In this commission for a major Financial Center in the Caribbean, nature and finance merge in an unexpected manner. Instead of imposing a rigid master plan on the site, the project proposes a flexible landscape of buildings and gardens ready to accommodate an array of activities, from a business center to a hotel, an ocean club, shopping areas, and so on. The project is located in the Dominican Republic, 14 miles outside of Santo Domingo. It is expected that 30,000 people will live and work in the described project. more

The project for the Independent Financial Centre of the Americas first involved a master plan for a 7,800-acre site. The site is heavily vegetated, sandwiched between two major highways and touching the Caribbean Sea at its southwest corner. Inspired by the Dominican Republic’s longstanding history of ecological preservation, the master plan was designed with a sensitive imprint, allowing more than half of the available land to remain “natural.” The master plan includes infrastructure improvements such as a power plant, a water- and waste-treatment plant, three bridges, and highway infrastructure. Planned facilities include nine million square feet of offices within a financial services zone, more than 20,000 units of housing with recreational park land, a lifestyle center, a regional retail center, an international school, an ocean club, and a hotel convention center as well as infrastructure, housing, and community services facilities for the neighboring town of Guayacannes. back

Credits

SCHEDULE
Commission, fall 2005
Conceptual Master Plan, completed spring 2007
Construction of 1st phase to be completed 2010
SIZE
7,800 acres
BUDGET
$1,000,000,000
CLIENT
IFCA Cefinte
TEAM
Lead Designer: Bernard Tschumi. Key Personnel: Kim Starr, Chris Lee, Dominic Leong, Loren Supp, Paula Tomisaki, Angie Co, Yang Yang, Stephanie Chaltiel, Nefeli Chatzimina. Associated Architect: Carter-Burgess, Dallas, Texas: Cesar Vallerilla, Paul Maute, Tim Norton, Brian Adams, Emily Drake, Shea O’Kirkman back

Program: Housing, Infrastructure, Master Plan, Offices