[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]he Casanearshore Park a service area dedicated to companies specializing in software development, infrastructure management, back office banking and insurance and customer relationship management. Designed by Moroccan architecture practices Groupe 3 Architects and Omar Aloui Architects in collaboration with Taoufik El Oufir, this portion of the 2 hectare complex features 40 000 sqm of modular offices within a decentralized structure.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
[via archdaily]
The project revolves around the implementation of the first installment of the Casa Shore Park operation, located within the B and C plots, across a surface of approximately 2 Hectares. Our intervention consists mainly in providing a number of office floors, service areas, along with the complementary landscaping necessary to the accommodation of the “Business process off shoring”.
Our architectural response in regard of this first phase is one that highlights the different problematic that will be treated across the site, while also responding to its specific constraints.
A- Specific constraints of the first installment:
The architectural intervention must emphasize the site entrance and draw a symbolic limit between interior and exterior spaces. The park, in its definitive configuration, is identified though the image of the buildings it holds within.
In view of its location along the road leading to the prefectures, the first housing complex expresses the dialectic between the urban public space and the interior landscape of the park. The flux management is optimized though control, hierarchy and fluid access. The arrangement of spaces must allow great flexibility so that the projected buildings may satisfy the diverse and rapidly evolving requirements business structures. The project must in fine allow the implementation of 40 000sqm of modular office platforms.
B. Site related constraints:
The first installment must at least accommodate the basic services necessary to the good functioning of the site. Scale wise, some services were sized to fit the global needs of the park, whereas others were sized in conformity with the specific needs of the first installment.
The project, in its overall configuration, will be designed in a way that favors a harmonious integration with its environment,
-Through the conservation and densification of the site-specific flora,
-Through a HQE conceptual approach, consisting in the assessment of the overall impact of the constructions on the environment, according to the following criteria:
- Energy, water, and waste management
- Hygrothermal comfort
- Maintenance – sustainability of environmental performance
- Relationship of the buildings with their immediate environment
- Visual, acoustic and olfactory comfort
- Water and air quality
C. The architectural statement:
The adopted morphology draws from a core concept combining transparency and protection, with an impression of hospitality when facing the city, and a more dispersed touch facing the park.
Through the diverse and numerous combinations it allows, this arrangement provides great flexibility in area distribution possibilities, easing the integration of the project in both its urban and natural landscapes. This morphology creates a homogenous urban facade overlooking the road, paired with a more disparate interior space overlooking the forest. Between the main body of the building and its satellites, the contrasting heights provide a dynamic scale varying from function to function.
