, but the benefit will be a larger parking capacity which will support economic development, and aesthetic benefits to both sides of the road.

Perspective leaving Garage. A shaded walkway with integrated seating. A concept for the garages to help integrate them into the urban fabric is to add small shops along the periphery on the bottom floor. This will not only hide them in relation to the mountain, but also create a source of income for this generally unprofitable kind of structure.

The proposed underpass is a way of connecting the sides of the street with without impeding traffic. The underpass must be inviting and comfortable to walk through, and we understand that underpasses are often perceived as unsafe spaces. The proposed underpass will have several skylights for natural light, restaurants to ensure activity. It is also an opportunity to create a space to escape the heat in, as it will be underground and therefore more thermally stable. 

Perspective coming up from underpass into the main plaza. The entry to the souk is a plaza, surrounded by shaded walkways, shops and landscaping. The space must be large enough to accommodate large events like any plaza, and integrate into the rest of  the Al-Hamriya Street scape.

Initial Area Plan - focusing on the scale and function of the street-scape. Shading and landscape features organized along a modular grid, creating a variety of plazas, shaded walkways and places for respite for pedestrians. Underpasses connect the two sides of the street without impeding traffic which is currently a problem in Al-Hamriyah.

The concept for a unifying street focuses on using reused materials and local labor for construction. This helps creating jobs for unemployed expats on the site, and a way to reuse materials from other on-site projects. This strategy also must have several functions - including shading, creating cool micro-climates with the use of thermal mass as thermal batteries, seating, spaces that can double as kiosks or tables for selling produce or sitting. Additional features such as cisterns and planters watered by HVAC condensate may be included in developing the sustainable on site ethic.

Perspective view of the streetscape along the main road. Where there is space, quiet, shaded spots will be created for respite. Here a rammed earth wall helps mitigate the noise from the cars for the pedestrians.

Perspective of a section of this street-scape shows a wall from reused CMU, a variety of paving from onsite stone, and plants and shade structures to create a unique sense of place.

  

The strategy is also meant to create a unified  and unique language for the front pf Al-Hamriya that would be evident while driving past.

The entry plaza to the New Souk must be large enough to accommodate events, as well as have a lot of shaded areas for every day use. 

Overview of edge showing plazas, connections and park strategically located toward  on the mountain.

PHASE 4 - Old Souk

Focus Area Plan

The proposal for the old souk is to convert the inner core into a vocational school for the workers within the community.  This need for education stands to reason as the workers learn new skills to be employed towards the re-development of Al Hamriya.  
The ethic of the architecture and the landscape is to serve as an example to both the community and students of how creative ideas can come out of low-tech methods.  The school creates a learning environment full of opportunity of understanding even by sitting and observing.  The innovative use of gabion walls, re-interpreted use of the mashrabiya screen, and an infusion of native plant-life supported by the living machine and rainwater harvesting are but a few examples of on-site sustainable strategies.  

Inner courtyard of vocational school 

Exploring the use of a hyperbolic paraboloid tensile roof structure 

Conceptual diagram of threshold to adjacent focus areas

Interwoven use of ropes to move the user into the area

North connection towards underpass

Connecting spaces within the school (Version I)

Emphasizing paving patterns + living machine

Connecting spaces within the school (Version II)

Emphasizing integrated seating + mashrabiya screen in landscape

PHASE 4 - 'New Souk'

The new souk is mixed-use with commercial/retail/service/entertainment mainly on ground level and multifamily housing on second or third level. This area serves the community as a market place combined with amenities for different group of people.

Focus Area Plan

The wadi is extended from the central park, and runs throughout the souk. Landscaping along the wadi would be watered by the living machine. The wadi creates a green corridor within the area and provides numerous of intimate spaces for souk customers and residents. Also, the wadi is a restoration of natural drainage which would direct and absorb flood water during flooding period, avoid pollutants by reducing pollution deposition, and recreate riparian habitats for wildlife etc.

Hundreds of new businesses would be set up in the new souk which bring new employments to the whole Al Hamriya area. The operation of small and local businesses not only returns money to the community by hiring local workers and using local resources, and would greatly encourages walkability which promotes sustainability. 

Overview of Plaza

Perspective of souk

Perspective of Souk

Overview of Plaza

Node 2 Plan

Node 3 Plan

Typical Street Plan

Souq Elevation

Node 2 Section

Master Plan

Wastewater Analysis

PHASE 4 - Expat Dormitories

Focus Area - Expat Dormitories

Create a concentration of dormitories to facilitate the three primary needs of expat workers: living space, social community, and proximity to work opportunities. 

