Overview:
Masdar City is a planned city project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Its core was built by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, most of which is the seed capital of the Abu Dhabi Government. Designed by British construction company Foster and Partners, the city relies on solar energy and other renewable energy sources. Masdar City is located 17 kilometers (11 mi) southeast of the city of Abu Dhabi, five minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and 40 minutes from Dubai. The city will be connected to the existing urban areas by road and subway. Masdar City hosts the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The city is designed to be a hub for cleantech companies. Its first resident was the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which has been operating in the city since moving to its center in September 2010.
Design and purpose:
The project is led by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company. Founded in 2006, the city is thought to cover 6 square miles (2.3 sq mi) and is estimated to cost the US $ 18−22 billion. It could take up to eight years to build, and the first phase is scheduled to be completed and inhabited in 2009. Construction began in Masdar City in February 2008 and the first six buildings of the city were completed and occupied in October 2010. However, due to the impact of the global financial crisis, 1,000,000 square meters (0.39 sq mi) began to be estimated to be completed in 2015; the final completion was postponed between 2020 and 2025. In 2016, it was less than 300,000 square feet (0.12 sq mi) and the final construction was estimated to be 2030.
Built, the city will be home to 45,000 to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, mostly commercial and manufacturing facilities that run on environmentally friendly products. Next, more than 60,000 workers are expected to land in the city every day. As of 2016, less than 2,000 people have been employed in Masdar, and only 300 students of the Masdar Institute live in the area.] The city is designed to be exemplary, focusing on sustainability while reflecting green urban life. Masdar City will be the latest in a small number of highly organized, specialized municipalities, researching and accommodating technology, such as KAUST, Saudi Arabia, or Tsukuba Science City, Japan. Partners in this project through their Clean Tech Fund are Consensus Business Group, Credit Suisse, and Siemens Venture Capital. The construction of the first phase of the project is handled by CH2M Hill. Construction of the city’s infrastructure will be handled by Al Jaber Group and construction of the Masdar central building will be donated to Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The city route plan is developed by Endpoint and city ID. Masdar City is designed to incorporate sustainable water use into its construction. To achieve this Masdar City will re-use water and increase its use of that water. It will use rainwater harvesting schemes, hold condensates, and use acceptable wastewater streams. Masdar City will try to promote behavioral change to save drinking water.
Architecture:
Masdar is a continuous mixed-use development designed to be more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. Masdar City has terracotta walls adorned with arabesque patterns. From a distance, the city looks like a cube. Street temperatures are usually cold from 15 to 20 ° C (27 to 36 ° F) than in the nearby desert. Temperature differences are due to the different compositions of Masdar. A 45-foot (148 ft) high air tower modeled on traditional Arab designs absorbs air from above and pushes fresh air into the streets of Masdar. The site is enlarged above the surrounding ground to create a minimal cooling effect. The buildings are grouped together to form roads and walkways that are protected from the sun. Masdar City is for Foster and Partners. Foster’s construction team began its work by visiting ancient cities such as Cairo and Muscat to see how they remained cool. Foster found that these cities are experiencing tropical and subtropical temperatures on short, narrow streets generally not exceeding 70 feet (230 ft). The buildings at the end of these roads create a gust of wind to propel the wind, creating a cooling effect that cools the road. Masdar City contains a state-of-the-art technology park made of standard 40-meter recycled containers.
Transport system:
The original design has restricted traffic, as travel will be done through public transport and public transportation (PRT) systems, with the existing road and rail link to other areas outside the city. The absence of vehicles along the Masdar wall, designed to retain the hot desert air, allows for narrow, shady roads that help to provide cool air throughout the city. People and property will be transported using PRT. In October 2010 it was announced that PRT would not extend beyond the driving system due to the cost of building an underground facility to separate the system from pedestrians. Subsequently, 10 Mitsubishi MiEV vehicles were tested in 2011 as part of a one-year pilot to test point and city transport solution as a complement to PRT and freight forwarding (FRT), both of which include automatic electric vehicles.
COMMERCIAL EMPLOYERS AND POPULATION
Masdar Institute:
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is a graduate university that focuses on alternative energy, environmental sustainability, and clean technology. Its campus is located in Masdar City. The Masdar Center became the first resident of Masdar City. The campus design emphasizes flexibility, the use of traditional building materials, and modern building materials to provide a tailored combination of natural lighting and cooling that reduces energy requirements. In 2013, 336 students enrolled at the center. These students were selected from more than 2,000 applicants. 42% of registered students are from the UAE and 35% are women.
Global Renewable Energy Agency:
Masdar City will host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency, known as IRENA, the first government agency in the Middle East. [33] Since May 2013, construction of the IRENA headquarters has been underway. Masdar was elected head of IRENA headquarters after a high-profile campaign by the UAE. At its request, the UAE has provided free offices to Masdar City, 20 IRENA scholars at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and up to the US $ 350 million in loans for renewable energy projects in developing countries.
Siemens:
Siemens regional headquarters are located in Masdar City. This building works very well throughout Abu Dhabi. In 2014, more than 800 employees will start working there. The LEED Platinum building uses sustainable and energy-efficient materials and construction techniques. [Designed to use 45 percent less energy and 50 percent more water than standard office buildings. Siemens Headquarters won the 2012 Prim Architectural Review Office Projects Awards 2012. The Middle East Architect Awards named it the best and most stable office of the same year.
Reaction:
The project is supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature and a sustainable Bioregional group. In 2008, in response to the project’s commitment to zero carbon, non-hazardous waste, and other environmental benefits, WWF and Bioregional approved Masdar City as the official One Planet Living Community. The project is supported by Greenpeace; however, they emphasize the need to focus on rebuilding existing cities to make them more sustainable than building new zero-carbon cities from scratch. The US government has supported this work. The US Department of Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Masdar Group on an agreement that will enable both parties to share expertise in supporting programs that build carbon-free cities.
