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Al-Mutlaa Downtown

South Al-Mutlaa City


Creating an Oasis

NEW CITY IN KUWAIT: FROM MASTER PLAN TO DETAILED DESIGN

Communication of conceptual city aided by technological expertise and digital tools

When the government of Kuwait tasked planning firm Malone Given Parsons (MGP) to create a master plan for the new city of South Al-Mutlaa, it fell on Cicada to communicate the details of the conceptual city to prospective homeowners. Cicada innovated 3D modeling methods to create a four-minute video that conveys the street-level experience of the city.

Location:  South Al-Mutlaa Kuwait
Client: Malone Given Parons, Kuwait Public Authority for Housing Welfare
Summary: Promotional video and images to communicate the concept and design of a new master-planned city to officials and the public of Kuwait

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the challenge

In this project Cicada was faced with the challenge of creating a video and images portraying a fully designed city of 250,000, from a concept at a master plan scale to detailed architecture and urban design.

Al Mutlaa Map

Animated GIF explains the organization of South Al-Mutlaa. Different neighbourhoods and districts are colour-coded.

Al-Mutlaa Park

An excerpt from the video showing the activity in Al-Mutlaa's lively central park.

SELECTING THE RIGHT SOFTWARE

At first Cicada used Revit software to begin laying out the ground plane of the proposed city. But when the software got bogged down with data from just one proposed neighbourhood (with eleven more neighbourhoods to go), Cicada designers realized that they needed to look for more powerful software. CityEngine allowed the team to quickly create a road layout using road centre lines provided by MGP. CityEngine also automatically generated the surface between roads. This allowed designers to create closed splines, which are essential to setting up the ground plane and subsequent 3D imagery.

Al-Mutlaa City Engine

CityEngine used to generate a realistic city environment based on the master plan's road centre lines.

Once the overall model was built in CityEngine, Cicada needed to zoom in to the neighbourhood scale to illustrate the experience new residents will have of the city. Cicada adapted a parametric modeling system in RailClone to populate houses, parking areas, trees, and cars and other components along property lines.

Al-Mutlaa RailClone

The parametric modeling system in RailClone used for South Al-Mutlaa. Home designs developed by Cicada were multiplied along a spline to portray components of the neighbourhood.

BRINGING THE CITY TO LIFE

While determining the best software tools to build a model, Cicada simultaneously developed storyboards to expand the design and vision of the master plan. Drawing on professional backgrounds in architecture, Cicada designers created architectural prototypes for the city.

Al-Mutlaa Storyboard Sketches
Storyboard sketches to develop the concept and story for the presentation.
Al-Mutlaa Neighbourhood Aerial
Screenshot of video shows detail neighbourhood design
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LEAVING AN IMPRESSION

Water fountains, channels, and pools cool the air under stately palms and groves of acacia, eucalyptus and oleander while residents gather in a public space. Other compelling images capture scenes from daily life in this city oasis. The video created for the project immerses viewers in South Al-Mutlaa and heightens their senses, leaving them with a vivid impression of this imagined place.