Arada has announced Phase One of the Central Hub in Sharjah will complete in the first quarter of next year. The focal point of the US$6.5 billion Aljada development in Sharjah, the Central Hub by Zaha Hadid Architects is a new leisure and entertainment destination for the UAE that defines Aljada’s role as a transformational project for Sharjah.
The Central Hub’s design conceptualises the first moment a water droplet strikes the earth’s surface, captured in an array of elliptical buildings that are designed to channel prevailing winds into public spaces and courtyards to aid natural cooling. Arada’s commitment to sustainability and smart technologies is integrated within the Central Hub. The complex’s natural ecosystem, irrigated by recovered and recycled water, is designed to sustain a microclimate at ground level for gardens featuring plant species native to the region, while the Central Hub’s lighting requirements will be entirely provided by smart solar power.
More than 25 football fields in size (1.9 million square feet), the car-free Central Hub is focussed around its large central plaza and public observation tower. The Central Hub’s design integrates a variety of civic spaces designed with natural cooling strategies to enable them to be enjoyed throughout the year, even during the summer months. In total, there will be 732,000 square feet of public squares and gardens within the Central Hub, including the large community park that covers a quarter of the complex with thousands of specially selected native trees and plants.
Work on the first phase of the Central Hub – which will include an outdoor cinema space, a food truck village, skate park and other family-friendly facilities – has already begun and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2019. Arada is on track to complete all phases of the Central Hub by 2022. Over 328,000 square feet in size, the first phase of the Central Hub will include:
– Aljada Community Centre.
– Food truck village.
– Children’s play area, outdoor activity zone and skate park.
– Outdoor event space for film screenings, pop-up events and markets.
– Arada’s experiential sales centre. Source by Zaha Hadid Architects.
- Location: Sharjah, UAE
- Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
- ZHA Directors: Patrik Schumacher, Charles Walker
- ZHA Project Directors: Johannes Schafelner, Tariq Khayyat (Head of Middle East)
- ZHA Project Associates: Dennis Brezina, Gerhild Orthacker, Damiano Rizzini
- ZHA Project Designer: Yifan Zhang, Nassim Eshaghi, Evgeniya Yatsyuk
- ZHA Technical Reviewer: Armando Solano, Stephane Vallotton
- ZHA Project Team: Alessandra Lazzoni, Valeria Mazzilli, Marius Cernica, John- Alan Gallerie, Sattor Jabbor, Marianna Custodio dos Santos, Juan Montiel, Pelayo Bustillo Macias, Erwan Gallou, Fenji Koshy, Sebastian Andia, Dimitris Kolonia, Lenka Petrakova, Dennis Schiaroli, Shajay Bhooshan, Vishu Bhooshan, Tommaso Casucci, Dalia Bohsali, Tamara Salman, Naitik Trivedi, Jawaher Almutairi
- ZHA Competition Architect: Jakub Klaska
- ZHA Competition Team: Tariq Khayyat, Damiano Rizzini, Eduardo Camarena, Juan Montiel, Jamie Edindjiklian, Silviya Barzakova, Valeria Mazzilli, Nicolas Turchi, John Alan Gallerie
- Year: 2018
- Render: Cosmoscube
- Images: Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects