Urban Commissions

The top design proposals for a public shelter to be placed within the urban landscape of Dubai Design District (d3) are revealed.

The brief for this edition of Urban Commissions, a design initiative launched by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Dubai Design District (d3), was to design a public shelter to be placed within the urban landscape of d3; the three design finalists were selected as representing an important functional, social, community building role for placemaking in Dubai.

Hinjal Kumar (architecture student at the American University of Sharjah) represented lifestyle improvement as much as a response to the brief of shelter with her ‘Bike d3’. The shelter, spiral twist to a slatted bicycle storage system, defines intimate space and provides shade for d3 guests, and at the same time offers an alternative mode of commuting in support of a healthier lifestyle.

Architects Atef Khedhir and Zyed Ben Cheikh designed ‘DXB Urban Peaks’ a structure reminiscent of a sailboat floating above the stone outdoor planes of d3.  Architect Fortune Penniman presented, ‘Take Shelter’, a versatile shading and seating module derived from a single element the beauty of which exists in the response to the immediate environment by integrating surrounding geometry within its structure. A cluster of the modules results in negative space that performs as much as shelter as the modules themselves.

The winning proposal will be awarded AED 50,000 to manufacture the prototype, which will be unveiled at Design Days Dubai before moving to its permanent home in d3.