In 2008 Tony Owen Partners prepared designs for the new Luxury Villas for the Jumeirah Garden Islands Development for Meraas Developments. The Garden Islands project is part of the broader Jumeriah Garden City master plan.
Jumeriah City Garden is a large urban city redevelopment which will help to redefine the physical character of Dubai and contribute towards realising the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to create a global city.
The proposed site covers an area of approximately 10,000,000 sq metres and is centrally and prominently located between Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Wasl Road, stretching from the World Trade Centre roundabout to Al-Safa Park.
Meraas Developments aspires to redevelop a low density, predominantly residential district of urban Dubai, into a world-class mixed-use master planned community, offering a superior lifestyle and working environment.
The project is envisioned to be a new district in Dubai which aims to function as a part of the new city centre with an appropriate blend of business, commerce, living, recreation, shopping, entertainment, resort, education facilities and public services.
The Coastal Islands are a series of reclaimed offshore islands form a major portion of the development and will be a key component of Jumeirah Garden City. The total land area is approximately 438ha and commands a prominent location at the north end of the city.
The design brief called for a series of proto type villas and townhouses to the highest standards of luxury and innovation. The 3 villas provided a proto type for different sizes ranging from samller 250m2 villas to larger 650m2 houses. The brief called for the villas to be arranged based on a modular grid system, using 300mm as base dimension that would provide an innovative grid or regulating lines for the design to be organized.
Tony Owen Partners had been providing highly contemporary villas for some time in Sydney. This brief gave us an opportunity to develop a truly cutting edge housing typology for the Middle East.
The design of the Villas grew out of an examination of environmental issues and the variety of materials and textures which could be used to interface with the climate and environment. The villas were based on varying combinations of 3 material types; solid, open and semi-permeable membranes. The solid materials included stone and concrete, the open materials included glass and void spaces and the permeable materials included laser cut metal screens, concrete screens and timber fillagreed. The permeable materials could act as shading and privacy screens for glass, or as elements to divide areas of outdoor space of voids.
This language resulted in a series of unique and environmentally sustainable luxury dwellings.
