How can a city grow from the landscape rather than be imposed on it? ENTROPIC’s A’Thuraya City Phase 3 Extension begins by reading the land: its contours, water routes, habitats and patterns of movement.
In 2026, ENTROPIC presented the proposal at Oman Design & Build Week, as an invited architect to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning. The masterplan is conceived as a constellation of eight distinct settlements, connected through ecological corridors, mobility routes and public spaces.
Across Oman, settlements have historically responded to water, cultivable land, shade, movement routes and defensible terrain. These relationships informed our starting point. Wadis, high peaks, flatland, deltas and plateaus become the framework for development, rather than obstacles to a uniform urban order.
Natural contours create shade and seasonal water routes. The proposal retains and connects these systems, organising roads, plots and density around the way the site works. Each settlement develops its own character through its relationship with the surrounding landscape, while shared networks bring the wider city together.
The wadi becomes an organising corridor for movement and density. Elsewhere, contours continue through the residential fabric to retain views and embed buildings within the terrain. Landscape is not an amenity added after planning; it is the system that guides urban growth.
The result is a proposal rooted in Oman’s landscape and looking towards its future, where urban life, ecology and identity develop together.
The proposal was shaped by Geoffrey James Eberle, Magdalena Mróz, Adrien Lotz, Tommaso Pannunzio, Ata Raoufi Fard and Olha Martsynovska, in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Planning, alongside our partners Ahmed Salem, Susan Isawi, Jose Amorim and NJP Oman.
At the time of the announcement, Olha Martsynovska was preparing to attend Urban October to continue the dialogue on regional development and Oman’s Vision 2040. We welcome further conversations with developers, institutions and stakeholders working across the region.
Explore the proposal through the slideshow and the A’Thuraya City project. Read the original LinkedIn announcement.
