The eye of Dubai

The winning concept for Royal Haskoning Architects

The consortium “Out and About in Palm Deira”, which is made up of Royal Haskoning (as architects/urban planners), MVA consultancy (transport consultants), Systra (rail consultants) and Sogreah (maritime consultants), has won the design competition for an integrated transport master plan for Palm Deira in Dubai. The competition was organised jointly by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and developer Nakheel. Palm Deira—the third Palm and a future metropolis for 1.2 million people—is currently being reclaimed from the sea. Transport to and from Palm Deira faces huge challenges because of the development’s unprecedented scale and its proximity to the downtown area of Dubai. Our winning submission consists of a fully integrated network of roads, metro lines, causeways, super bridges, tunnels and, last but not least, several multi modal hubs, where exchange between modes of transport is facilitated. The jewel in the crown of our submission is our design for the offshore multi modal hub "the Eye of Dubai" providing mooring facilities for cruise ships, ferries to all the surrounding Palm Islands, helicopter platforms, a dedicated metro station, 10,000 parking places and leisure/retail facilities.