Un jardín de 72.000.000 metros cuadrados en el desierto

Yo sigo asombrándome con la escala de las cosas en el nuevo Dubai. Esta vez, un impresionante jardín de dimensiones desmesuaradas, plantado en las costas deld esierto arábigo, el Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens, un faraónico desarrollo del que la versión oficial cuenta lo siguiente:

The AED200 billion project will cover land area of 880 million square feet. It will be executed by Dubai Properties, a member of Dubai Holding. The project will include four houses: Bait Al Hikma, will include translation unit, central library, knowledge garden and offices for international organisations, universities and mosque. The second house, will be humanitarian house, which will include the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian Establishment, UNICEF, light museum, humanitarian civilisation museum and charity offices. The third house, is allocated for nature. It will include extensive integrated family parks, specialised environment laboratories, colleges specialised in environment, hotels and entertainment clubs, as well as gardens for flowers and alternative medicine clinics. The fourth house, is allocated for commerce. It will include towers and centres for trade mark agents, higher banking and financial institutions, insurance companies, major world companies, Islamic and international banks. Al Gergawi said the coming up project "reflects vision of Sheikh Mohammed on clean environment free from pollution to safeguard health of coming generations", adding that it is also in line with previous resolution of constructing green buildings friendly to environment. He added that the Sheikh Mohammed gardens will be distinguished with extensive landscape and educational, tourist and historical landmarks.

Desde luego, en laza con la tradición árabe como maestros del paisajismo y los jardines de agua, vinculándolo, eso sí, con la retahila de palabros (sostenibilidad, etc.) que en estos días permiten justificar cualquier cosa. En realidad, se trata de un desarrollo urbanístico pensado para 200.000 personas, en el que los espacios verdes dominan, pero que da acogida también a diferentes edificios que serán emblemáticos en los próximos años como el House of Commerce.

Unas fotos y un video para ilustrar: