Saturday, March 19, 2011

Masdar City visit

Last weekend we decided to take a look at Masdar City, which is now partially open to the public. The only finished part of Masdar currently is the first phase of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), which is a UAE collaboration with MIT. As part of the zero carbon target for Masdar they are allowing no cars into the campus, so you have to park up your car and take the Personal Rapid Transit system. The original idea was that this transport system would cover the whole development with over 1000 "stops" - but I believe they have realised this is going to be impossible and have scrapped the plans. Shame, I think getting around like The Jetsons would be cool! Below is a video clip I took of our journey.





The public area that is open at the moment is in the middle of MIST. There's not much there, but the architecture is interesting.  There is a coffee shop, a sushi bar and an "Organic Foods and Cafe" - without the cafe.

Here's a few pics...

The wind tower in the courtyard


Narrow pathways to bring shade. Solar panels on top.





No cafe!

4 comments:

  1. great video Neil, love the music!

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  2. Kris - it really did feel a bit "space age" !

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  3. I've just been working on a case study about the GIS that is integral to planning and running Masdar City. Amazing stuff.

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  4. Yes, should be some cool technology... Eventually!

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