top of page

Damascus Tower

2011

Al Hijaz Damasco, Syria
Built-on Area 300.000 mt2
Proposal

Architects
 

LOGO ABWB.png

The land covers an area of approximately 21,000 m2 and it begins at the old train station of the Hejaz, built one hundred years ago in the classic Ottoman-inspired architectural style of the day, jutting out between two streets ending in a roundabout and a final bend that especially highlights its 420 meters in length; only interrupted by one intersection where a street crosses it.

Next to the old station and with due consideration for the condition of the building which is of a historic and architectonic interest, the Shopping Center climbs upwards, step by step; its rooftops covered with plants, until the building of the Hotel is reached that lies crosswise on the land, thus topping off the project. Shaped in a cube and facing both east and west with a façade of open and closed spaces projected alternately, albeit rhythmically, the building also faces north and south with facades of vertical gardens which act as a prolongation of the central park created along the whole of the roof of the shopping center; over 300 meters long by fifty wide.


At the south end of the land and facing an open space where Avenues Senan Ben Thabet and Al Abas meet at a roundabout that lets traffic flow freely, is the large Project Tower, putting the place on an urban scale and crowning the area itself with its 350 meters in height. 


In the shape of a rhomboid, it was inspired following the designs of the wooden  slatted shutters over the windows of the houses in the city.

Between both buildings, the shopping center on the three upper floors over street level fits into the shape of the land and resembles a modern structure, but one that is in harmony with its environment  and the context of the district in which it is found. The colors of the stone and the designs of its architecture in pleasing strips there have been transferred to the new façade of the building in a maze of diagonals, with forms that are shaped as large triangles that hang down, whilst using the lights and the shadows of east and west in such a way that they blend into the neighboring buildings facing it. The floors above road level are shaped as overhangs so as to produce a pleasant shade for pedestrians and visitors passing under them. It is at this level where stores are found that are directly related to the street, with the three floors above being more intimate and with their own interior lives.

The four commercial floors are related to each other by means of three large central openings that emerge over the covering that acts as a park with trees, places for recreation and paths; surrounded by its perimeter and along the whole of its length with streams that help reduce the temperature of the air-conditioning and which, at the same time, provide a sense of wellbeing for the users of the park.

The project is aimed at becoming the center of attraction in the city, giving it a sense of development and providing an interesting view of the modernity and openness of the new Syria of the 21st century.

bottom of page