Denton Corker Marshall’s recent design for a mixed use skyscraper in Dubai, which features large, angular shapes stacked on top of one another and held together, seemingly, by thin poles, has won the firm an award in the MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects “Tall Building” category.

The tower is actually a cluster of four buildings. The top 75 levels of all four serve as separate office buildings, and they are grouped to form, in the middle, a 225 meter-tall atrium. The four office towers sit on a large podium; below, a 21-level apartment tower and a 27-level hotel, along with ample retail space, round out the development.

In choosing this tower as the “Tall Building” winner, judges remarked, “The striking and variegated forms would be in marked contrast to the general run of Dubai’s buildings. The complex as a whole embraces the idea of a mixed use neighborhood into which this tall building seamlessly plugs.”

Because of its diversity of use and capacity, the tower is like a city in itself. This is what makes the design so successful, said Denton Corker Marhsall Director Peter Williams: “The Cluster Complex was designed to provide Dubai’s globally mobile and largely expatriate creative professionals with a home close to work and recreation, with easy transition from one to the other, and back again. This demands an environment as complex and diverse as any city.”

A large metal mesh canopy encloses the complex’s podium to mimic a tent and provide a comfortable (and artful) pedestrian environment despite Dubai’s extreme temperatures. This is especially important on the podium’s fourth level, which will function as an outdoor mall with cafes, art galleries, shops, restaurants and more.


Leave a Reply