Barton Willmore - Barton Willmore to lead project to create
futuristic Botanical Gardens in the desert
Barton Willmore, a leading British architecture and
planning practice, in a joint venture with civil
engineers Buro Happold, have won the international
design competition to create a 160 hectare futuristic
botanical garden: the King Abdullah International
Gardens (KAIG) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The project, which draws on expertise from the Natural
History Museum, the Eden Project and specialist
sustainable development focused design group, Emergy was
commissioned by the Mayor of Riyadh and funded by
contributions from business and individuals in the city.
The 160 hectare botanical garden scheme and leisure
destination will be a cornerstone of the city’s growth
and aim’s to provide a new visitor destination for both
Saudis and international visitors.
A central component of the team’s proposal is the desire
to showcase sustainable development techniques. The
scheme’s power requirement will be provided primarily by
solar power, supported by wind turbines and combined
heat and power sources (CHP), whilst rain, which falls
intermittently in the late winter months, will be
harvested and collected in underground reservoirs before
being cleaned, used for irrigation and then recycled.
The centrepiece of Barton Willmore’s proposal is a 20
acre paleobotanic building, formed as two interlocking
crescents which accommodate a sequence of controlled
environments. Each environment allows visitors to travel
through time and recreates pre-existing ecosystems based
on actual environments which have occurred on this
precise piece of land through time. Each is to be
presented as a complete environment, including those
species from each which survive to this day and
accommodating the ‘ghosts’ of species that have been
lost.
The gardens are presented as a time-line which lead the
visitor to the wadi garden, the central space enclosed
by the crescent, which is to be developed as a
celebration of the existing desert ecosystem, using only
species that are native to the local area.
The final enclosed garden within the crescent building
is the Garden of Choices, an educational space which
explores and explains the choices we are still able to
make and which have the potential to preserve the
environment of our planet for future generations.
Nick Sweet, project director and Partner in charge of
Urban Design at Barton Willmore’s London office
commented: “When we read the brief, we decided to
recognise the irony of producing proposals with a strong
educational message on sustainable developments in the
heart of the world’s principal oil-producing nation.”
“In this day and age, we are all, to one degree or
another, fearful of the rapid changes in climate change
occurring in the world and many are uncertain about how
to respond. We wanted to use the scheme to tell the
story of a single piece of land through time. It might
be a desert now, but there was a time when rivers flowed
here and forests grew.”
The KAIG team comprising of Barton Willmore, Emergy,
Buro Happold, the Natural History Museum and the Eden
Project will research, procure and build the scheme,
planning scientific, water, play and display gardens in
the broader scope of the site.
The project is due to be completed for the spring of
2010.
Email:
annafoster@themediafoundry.com
Arundel Jones Associates Ltd
Hill Farm, Linton Hill, Maidstone, Kent ME17 4AL
Tel : 01622 745333
news@buildingdesign.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales No. 07334149
News Categories : Sustainable development
technology ecosystem services
|
Sustainable
development technology ecosystem services
