SWA PROJECT TEAM PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Transcription

1 SWA PROJECT TEAM Wong Lin Liu Rhee PROJECT NAME Kuwait Ministry of Education Headquarter LOCATION South Surra, Kuwait CLIENT Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. SCOPE OF WORK SD, DD PROJECT SIZE 19.7 acres DATE BEGUN - MMDDYY 6/26/2006 DATE OF COMPLETION (EST.) 1/5/2007 SWA OFFICE Sausalito Kao PROJECT DESCRIPTION The landscape concepts for the Ministry of Education present three different approaches to creating a beautiful setting for the project while addressing the scale, context, and design intent of the building architecture. Using basic elements of trees, geometric forms, and water, the schemes provide shelter from the hot, dry environment and help to convey the important civic intent of this educational center. The designs accentuate water and city views to the east while providing for ceremonial, service, and visitor entries and parking as well as internal atrium and circulation spaces. When seen from afar, the project will invite visitors with a welcoming and memorable oasis-like image. In addition, each scheme addresses issues of sustainability through the careful use of water, the capture and reuse of storm water runoff, and the use of local materials and regional design traditions. The three concepts for landscape may be described as follows. 1) Seashell The second landscape concept reinforces the curving, shell-like forms of the building through the use of grading, planting, and water elements. A curving axis of palms defines the main entry from the south, with primary drop-off at the center of the site connecting between the parking garage and building atrium. The palm axis continues to VIP drop-off in the north, well-separated from a separate service entrance in the northeast sector. On the west side, a continuous berm helps to screen and offset the bulk of the parking garage. Walls cut through this berm to allow access from the west into the garage itself, and groves of trees with groundcover create a forest effect over the berm as well as the other site edges. On the east side, a lawn terrace with scattered specimen trees steps down from the building to the street. An oval water moat at the edge of the building echoes the seashell motif and invites views over the lawn to the view beyond. These geometric patterns of ovals and linear elements extend to the design of palms, fountain and seating within the central building atrium. 2) Mashrabiya This design echoes the traditional use of layered screens, or mashrabiya, proposed for the building s roof and walls to allow breezes and natural cooling while filtering direct sunlight. For the landscape design, these layers are expressed through the geometry and placement of planting, fountains, and hardscape to create a strong sense of enclosure and safety for the Ministry building. An orchard grid of date palms, underlain by groundcover planting, establishes a strong outer layer and street edge on the entire periphery of the site. Inside this orchard, a stone channel picks up site runoff for groundwater recharge and defines the outer edge of a lawn area planted with informal groups of specimen trees that will

2 SWA PROJECT TEAM become sculptural elements when viewed from the building. Against the building itself, a water moat creates a sheet of water that drops over a low wall to the lawn, inviting views from interior spaces of the Ministry building. Visitors enter the site at gated access points, with visitors entering from the south and service providers from the north. Special paving and a bosque of trees help to distinguish the VIP drop-off and parking garage access in the south center of the project. The primary drop-off for visitors includes a palm grove that connects the main garage with the lobby and interior atrium. The rectangular, multi-story atrium, activated by a water element along the edges of the space and informal groups of tall palm trees, provides orientation and circulation to major destinations within the building complex. 3) Grand Court In this scheme, the massing of the two building halves set diagonally on the site and the underground parking solution sets up the possibility of a dramatic central interior atrium and two major outdoor spaces in the northeast and southwest sectors. The southwest area functions as the arrival garden, with the main entry defined by a palm grove that also extends along the eastern edges of the site. The entry leads to both the VIP and visitor parking garage entries and drop-offs, with the latter enhanced by a linear water element. In contrast, the northeast area is more open and public, inviting views from the building complex over a spacious lawn planted with informal groups of specimen trees. Strong diagonal patterns of stone and gravel paths intersect and continue through the building, reinforcing circulation patterns from interior spaces. The building s atrium also utilizes water panels in a mosaic pattern interlaced with a variety of palm trees. (Words by Elizabeth Shreeve)

3

4

5

6