Dubai Heart

Dubai | United Arab Emirates
Project
Vittorio Grassi Architects
Client
Dubai Municipality, General Projects Department
Period
2017 Design Competition Shortlist
2017 Preliminary Design
Gross Floor Area
19.690 sqm
Site Area
51.910 sqm
Construction Cost
80 m Euro

Dubai Heart aims to achieve one of the strategic goals of the Dubai 2020 development plan, contributing to the definition of a new urban identity through an intervention positioned among the most innovative international masterplans. The proposal creates an iconic hub that integrates entertainment, tourism, and public space, combining hospitality architecture, urban design, and high-quality public realm design.

Dubai Heart is conceived as the first entertainment project of its kind to combine the world’s tallest water slide (55 m), overlooking the sea, with panoramic walkways and a floating water park. It is designed as a new landmark for outdoor aquatic activities dedicated to families and groups, merging an extraordinary architectural form with a large amphitheater-style plaza for events.

This public space becomes a central element of urban interaction, in continuity with the principles of contemporary residential neighborhood architecture, oriented toward social life and collective use.

The heart-shaped building rises on a circular platform 180 meters in diameter, connected to the mainland by a 200-meter-long bridge, with particular attention given to accessibility and visitor circulation across the artificial island.

The structure includes a technical basement level and nine above-ground floors, reaching a maximum height of 60 meters.

The ground-floor layout is organized around two main access points: a “dry entrance” on the south side and a “wet entrance” on the west side. The dry sector accommodates retail areas, restaurants, cafés, and panoramic terraces, while the wet sector concentrates all the water park facilities. Seven vertical cores with stairs and elevators connect the various functions, ensuring efficiency and fluid circulation.

The Water Plaza, enhanced by waterfalls and fountains, welcomes visitors and directs them toward the different areas of the park: a children’s zone with water games, an open-air theater, spaces for sports activities, aquatic jogging paths, and landscaped pools. The ensemble of open spaces, pedestrian connections, and landscape elements helps define an integrated urban design and public realm project, capable of transforming the development into a true contemporary urban destination.