Park Gate is set to be a 4.7 million sq ft mixed-use development project that will include offices, retail space and a hotel. Its 6 gently curved towers will be grouped in pairs and covered with a light weight vaulted canopy overhead to provide shade for the interior, reducing the ground temperatures by 10-15 degrees. Solar panels cover the roof of the canopy providing renewable energy for the development and also provide structure for the hanging trellises and gardens. The hanging gardens are watered with a water-efficient gray water misting system and help cool the surrounding air.
Oriented to reduce solar heat gain and to receive optimum natural ventilation in the form of sea breezes, the arched structure will provide a shady and cool respite from the desert sun. Balconies on the interior of the arches look down on the cool gardens and reflecting pools below. The salt-water pools act as a thermal sink, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it back during the night. Drought tolerant vegetation is planted throughout the gardens and indigenous, salt-water-tolerant plants are planted near the pools, which reduces potable water use.
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Just because a building is in the desert doesn’t mean it has to be hot – at least that’s what Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill thought when designing their mixed-use development, Park Gate. The project is composed of six curving towers covered in a canopy, as
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Park Gate will create a cool and shady spot for people to come to rest and do their business. Most notably, the mixed-use development is characterized by its hanging gardens and cool pools.
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The structure consists of a series of 6 towers placed in pairs and covered with a canopy.
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The canopy above provides structure for the solar panels as well as the hanging gardens and trellises and also shades the ground below reducing the temperature by 10-15 degrees.
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The development is located right next to the water and oriented to minimize solar gain and maximize the onshore coastal breezes.
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Included in the development are offices, retail spaces, a hotel and the reflecting pools and gardens protected by the buildings.
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Here is top down view of the canopy arches that will stretch across the towers.
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From below the canopies are semi-permeable (70 percent closed, 30 percent open) to allow dappled light through to ground level.
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The towers on one side of the development are 37 stories tall, while the others are 34 stories tall, creating an asymmetrical effect.
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A cross section of the floor layout for the towers.
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A diagram describing the cooling elements of the Park Gate towers.
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Exploded view of the towers and their construction.
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A model cross section of Park Gate and its floors.
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