A giant five-story circular structure wrapped around the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, which stands at an astounding 829.8 meters (2,723 ft), nearly twice the height of the Empire State Building, has been proposed by experimental architecture studio ZNera Space in Dubai.
The Downtown Circle concept, which marries community, luxury, and futuristic urban planning in a crazily ambitious design, has been brought to life by a series of captivating graphics made in partnership with Pictown, a business that specializes in architectural renderings.
Najmus Chowdry and Nils Remess, the lead architects of ZNera Space, view Downtown Circle as a horizontal line against Dubai’s dizzying, futuristic cityscape of seemingly limitless towers.
A constantly shifting skyline
The Downtown Circle is, for the time being, a financially and practically unfeasible concept, Chowdry and Remess concede.
It was intended to be a conversation opener, according to Chowdry. We are promising the sustainable city. “Something that could prompt people to rethink urban development, to rethink city congestion.”
Remess continued, “We were working on really crucial things that raise the question of how we are planning cities. We chose the Burj Khalifa because it is located in a very populated urban area, and we want to address the problems that come with it.
The building would be more than three kilometers in circumference and sit 550 meters (1,804 feet) above street level (1.8 miles). Five enormous pillars, the bases of which would be in vacant lots, would support the ring and may also serve other purposes.
To manage the temperature and make the area more liveable in hot weather, “We wanted to establish a microclimate in Downtown and construct a sort of envelope around the region,” said Chowdry. You may utilize those vertical pillars as air purifiers in cities.
The ZNera Space smog-filtering design, which was a finalist for the World Architecture Festival 2018 award in the area of “Experimental Future Project,” might be included into the pillars’ construction.
Future-oriented sustainable architecture
Because it frequently gets hotter above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Dubai, the architects hope their creation will become a new standard for sustainability in the area.
Solar panels will cover the entire ceiling, according to Chowdry. What we also want to do is use a technology called solar hydrogen cells, which we have already used in a prior project.
This technique turns water into hydrogen using solar energy, which powers the air conditioner and supplies electricity to the building.
Dubai’s aspirational blueprint for a sustainable urban environment by 2040 was taken into consideration when creating the design.
The idea also suggests ways to get from one end to the other, such as an electric tram system with a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) and sky taxi infrastructure.
A “self-sufficient” city
“I imagine it as (a large) aircraft — the skin, the ribs, that becomes the structure and inside it’s all hollow,” said Chowdry. “The structure itself is pretty lightweight.”
But then, he said, “it’s supported by these columns and the circle ring.” The most stable structural format is circular, therefore we went with it.
According to Remess, the proposed Downtown Circle would integrate residential space with corporate, commercial, and cultural hubs to create a holistic “self-sustaining city within a city.” “If you live there, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to walk to your office, your park, or your home; in Dubai, it’s difficult to accomplish that.”
The Skypark, a continuous green belt connecting the building’s five stories, is the focal point of the interior design.
According to Chowdry, “The Skypark is the overall design’s central spine.” It will be a mixed-use green space that also serves as a place to reconsider how agriculture will be practiced in the future, particularly in urban areas.
Remess stated, “If you look historically, agriculture came first, and then we constructed the city. “With this greenbelt inside the structure, we aim to bring back agricultural and food production to the city center, which has kind of lost this concept now.”
Although the idea is getting some attention, not all of it is favorable.
Since the mock-ups were posted on the company’s Instagram page, some commenters have claimed that the design may tear apart the downtown area’s infrastructure.
Although some of the internet comments have been critical, Chowdry questioned, “Which looks better: an empty finger or a finger with the ring on it?” “I believe it only increases Burj Khalifa’s verticality.”
