Alphaville Ceará

MASTERPLAN AMBITION

Our Masterplan focuses on creating the framework for a future-proof Town Center that will encourage pedestrian and bike traffic and create urban streets in favor of thoroughfares.

The masterplan is laid out around guiding principles for:

• Short pedestrian distances between public spaces
• Screened pedestrian zones
• Low car traffic speed
• Attractive animated facades along all public spaces
• Good conditions for public transport
• Separate local and ‘high speed’ bike paths

The Masterplan lays out a series of public plazas and green spaces within a maximum distance of 400 meters equal to less than 5min walking distance. We suggest reorganizing the traffic to create a central urban boulevard that runs centrally in the development and is fronted by mixed-use properties on both sides.

INTRODUCTION AND FRAMEWORK

The work by SPOL for the Ceará Town Center Masterplan was carried out in the second half of 2015. The design for the Town Center Masterplan is a detailed regulation design within the general framework established by the overall masterplan for Alphavile Ceará.

The Town Center shall be a destination for all inhabitants within the larger Alphaville Ceará as well as for other communities existing in the area. The Town Center shall become the center for up to 170.000 inhabitants once the entire area is developed. The Town Center must provide a flexible framework that can adjust to the shifting demands and commercial pressure that will arrive as the density in the surrounding areas increases. The plan must seem complete from the start, yet it must be able to absorb radical growth in visitors and building density.

Both private lands, public spaces and infrastructure must be designed to adapt to future demands. The individual plots shall be sustainable for small scale and large scale interventions within the same legal framework for the plans.

The project is developed adapting existing planning code for the municipio of Eusébio, yet suggesting changes where it seems beneficial to secure the quality of the urban scenery and for the individual plots.

The given framework outlines two one-directional roads on the perimeter of a central development zone together with a series of cross roads defined by the entrances to the residential neighbourhoods (Alphaville and Terra).

PUBLIC SPACE AND CROSS STREETS

A series of cross streets intersects the two main north-south axes. The streets are designed as public spaces and lie with a maximum distance of 400 meters from each other.

Designed as shared spaces that give priority to the pedestrian, they will become the main commercial and civic spaces in the plan. The individual properties are designed as low rise dense commercial properties for shops and restaurants. Each of these three spaces features a specific public plaza.

Parking is integrated in the public space and is encouraged to be shared between the property owners to limit surface parking on the private properties and to increase the built density and definition of the public street by building fronts.

THE BOULEVARDS

The Masterplan is defined by the two north-south running boulevards. Each boulevard is one-directional and each has its own landscape and design character. The western boulevard, Avenida Atlântica, which is used as the entry for the entire Ceará Masterplan development runs between an open green landscape and the primarily residential plots within the Town Center Masterplan. The boulevard is designed as an open boulevard with designated public transport route and bike path. The buildings are retracted from the street front to create a mainly residential and landscape route.

The Eastern Boulevard, Avenida Pacífico, is designed as a central urban boulevard. It is lined with mixed-use development plots on both sides. The definition of the urban space of the central boulevard is enforced by the zoning law that predicts defined facades along the street front at the lower levels of the developments. The space is screened from sun during the day.

At the intersection of the central boulevard the shared space of the cross streets are given priority and the boulevard is slightly raised to slow speed and the pavement of the shared space is continued.At the northern end where the two boulevards merge they define a series of smaller plots that are designed to cater primarily to commercial functions for the car traveller.

DENSITY AND ZONING

The volumetric build-up of the Masterplan is defined in the zoning plans for each lot and is designed to give maximum density and height at the center of the development along the central boulevard.

A sloped plane defined by the distances to the low rise residential developments and the maximum height of 80m along the central boulevard creates a dynamic building envelope for the entire Masterplan. The greater the distance from low rise development, the higher the building limit.The zoning also secures that the highest density will face the central boulevard.

NORTHERN SITE DEVELOPMENT

At the north end of the Masterplan closest to Avenida Quarto Anel Viário is a property that will be the face of the new Masterplan. The area is developed as a destination and is envisioned primarily as civic program. The area can accept high density and volume. It will define Alphaville Ceará along the Avenida Quarto Anel Viário road and will mark the main entry to the area.

LANDSCAPE

The boulevards are designed as tree-lined streets that define streetside parking, bus stops as well as provide shadow for pedestrian spaces. The public areas have several lines of trees that define dense green spaces under the tree canopies. At the access points of the residential developments the main boulevards intersect a series of public green spaces.

TOPOGRAPHY

The site is relatively flat, sloping gradually towards the eastern edge. The height differences are taken up within the plots and landscaping at the cross streets that navigates between the level differences.