In Mareterra, size and physical continuity make this new, 6-hectare district feel like a natural peninsula. Our design meticulously recreates a native Mediterranean landscape, reflecting those found around Monaco. Cultivating a natural environment in a wholly human-made setting requires installing a layer of substrate across an area big enough to sustain an entire landscape, while accounting for the highly complex architectural and marine infrastructure that shares the underground space. Soil depth varies depending on precise grading: this meticulous engineering creates the necessary conditions for planting large trees in accordance with vertical load distribution, and seamlessly incorporates drainage and runoff management systems. Each layer of vegetation is densely planted, forming an increasingly natural environment as the greenery grows and blooms. Together, the human-made topography and engineered ground form a cohesive whole with the lush flora. Waterfront promenades, plazas, terraced stairs, streets, and pedestrian concourses, all made with uniform limestone, stretch one after another over 3 hectares. The fountain at the highest point of the Hillside celebrates this rock in another form: a block of rough limestone, shaped by millennia of erosion, sits just below the surface of the water like a window onto the Earth’s crust. Cascading watercourses flow down this human-made slope to the sea.