Marina Waterfront Development
IGA role: Landscape design
Location : Dbayeh, Lebanon
The Marina Waterfront landscape design for the master plan followed the sustainability guidelines in terms of durability, portraying a specific character, improving the quality of the streets, reducing the heat island effect and providing a pedestrian friendly environment.
Given the benefits of trees in regulating temperature, flood control, cleaning air and water and providing habitat for wildlife, the approach proposes to make use of every opportunity that the public space offers to plant a tree. The large sidewalks of the waterfront project are ideal for street trees to provide shaded promenades in a country that is becoming increasingly hot during the long summer season.
The soft landscape strategy consists of proposing a different species for each street to enrich the biodiversity, with harmless rooting system to avoid breaking the sidewalks. The trees selection focused on low-maintenance, and suggests evergreen trees for the large streets mostly running North-South and deciduous flowering trees for the narrower streets mostly running East-West.
Spaces at key locations were designed as landmarks such as the Triangle located at the entrance of the Waterfront Development, announcing the Marina area for visitors and opening to the sea.
The design draft proposal for the Triangle has set as objectives:
- Creating a focal point and an identifiable feature through an attractive green mass
- Creating a strong identity through an artistic platform and green mounds at the image of the nearby waves with a secure and open central space for social activities
- Providing a balanced space between planted and paved areas.
- Providing concentrated and connected planted areas to achieve a lush look, facilitate the irrigation and maintenance and create a green screen protecting from the vehicular visual pollution and circulation as much as from the noise pollution.
- Adopting simplicity, cost efficiency and low maintenance as part of a sustainable approach without jeopardizing the quality of the landscape.
