Hydrocity of Ajman

Project idea

Hydrocity in Ajman is primarily a re-urbanization of a district in Ajman called Emirates city, it is adjacent to the E311 road where it links all the emirates together in the United Arab Emirates.

The site before the proposal consists of a cluster of residential towers in different construction stages that are relatively placed close to one another. They all have the same typology, style and height in which these towers rest on a multi-storey parking structure as a podium.

Hydrocity in Ajman represents a place of modern mixed-use project offering offices, residential units, commercial and entertainment programs expressing a contemporary way of living. In which it combines the elements of work, live and socialize together within the same context, to provide a flexible and easier lifestyle for the residence.

Project description

The project addresses 3 main points of resiliency which are economic, social and environmental.

Economic- Each tower is mainly designed as an open concrete parking structure with a central courtyard and a modular grid system with modular size program units that would be adapted and converted interchangeably depending on the demand of the economy over time.

Social - The project proposes various scales of public space both within and outside the tower just to create a variety of leisure experience for all age groups. For example, we have sky dine that is in the hydropower tower and other wide range of entertainment, commercial and retail facilities, as well as roof gardens that all overlook a panoramic view of the central water body in the proposal.

Environmental- The use of hydropower towers located in the center of the master plan and captured kinetic energy from vehicles, so both these forms of energy are used to generate electricity and provide it back to the grid and the hydrocity as a whole.

Technical information

The project integrates different forms of power generation on site. Firstly, converting kinetic energy into electrical energy by the use of energy generating speed bumps for vehicular circulation. Secondly, hydropower generation by the use of hydropower towers. Hydropower tower captures the energy of falling water to generate electricity. A turbine converts the kinetic energy of falling water into mechanical energy. Then a generator converts the mechanical energy from the turbine into electrical energy.

In a pumped storage tower water is pumped from a lower reservoir to a higher reservoir during off-peak times when electricity is relatively cheap, using electricity generated from other types of energy sources. Pumping the water uphill creates the potential to generate hydropower later on. When the hydropower power is needed, it is released back into the lower reservoir through turbines.

Documentation

Show PDF 1