Design & Lifestyle Blog

14 Jan ’14

Foster + Partners Reveals Designs for United Arab Emirates Pavilion at 2015 Milan Expo

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Designs have been revealed for the United Arab Emirates pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. Bringing the planning principles of the traditional desert city to Milan, the pavilion’s interior of self-shaded streets evokes the experience of the UAE’s ancient communities, while demonstrating the natural energy efficiency of their compact urban form.

The pavilion occupies a large site close to the centre of the Expo and is accessed via its main circulation axis, the decumanus. From here, visitors are drawn into the mouth of a canyon-like space, defined by two undulating 12-metre-high walls. Influenced by ancient planning principles, the paths through the pavilion evoke the narrow pedestrian streets and courtyards of the ancient desert city – and its contemporary reinterpretation in the sustainable Masdar City masterplan in Abu Dhabi.

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3 Feb ’11

New UAE Parliament Building Complex | Architecture

Ehrlich Architects have won first prize in the international design competition for the Federal National Council’s ‘New Parliament Building Complex’ in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The entry beat out a number of internationally recognized firms including Foster + Partners, Massimiliano Fuksas architects, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

The New Parliament embodies the unique identity of the United Arab Emirates:  a modern society moving boldly into the future while retaining a strong connection to its history and traditions. “The New Parliament Building Complex will balance Islamic Heritage with U.A.E.’s global contemporary aspirations, where modernity and tradition are in harmonious balance,” explains Ehrlich Architects’ Design Principal, Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, RIBA. “The architecture for the FNC’s new home will communicate its increasingly vital role in the lives of all United Arab Emirates citizens.”

The winning entry for the new Parliament building melds familiar Arabic design language with contemporary form and the latest technological advances, creating meaning, maximum functionality and environmental sustainability. The design is anchored by a striking 100-meter-diameter dome structure, a soaring “flower-of-the-desert” which will create a shaded micro-environment while casting Islamic patterns of dappled light onto the white marble Assembly Hall.

The flanking Parliamentary buildings that house the majority of the offices, meeting halls, and visitors’ program, abstract the colors and textures of desert sand; the exterior expression of these structures is indebted to local historic buildings. In total, the complex will be a proud landmark for public gatherings as well as a model for conservation of the region’s precious resources.The site of the new Parliament conveys its significance as a public institution. It is located on Abu Dhabi Corniche, one of the grand processional boulevards in the country’s capital, where important civic events and celebrations take place. Facing the Arabian Gulf, the body of water shared by six of the seven Emirates, the new FNC complex will establish a governmental face at the seafront. Its dome will be visible for miles across the water and will glow dramatically at night.

Source: designboom & Ehrlich Architects

Project info via designboom

Client: Federal National Council, United Arab Emirates
Design team: Steven Ehrlich, Patricia Rhee, Noah Marble, Guelsah Kuecuek, Laura Hudson, Jackie Park, Won Jin Park, Yimon Lim, Zhong Huang, Jules Hartzell, Ann-Christine Pineiro (graphic design)
Local architect: Godwin Austen Johnson
GAJ design team: Jason Burnside, Brain Johnson, Isabel Pintado, Branka Saric, Christina Morgan, Tzumei Steward, Cormac Lynch, Iain Stewart, Angelita Alves, Aandrew barley, Alberto Bolonos, Simon chambers, Pallavi Dean, Bharani Dharan, Graeme Fisher, Ian Jorolan, Hallam Lowmass, Mehrnaz Mohamadloo, Shounak Patne, Jacinda Raniolo, Vic Raymond Tanedo, Vinodh Vellapan, Jason Ward
Landscape architect: Valleycrest Design Group, Michael Braden
Structural engineer: Gifford
MEP engineer: Scott Wilson Group
Quantity survey: Baker Wilkins & Smith
Renderings: Biolinia
Model: The Model Shop

22 Dec ’10

Stair-Scraper Wins Abu Dhabi Housing Competition

Barcelona-based ‘Nabito Architects proposal ‘a desert green’, has won the total housing competition in Abu Dhabi. The stairscraper is a superposition of individual singular garden houses with the same characteristic of  horizontal sprawl, but liberating the land and concentrating the uses and the energy. It is a social collective of individualities.

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8 Dec ’10

Zayed National Museum Abu Dhabi | Architecture

Foster + Partners has released new images of its designs for the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, after they were officially unveiled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

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1 Dec ’10

The Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi | Hotel Design

Now synonymous with the Ferrari race track, there’s nothing quiet about Yas. This 6,000-acre island right off the coast of Abu Dhabi buzzes with a 143-berth marina and yacht club, a 3.4-mile Formula One racetrack, and now the new nine-story, nearly one-million-square-foot Yas Hotel, which opened in November, just in time for the first-annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. To keep pace with the island’s vibe, the hotel’s designers positioned its two buildings half on land, half on water, with the racetrack cutting through. Here, a look at the details, inside and out with plenty of photos.

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