UK-based architecture firm RMJM has been selected by Dubai developer Nakheel to design the Madinat Al Soor mixed-use development, located at the harbor entrance to Waterfront City in Dubai, UAE. Madinat will house approximately 22,000 new residents.

Located at the harbor entrance of Waterfront City, the project will include residences, souks, hotels, and civic and cultural facilities. The design is a partnership between RMJM's New York and Dubai offices. "The Madinat Al Soor development will tie together the best elements of the 'Old Dubai' and the 'New Dubai,'" says RMJM's New York-based design studio director Steven K. Gifford. "It will be unlike any other city or development in the region – livable, walkable, and sustainable"

The name "Al Soor," or "The Wall," originates from the development's most prominent structure – a large inhabited wall element on the western tip of the site. The site is surrounded by water on three sides – the north side has a beach and the south, a quay. The building clusters and irregular street patterns will integrate the wall with other key spaces in the town. The distribution of he program allows for the creation of mixed-use neighborhoods, each with a unique character, through the strategic position of retail and public routes along the canal.

While prototypical Arabic town planning principles inform the project, individual buildings and spaces will reflect a modern understanding of the Arabic architectural vernacular and will conform to contemporary building methods. Indigenous sustainable design techniques will be integrated, with an emphasis on passive solar shading and siting to achieve a natural cooling effect. The site's position is ideally situated to capture the cooling breezes of the local northwesterly prevailing wind, and the combination of  solar shading, light ventilated roof systems, and landscape design could result in energy savings of as much as 30 to 40 percent.