Designs for the Zayed National Museum have been officially unveiled
today 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 the United Kingdom. Conceived as a
monument and memorial to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the
founding president of the UAE, the Museum will be the centrepiece of
the Saadiyat Island Cultural District and will showcase the history,
culture and more recently the social and economic transformation of the
Emirates.
Architecturally, the aim has been to combine a highly efficient,
contemporary form with elements of traditional Arabic design and
hospitality to create a museum that is sustainable, welcoming and
culturally of its place. Celebrating Sheikh Zayed’s legacy and love of
nature, the museum is set within a landscaped garden, based on a
timeline of his life.
The display spaces are housed within a man-made, landscaped mound.
The galleries are placed at the bases of five solar thermal towers. The
towers heat up and act as thermal chimneys to draw cooling air currents
naturally through the museum. Fresh air is captured at low level and
drawn through buried ground-cooling pipes and then released into the
museum’s lobby. The heat at the top of the towers works to draw the air
up vertically through the galleries due to the thermal stack effect. Air
vents open at the top of the wing-shaped towers taking advantage of the
negative pressure on the lee of the wing profile to draw the hot air
out.
Here in the museum these towers are lightweight steel structures,
sculpted aerodynamically to work like the feathers of a bird’s wing.
The analogies with falcons and flight are deliberate and relate
directly to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. This theme is further
celebrated by a gallery devoted to the subject as part of a wider focus
on conservation. These inner spaces open up to an outdoor arena for live
displays with hunting birds.
Balancing the lightweight steel structures with a more monumental
interior experience, the galleries are anchored by a dramatic top-lit
central lobby, which is dug into the earth to exploit its thermal
properties and brings together shops, cafes, an auditorium and informal
venues for performances of poetry and dance. Throughout, the treatment
of light and shade draws on a tradition of discreet, carefully
positioned openings, which capture and direct the region’s intense
sunlight to illuminate and animate these interior spaces. Objects are
displayed within niches and on stone plinths that rise seamlessly from
the floor.
The museum contains a variety of performance spaces. A large auditorium,
lined with Emirati textiles, provides an evocative setting for
presentations and films. The lobby incorporates more informal venues for
poetry readings, music and dance, where the audience can gather in a
circle to enjoy the spectacle and atmosphere of traditional
performances.
The interior concept for the restaurant draws on the opulence and
hospitality of the Bedouin tent, with carefully selected furnishings.
The majlis, or VIP spaces, open onto a central courtyard. This
traditional space offers guests a unique perspective, as it is the only
place in the museum where one can enjoy views of the wind towers.
Lord Foster said: “It has been a great privilege to work on the Zayed
National Museum, to carry forward Sheikh Zayed’s vision and to
communicate the dynamic character of a contemporary United Arab
Emirates. We have sought to establish a building that will be an
exemplar of sustainable design, resonating with Sheikh Zayed’s love of
nature and his wider heritage.”
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