Madinat al Irfan

Muscat is a growing and thriving city; and like many societies, Oman is urbanising. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has ranked the country as the single most improved in terms of human development since it started its annual Human Development Index (HDI). Even with this speed of change, Oman's leadership has carefully managed the country's modernisation with an emphasis on cultural sustainability that comes from a desire to allow its rich heritage to flourish even as it modernises.

The Madinat al Irfan project aims to establish a new urban centre within Muscat which will help accommodate much of the city's future growth, while providing a focus for investment that will help the country in its shift to a more diversified economy. The client - Omran, the country's master developer of tourism, heritage and urban developments - identified a 624-hectare site strategically located next to Muscat International Airport. Its location also provides a crucial link between two sides of the wider city region. It is largely virgin land, an open landscape with a dramatic topography containing a wadi, a riverine channel that is a special geological feature typical to the Arabian Peninsula.

We were appointed to masterplan the site following an invited competition held by RIBA on behalf of Omran.

Our masterplan grows out of an understanding of the geography and culture with the wadi at its heart. Understanding the symbolic importance of wadis in Omani culture and making best use of its particular terrain, the whole development has been structured around the wadi setting with small grain villages located in the areas of increased topography and urban centres in the plateau-like areas of the site, each with their own distinct character. The wadi itself becomes a continuous public park, a productive landscape asset, which provides a dramatic setting around which to develop new urban neighbourhoods.

Each of these centres connect with bridges across the Wadi Park to villages located on the southern side of the overall development. These bridges define the character of Irfan; more than crossings, they are place-making elements that act as gathering points and their structure maintains the water basins while creating an identifiable 'City of Bridges'.

The framework of connections and bridges will enable the city to grow organically out of the landscape to evolve into a place that is particular to its context and memorable, with phased development complete at each stage. The pattern of urban settlement consists of complex geometries and simple buildings, compactly designed with natural shading that encourages movement on foot rather than the use of cars and provides outside comfort in the hot environment. Throughout Irfan, contemporary architectural language draws inspiration from the local vernacular, providing expression to Omani cultural identity, instilling a strong sense of a city that is grounded and permanent, unique and archetypal.

Irfan has been designed on some simple ideas that have worked well for centuries: cluster buildings tightly together, make places easy to get to, mix them up and work with nature and climate rather than against them. The project offers the potential to influence the future urban development of Oman and beyond. Given the scale of new building - with a living, working and visiting population of 280,000 in a country of 3.5 million - its sheer size may enable such a paradigm shift. In these ways, we hope this work offers a model for a new urban agenda and a blueprint for resilient new cities, towns and settlements.

With initial infrastructure works completed around the eastern perimeter of the site, and a development partner appointed to take plots forward, the masterplan is now attracting attention as a potential business location. Detailed development of plots in the eastern part of the site is expected to proceed soon.