I LEARNING CENTRE

central entrance, a library, and exhibition space, and interpersonally, through community educational and event-based programming. With access to each chamber’s courtyard, it is a place of convergence, rather than divergence. A destination in itself, the raised garden creates a viewing platform to take in all three religious structures, promoting a sense of harmony and interconnectivity whilst asserting their individualism. Framed by date palms to symbolize entrances and punctuated by planters with regional vegetation and water features for cooling, the garden becomes a climate moderated space of collective respite. Profound or mundane moments are cultivated throughout, encouraging the celebration of collective history and collective identity at all scales.

Forum & Garden

Plinth: The single-story plinth references the mound as a sacred archetype that moves us closer to higher things. This common, shared space encourages dialogue between members of the three Abrahamic faiths.

Forum: At the center of the plinth sits the Forum, a shared secular space for gatherings and educational programming, including a library and exhibitions.

Garden: The garden, located atop the plinth, connects the three houses of worship and serves as an outdoor multipurpose space for events, festivals, and community programs.

Circulation: Elevators, stairs, and ramps offer accessible navigation between the Forum, the elevated garden, and each individual house of worship.

Steps to Garden

Sustainability Highlights

• Estidama 2 Pearl Rating is anticipated.

• Passive cooling strategies used include high thermal massing, orientation according to solar path movements, and integration of native landscaping and water features.

• The colonnades and mashrabiya were designed according to thermal modeling studies to balance solar shading, illumination, and heat gain.

• Courtyards draw light into interior spaced and provide airflow.

• Water features located in courtyards are designed to keep the courtyards cool. The buildings colonnades were designed to funnel air into the courtyards, which in turn is cooled by the water features and evaporative cooling, creating a temperature difference of up to 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) from the plinth.

• Trees and vegetation are local or regional, chosen for their ability to provide shade and survive in the hot climate with low water demand for irrigation.

• All fixtures are low energy (lights etc.).

• All lighting is set to vary on a timer during the evening to avoid light pollution.

Landscaping & Vegetation

• The Abrahamic Family House features a total of 430 trees and other desert vegetation that are locally sourced, native to the region, provide shade, and have collectively low irrigation demand to mitigate water consumption as much as possible.

• Each house of worship is represented by a different type of citrus tree in its courtyard. Within the elevated garden, each house of worship is also represented by a symbolic ghaf tree the national tree of the UAE. Date palm trees are also used to symbolise entrances both externally from the street to the Abrahamic Family House, and from the Forum into the courtyard of each house of worship.

• The garden features acacia trees, which are commonly found across the UAE, shade large areas and have high drought tolerance. Within the Forum, an olive tree that is over one hundred years old is framed within a prominent courtyard, symbolising peace.

Materials

•Materials used include concrete, Omani limestone, textured plaster, bronze detailing, and timber battens.

•Most materials were locally sourced and selected for sustainability, durability, and longevity.

•26,000 square meters (280,000 square feet) of limestone were used in the construction.

•Seating within the church and synagogue were constructed in naturally hard-wearing oak for the materials durable properties as well as its religious symbolism.

pARC was designed by The Urban Conga to serve as an open-ended programmable space for the community of Chapel Hill and the Ackland Art Museum located at the University of North Carolina. The Urban Conga studio designed the spatial intervention through a series of participatory design workshops with community stakeholders and museum representatives. The feedback and input of the community and museum representatives lead to the final design of the space and input on future public programming. The Ackland Art Museum is a free museum in Chapel Hill that hosts a surplus of diverse programming within its doors, but it seemed many community members were unaware of the museum and what it had to offer. pARC was designed to sit on the open terrace of the museum to serve as a bridge to connect the museum to the street. Serving as a programmable extension to the conversations, events, teachings, and programming that currently exists within the doors of the Ackland.