Spacious and cozy at the same time – such is the impression of a comfortable modern beach complex La Mer. It is a world-class beach in a prestigious area of Dubai that combines the best modern trends in the leisure industry.
Owned by Meraas Group Holding, a large real estate development company and also an investor in the development of the national economy. The holding attracts construction companies and also provides management of a particular project.
Layout La Mer is a 2.5 km long complex. Two bays are formed by artificial peninsula capes, which are so well done in Dubai. A wide boardwalk separates the sandy beach strip from the string of surrounding cafes, boutiques, and restaurants of various levels.
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On the central promontory of La Mer beach, there is the Laguna water park, restaurants, cafes, and cinemas. The environment is stylized as an abandoned industrial zone – a port or a shipyard. This is evidenced by the name of this part of Le Warf – pier. With ingenuity and humor, wooden boats, cable reels, large and small barrels, and even garbage containers have been transformed into furnishing elements – benches, play areas, information stands.
Sun protection in the form of canvas panels is colorfully illuminated in the evening. An interesting tendency is that the aestheticization of the post-industrial environment is not new. But of course, there was no real historical building here. Nevertheless, it was carefully created and even “carefully reconstructed”! Many elements require not so much material costs as imagination and creative ideas.
Made with an emphasis on environmentally friendly and ethno materials – canvas, ropes, roughly processed wood – cozy corners, benches, children’s playgrounds look very impressive. For a modern person from the “plastic world,” it is an outlet, a delight for the eyes, and tactile sensations.
Sun-protection sails above the pedestrian “decks” provide shelter from the scorching sun – cozy and romantic. The landscaping style is “inclusive”, fully incorporated into the environment. There is no concept of “flower bed” or “lawn”, there is an illusion of natural vegetation, natural landscape. Where a person can pass – there is a path, flooring, or just sand. And where there is no need to walk, it is physically impossible to walk because of the density of the planted plants. Spider lilies and zamioculcas, olive trees and palms, cyperus and frangipani – an abundance of flora in the desert, on the sand.
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Water, included in the planning system of a resort complex of any scale, plays an exceptional role. Streaming streams create not only a comfortable microclimate but also an aesthetic pleasure that increases the attractiveness of the surrounding landscape. Especially when there is no barrier between a person and a body of water. It seems that these ponds and streams are of natural origin, so organically they flow into the scenario of the embankment.
If necessary, the coast of the bay can turn into a kind of amphitheater, on the water “stage” of which sports teams can perform on skis, boats.
Graffiti from Banksy, and not only, complements the architecture, the style of which can be called contemporary – the rationalism of our time in its utilitarian aspect. Pure volumes, flowing spaces.
The decorative elements are strictly functional – they are either pergolas or sun protection of stained-glass windows. The strict geometry of the buildings as opposed to the smooth flowing lines of the landscaping – the traditional technique works well.
The main part of the parking lot for 1,100 cars is located on the underground level. There is a paid and a free zone. Pavilions – exits are equipped with an elevator and escalators.
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A wide beach strip, a sufficient number of service buildings: wardrobes, showers and toilets, shops and cafes, a water park and a cinema, and all this is harmoniously connected by the general composition of the master plan and the “legend” of the design.
And so, the constituent factors of success:
Visual comfort: human scale.
Thematic concept: “The Legend of the Place” is a playful design moment, so that a person on vacation feels like a fairy tale, exotic, in the scenery of the film. Conscious use of signs of the historical environment, or signs of modern ideas about it (stereotypes), in order to achieve the desired semantic and decorative impression, stylistic expressiveness. Conventionality, a high level of interpretation, and at the same time an understandable subtext.
Emotional comfort of the territory: water, greenery and complete absolute accessibility.
Interaction of public, commercial, and gaming areas, the possibility of communication and entertainment in the complex.
A space of motivations is created, perception is formed, an emotional background is turned on. Desire to come back and spend money, as the perfect balance has been found between business development and public territory.
