BRIDGE CITY

SET ABOVE THE UAE UNIVERSITY IN AL AIN, BRIDGE CITY REIMAGINES THE HOME NOT AS A UNIT, BUT AS A SHARED ECOSYSTEM OF LEARNING AND LIFE. SUSPENDED JUST ABOVE GROUND, IT LOOPS AROUND THE EXISTING UNIVERSITY CAMPUS—ELEVATED TO RISE ABOVE FLASH FLOODS, OPEN TO THE DESERT WINDS.

DRAWING FROM VERNACULAR KNOWLEDGE—WIND TOWER VENTILATION, BEDOUIN TEXTILE SHELTERS—IT EMBRACES THE PAST WHILE LOOKING AHEAD. INSTEAD OF ERASING WHAT EXISTS, THE BRIDGE BUILDS AROUND IT, TRANSFORMING THE UNIVERSITY INTO A CONTINUOUS, WALKABLE CITY.

FIRST MAPPED WITH COLOURED CANDY GUMMIES, THE STRUCTURE WINDS AND SWELLS—NARROWING INTO GREEN CORRIDORS, EXPANDING INTO VIBRANT PUBLIC PLATEAUS. ITS BROADEST SPACES HOST SPORTS, LECTURES, AND GATHERING; ITS MIDZONES HOLD STUDENT HOMES; ITS SLIMMEST PATHS OFFER QUIET MOVEMENT THROUGH NATURE. A CYCLING LANE THREADS THROUGH IT ALL, CONNECTING STUDY, REST, AND PLAY.

UNREALISTIC? PERHAPS. BUT BRIDGE CITY WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE ORDINARY. IT’S A SPECULATION—A SOFT, SURREAL FUTURE FOR A REGION IN TRANSITION, WHERE EDUCATION BECOMES BOTH THE ANCHOR AND THE HORIZON.