Abu Dhabi: The striking waterfront design for the Mena Zayed campus by twofour54 was revealed at Cityscape Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Based near the Corniche, the massive 600,000 square metre precinct dedicated to media activities will house educational facilities, hotels, offices, retail, conference facilities, production studios and residential apartments.
"The living precinct will not be high-end living but affordable for those who want to start up in the creative industry. The hotel operators we choose will be of the vibrant kind. We expect a lot of buzz with film crews and other creative professionals visiting," said Wayne Borg, chief operating officer of twofour54.
The futuristic design of the precinct intends to inspire as much as bring people together, from inside out. Community plazas, which allow the public to take a peek on what's going on inside, are very much part of the design.
"Everything connects, we're in the heart of the city and the public will be able to see live TV shows and other productions at the media plaza screens for example."
The project is divided into two zones. The first one houses the 15 production studios and residential and on top of them are several frame-like towers housing hotel, offices and so on.
"We tried to make a connection between the media language and the local heritage. The design of the buildings in a way present the frames or a play on media screens put on a pedestal," explained Hana Kassem, director at Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, the architectural firm taking care of the design for zone two.
Or as Borg put it: "They are objects on a tray."
The ‘objects' are open-sided glass on one side and closed on the other, allowing for protection from the sun complying with the Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council's Estidama sustainability regulations.
"We not only want to comply but promote and educate about sustainability," said Kassem.
The second zone is low-rise and home to a hotel and residential areas as well as the headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Media Company.
The buildings appear to have originally been intended to be one but sliced apart in varying forms.
"We pulled apart the production of content in a way. It is about allowing the public to take part. One can look into studios and workspaces. And there are futuristic touch screens one can play with," Kassem added.
Multi-purpose studios
Production facilities are not just mere broadcasting or filming studios, but take in all aspects of media content, including animation, gaming and publishing.
The set up would rather complement than replace Dubai's Media and Studio City's for example
"Essentially, the campus is the embodiment of the creative ecosystem, a bespoke media precinct, quite unlike anything else in the world," said Borg, welcoming competition.
"We want to provide the space for innovative Arabic content to evolve by creative people from all over the region."
