Masaar Discovery Center—Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Client
- Arada
Project Value 
N/A
Market
Urban Development
Services
Design And Urban Planning
Masaar is a mixed-use 180-hectare master-planned community in Sharjah, the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. The development includes a residential community, educational facilities, community center, supermarket, retail shops, cafes, restaurants, fitness centers, food truck park, children’s play area and a green spine consisting of 70,000 trees set in a wide forested space that runs throughout the development, including the Masaar Discovery Center.
Our Role In The Masaar Discovery Center Project
Parsons role on the project involves coordinating with the master planning consultant in the master plan re-development, design the necessary infrastructure, roads and landscaping and prepare the documentation, roads and landscaping design and documentation, traffic impact study, obtain relevant authorities’ approvals, prepare tender documents and provide technical support during tender, post design services, and construction supervision.
Immersive Woodland Experience At The Masaar Discovery Center
The Masaar Discovery Center is a unique sales center at the heart of the woodland community aimed at providing an immersive experience for visitors, showcasing what living at Masaar will be like. The experience is emphasized by the landscape, which responds to the site topography, with the integration of an elevated sales center building placed on the ‘Masaar’ axis of the site – an oasis within a woodland, the first of its kind in the region.
The landscape contains an immersive customer experience with adventure play, a skateboarding bowl, a BMX pump track, and food trucks, all knitted together within a naturalistic landscape.
The Masaar Discovery Centre landscape design project exemplifies the power of leveraging multiple software tools to create a cohesive and holistic design process without any time loss or inefficiencies.
The team seamlessly integrates a carefully orchestrated combination of cutting-edge technologies to ensure a smooth and streamlined workflow. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) serves as the foundation for creating detailed 2D and 3D models of the landscape, visualizing ideas with precision. This initial design stage provides valuable insights and serves as a starting point for subsequent phases.
To bring the design to life, the team harnesses the power of 3Ds Max and Rhino. 3Ds Max crafts intricate and visually stunning 3D models, while Rhino’s versatility sculpts organic shapes and complex geometries. This combination allows them to achieve creativity and realism that elevate the design’s visual impact.
Enhancing the project’s depth and functionality, Civil 3D seamlessly incorporates geospatial data and precise terrain modeling, ensuring the design aligns with the real-world environment. Integration with the design data fosters a comprehensive understanding of the project’s functional aspects.
Masaar Development Masterplan
Aerial View of the Center
Discovery Center at Night
Children’s Play Area
Innovative Integration of Safety, Sustainability, and Design at the Masaar Discovery Center
Safety was a key consideration during the design of the landscape on this project and local, US, and European standards were upheld, especially within the unique play areas, pathways to the elevated building, and skate park (undertaken by a specialist skate park contractor).
The project aligns with Sharjah’s aims to protect the environment by incorporating sustainable development principles, including the planting of a target of 70,000 trees to enhance the natural environment and protect it for the community’s enjoyment. During the construction phase, project-specific Quality Assurance and Quality control plans were prepared and tailored for Arada’s needs. As multiple contractors are deployed within the project area, extensive interface management was carried out with all the stakeholders to ensure that work proceeds uninterrupted and shop drawings for different disciplines are cross-checked to minimize any conflict or abortive works. This leads to meeting or exceeding planned productivity.
Several measures were implemented to mitigate all foreseen risks and adhere to the project timeline, for instance during the procurement of long lead items, such as the specialist play equipment and plantation, all activity was meticulously tracked and aligned with the project schedule. Materials were tested and finished works were performed prior to the commencement of activities as well as during the construction and post-construction stages and logistics plans were closely implemented during the construction stage. The team also created method statements and risk assessments of each activity in advance to deliver right on the first instance.
Site-specific HSE plans were also prepared, all onsite staff were given safety inductions prior to commencing work. Routine toolbox talks and work-specific training were conducted, and daily and weekly site walks were undertaken jointly by the contractor, consultant, and Arada’s representatives to drive the implementation of approved HSE policies and practices.
The Masaar Discovery Center is designed to respond to the natural conditions and climate it is placed in, fully representing the idea of the “forest community”. This is further translated into the architecture, where the idea of the forest canopy is recreated indoors through filtered light and shadow patterns of trees, providing a newfound experience of the open-space interior.
The users of this space are greeted by a dual reception-coffee bar space, emphasizing the multifunctionality of the program, which emphasizes both tactile and sensory experiences, as well as a strong social cohesion further emphasized by the building’s architecture, planning, and layout.
Furthermore, the building is north facing, which allows a three-sided entry of natural light into the mass. This allows the interior spaces of the building to be fully naturally lit throughout the day, minimizing the need for artificial light, which, in turn, allows for more efficient energy conservation within the building. Thus, the Masaar Discovery Center is a building with multidimensional and responsive considerations of architectural, structural, programmatic, environmental, and sociocultural variables.
Project Scope
- Coordination with the Master Plan Consultant in the re-development of the Master Plan
- Schematic Infrastructure and Road Design (including TIS)
- Preliminary/Detailed Infrastructure and Road Design
- Tender Documents
- IFC Documents
- Construction Supervision
