Mission Impossible Burj Khalifa Tower Park: World’s Tallest Building Makes Its Movie Debut

The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/burj-dubai-opens/">world's tallest building</a> recently made its movie debut in <a href="http://www.missionimpossible.com/" target="_blank">Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol</a>, and the Burj Khalifa Tower's gorgeous parks soaked up the spotlight as Tom Cruise ascended the structure. The landscaping surrounding the incredibly tall building was carefully designed to merge the structure with the ground level while providing space for visitors to enjoy. <a href="http://www.swagroup.com/principal/john-wong.html" target="_blank">John Wong</a>, Managing Principal at <a href="http://www.swagroup.com/project/burj-khalifa.html" target="_blank">SWA Group</a> was responsible for the park's Islamic-inspired design, and we were lucky enough to get ahold of him and glean some insight on what it's like to design the groundscape for the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/lego-unveils-model-of-the-worlds-tallest-building-the-burj-khalifa/">world's tallest skyscraper</a>.

The <a href="http://www.swagroup.com/project/burj-khalifa.html" target="_blank">Burj Khalifa Tower Park</a> is an amazing 11-hectare green oasis filled with native and drought tolerant plants and a geometric hardscape with enough pathways and trails to get lost in.

The park has the incredible job of connecting the heavens with the earth by scaling down the size of the building to match the surrounding street scape and make it more human-scaled.

Featured in the park are is a lake-edge promenade, a functional island, a leisure forest grove, outdoor dining areas, a children’s play space, reflecting pools, six major water features and promenades that connect to the rest of the city.

Palm-lined greenways provide shades spaces to walk and relax.

Wong took inspiration from native plants, traditional Islamic patterns and especially the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenocallis" target="_blank">hymenocallis, or spider lily</a>, which is seen through an iterative pattern of banding including concentric and radiating arcs and criss-crossing lines.

Irrigation for this spectacular landscape is sourced via a synergistic relationship with the tower itself. The Burj's chilled water cooling system produces significant amounts of condensation, which is saved and used to irrigate the park.

In fact, SWA’s design allowed the 15 million annual gallons of condensed water to be collected, drained, and pumped into the site irrigation system for use on the tower’s landscape plantings.

This complicated and intense design project required the coordination with the architects and engineers on the part of the landscape architects. <a href="http://www.swagroup.com/advocacytopicentry/burj-khalifa-interview---featured-on-huffington-post.html" target="_blank">John Wong</a>, who led the project's design, took the time to answer a few of our questions about the creation of the park.

"To complement a tall building, the design of the landscape usually will encounter additional technical hurdles in creating the base and setting for these structure. The issue of strong wind and turbulence is a major design challenge."

"The goal was to create a 'green' and engaging footprint that would complement the nature of this one of a kind structure. The design emphasized raising the aesthetic, functional and social value of public space associated with an iconic structure in the gulf region."

"The 11-hectare green oasis including plazas, native gardens, pools and promenades creates a human-scale setting and framework for the tallest tower in the world."

"The selected use of indigenous plant materials with a complex pattern of ground plane design weaves the site together to express the beautiful patterning that one finds in Islamic art culture and patterning of the region."

"The project aims to improve the micro-climate condition of the place from a hot and harsh environment of the region to a livable and culturally aligned landscape with the use of native and indigenous plantings and the sustainable use of water for cooling and comfort."

"We are most proud that Burj Khalifa is globally celebrated and locally used. The tallest structure is not only being admired for the grandeur, the beauty, the extraordinary feat in engineering but also for the ground level success that integrates this tall structure with the community and its surrounding neighborhoods."

"We spent many days in separate trips in researching plant materials by visiting local and regional nurseries; seeing nearby projects to develop plant a palette that works in this extreme climate; visiting stone sources and fabricators to review and select stone and research materials that can sustain the weathering and the wear and tear of the region, and discuss and learn from the local contractors and subcontractors in understanding how things get built in the region."

"It’s exciting to bring synthesis of each building’s unique circumstances into the form and vision for its artistic environmental setting."

Details of Burj Khalifa Tower Park areas.

Landscape plan of the Burj Khalifa Tower Park.