We created structurally 3 main programmatic zones which will embody the several types of functions which we arrayed throughout the area.

We thought convenient to bestow upon each of these areas a more or less specific programmatic family:

Zone 01 will be the project´s gate and defines a business and art center, along with a luxurious tropical garden which descends into the water. Here we have concentrated high end functions such as a conference-museum, a casino hotel, office towers and a tropical open-air shopping area. This could be defined as the projects hard nucleus.

Zone 02 will be the project´s living nucleus with low rise apartment buildings, shops, media and coffee plazas and a long water promenade. From here also begins a lagoon bridge circuit which allows the user to experience the lagoon. This circuit culminates with a water restaurant which can be partially submerged. Also in this zone we have designed a great area dedicated to open-air markets which may have a more relaxed use. For this we developed special bamboo modules.

Boulevard de Marseille, Abidjan

Location

Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Client

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Size

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Year

Competition 2019

‍Zone 03 will be an area reserved for private deluxe villas a marina and a lagoon research aqua center which will also function as marina support.

The project is nevertheless not radically severed into zones, it is continuously connected through a multitude of functions and pedestrian movements which allow for the project to be understood as a whole. It incorporates a wide range of options and architectural uses creating a very heterogeneous body mixing together both buildings and a several types of public spaces.

An important element which runs throughout the project is the use of natural elements such as wide green areas, palm trees and bushes which also function as connecting spaces. They also naturally provide an important amount of shade. Roofs may also incorporate green elements.

Another element which we created are the bamboo / wood canopies which we also dispersed in several locations: the open-air shopping area, the open-air market and the contemplation garden near the marina. These canopies will also ensure shaded areas which people may use quite interestingly.

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Picture Credits: PSP Architects Engineers, Hamburg