The proposal for this focus area is to improve the distressed neighborhood with new condensed modular dormitory units that are nested in the steep topography of the North-East hillside.

The existing housing in this area is highly distressed, lacking basic amenities, and connectivity to the greater urban diagram.  Because of the area’s location to the nearby central business core of Al-Hamriya, it is the perfect location for the workers to live and have proximity to work and social outlets.

Socially: this proposal creates opportunities for interaction at two different scales.  As a neighborhood, the large park leading into the housing unit provides space for expats to gather, easing pressures on the Northern street edge and the limited open spaces in the business district.  At the house scale, each unit has a courtyard providing an intimate community for small groups of expats, and also a habitable roof space that captures one of the greatest amenities of this area, the view.

Outdoor Movie - Residents may watch the movies from their rooftops.

Economically:  The neighborhood being developed is grounded in the premise of being a high density, low income, sustainable model for urban living.  This model depends on workers having close access to work, opportunities to grow their own crops, and jobs creation.  The prefab units, housing the workers, are developed, marketed and built at the vocational school in the business district. 

Perspective of Courtyard

Functionally:  The urban plan for this area is based on improving the health and well-being of workers and their relationship to the greater community.  The clustering of units is based on a centralized improved infrastructure that is housed in a series of unifying walls that organizes the community.  

Environmentally:  Each unit is designed to be highly efficient, utilizing strategic shading strategies and passive cooling strategies to regulate human comfort.  Water harvesting strategies are also being developed for use in urban agriculture.

Area Plan Version I - Working with topography, smaller plazas with amphitheater steps are created upon entry to the different clusters of dormitories. Potentially, the bigger central plaza in this focus area can be an outdoor informal amphitheater.

Area Plan Version II- Working with the same concepts, but altering the original entry to the southeast urban agriculture to be less formal. And also in the process of developing the clusters of housing to work with solar orientation.

Initial Perspective of Courtyard

PHASE 4 - South End

Area Plan

Focus Area Plan

Goals of South End: 

     

Provide family gathering space, with necessary accommodations (daycare, urban agriculture learning, recreation park, possible produce production for weekly market)

2.      Identify start point of revitalized wadi that creates connection, and unity throughout all focus areas.

Moving north towards central park:

1.      Create connections transversely throughout site by implementing responsive green ways reaching from wall to wall. Creates strong connection with surrounding valley walls through terrace park integration and vistas.

2.      Longitudinally connecting fabric by landscaping and shading existing alleyways.

3.      Introduction of wadi in necessary areas to reduce flooding potentials, and also create neighborhood-identifying markers/ gathering points.

Proposal for a shade structure which integrates a reclaimed materials wall and mushrabiya wooden paneling. 

1. 

PHASE 4 - Central Park

Focus Area Plan

Since that this area is considered to be the lung of the Al-Hamriyah area; the concept focuses on having variety of open spaces to be used by different users.

The main element that shapes the park and gives its characteristics is the Wadi “wash” that flow all over the site and it is more recognized in the park itself. It supports the adjacent open spaces, cafés and restaurants around it by creating nice views and comfortable micro-climates. It is supported by native trees along the slope.

 Women have a dedicated portion of this park, a  plaza that has certain criteria to make the Arabic Omani women comfortable to sit there and enjoy her time.

The hierarchy of the function of the park varies from the playgrounds, to sitting area along the Wadi, to open plazas, unified by using local material, native plants and shading devices.

Overview of Area 

The Wadi reappears in this park and becomes one of the main organizing features. During rains, water will be moving through the space, during other times, the wadi may be dry or have small amount of standing water. 

 Area Plan showing major organization of the site - football field, wadi and women's plaza next to the mosque. 

Section of Wadi and buildings. Landscape and shade structures create nice places to sit, and 

Section showing the variety of landscapes and activities in the central park.

A mixed use building on the edge of the park will have several functions and work as a community center. It will include cafe's a library, and an internet shop.

A small plaza in front of the community center.

This perspective shows the women plaza at the edge of the central park, where plant screening and arcades played an important role in making the place more enclosed

a view showing the community center with cafe' in the ground floor, overlooking the Wadi that walk through the site. and it shows different experiences along the wadi to enjoy it