Project title: high tech -
low tech _ POWERPARK @ Bab al Bahrain
Published: Manama Capital of
Arab Culture 2012; Competition BAB
PowerPark is the
strategic centre of the city.
A place where essential and
traditional parts of the city meet, it forms a
visionary space connecting and supporting the
surroundings.
PowerPark is an
invitation.
Seen from the highway, the
PowerPark forms the gateway to Manama. The area
under the roof can be utilised for official
ceremonies or drive down to the next level into
the most beautiful parking garage based on a
traditional „low tech“ ventilation
system, which cools not only the garage but also
the overhead central Square. The Square is framed
by solar panels (PV) providing shade for the
underlying arcades.
PowerPark is an Energy
Park.
It creates electricity for the
city using sun and wind via approx. 20.000m²
or 6500 solar panels and circa 350 horizontal
wind turbines located above. The cooling and
ventilation system of the PowerPark itself is
developed from traditional and local techniques
and creates a special climate zone within the
urban garden.
Power
Park forms a cool urban oasis.
Palm trees, shade, arcades, water
and air fountains (individually decorated domes
cutting through the softly curved paved ground),
with slight dunes and pools, form the design of
the Square.
PowerPark is
Infrastructure.
The central Square and its
arcades host a fundamental part of the city (a
central carpark and an open Square with arcades
and gardens), as well as special facilities such
as the Post Office, the Children’s Museum
and the National Archives.
PowerPark is a connecting
point.
A place where the old and new
cities can come together and support each other.
A wide ramp over the highway connects the Square
with the green Beach Park and seaside, the
Financial Harbour with the Souk. The roof acts as
a Gateway to the City with the Bab al Bahrain.
The traditional meaning of Bab al Bahrain is
positively strengthened but kept in its historic
form. The traditional Square with its roundabout
assumes a much more symbolic function and is also
visually enhanced by the new facade of the
PowerPark and Post Office with its overhead Tea
Terrace, thus becoming part of the historic
ensemble of the Bab al Bahrain Square and 20th
century architecture.
PowerPark transforms the
local architecture as well as combining
traditional ventilation techniques with technical
environmental possibilities of the 21st century.
Incorporating a wind tower as a horizontal
electricity turbine with a turbotube column, and
the ‘solar panel roof’ as a
windcatcher. In addition, a quanat system with
domes as ventilated parking space cooling the
Square.
PowerPark is open to
everybody –
from children to intellectuals,
small commercial vendors to visitors of the Tea
Terrace, traditional traders of the Souk to the
managers of the Financial Harbour, local
inhabitants to international tourists. The
architectural design of the PowerPark frames all
kind of actions of society at the central Square
and provides shade for the arcades. It represents
the city literally and visually. PowerPark acts
as the House and Garden of the City.
PowerPark is a meeting
point.
Either informally at a facility -
at the entrance of the Children’s Museum,
Post Office, etc., a situation - such as the
green palm tree oasis, the water and air
fountains, the arcades, or exclusively at the
‘Tea Terrace’ with the perfect view
of Bab al Bahrain and the PowerPark.