Madinat Al Irfan Masterplan, Oman
Designing a walkable city for pedestrian comfort in Oman
The award-winning Irfan Masterplan outlines a 40-year plan for a new low carbon city district in Muscat, Oman, and provides a sustainable model for future urban development in the region. Working with architects Allies and Morrison, Arup brought to bear expert knowledge of regional climate processes and detailed analysis of solar, wind and thermal environments to optimise the useability of external spaces.
The result was the implementation of different shading devices, street layouts, landscape planting responding to the area usage and building type. Walkability of the central areas was a key aspect of influencing the development of the masterplan and a bespoke analysis methodology was developed to ensure pedestrians could always transit between amenities efficiently and in comfort. Design codes were also developed to guide energy efficient building designs.
