Al Bahr Towers

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council Headquarters

Peter Oborn

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118793336
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture générale

This publication is entirely centered on the design and delivery of Al Bahr Towers. With 300-colour images, it is highly visual with specially commissioned photography by Christian Richters. An illustrated introduction by the architectural correspondent of The Financial Times, Edwin Heathcote provides an engaging account of the background behind the building: the client, the circumstances behind the commission and its most significant architectural precedents. Expert insight is provided into the history and philosophy of Islamic architecture by Professor Eric Ormsby of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. A unique description of the design and procurement of these ground-breaking structures is provided by architectural author Edward Denison.

The Design of Al Bahr Towers

Edward Denison

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council’s brief combined with the city’s sustainable initiatives gave Aedas a very clear direction for the design of Al Bahr Towers. Sustainability, bio-inspiration and traditional Islamic design underpinned it from concept stage onwards. The towers’ mashrabiya and distinctive geometrical form were both a feature of the original design. Architectural writer Edward Denison describes the development of the design from competition stage through to completion.

Design Concept

DESIGN CONTEXT

Every generation boasts its fair share of potentially ground-breaking architectural designs. Among the few that survive the test of time, there are a smaller group of genuine pioneers – designs that transform our world and the way we interact with it. Standing in the deserts of the Middle East, Al Bahr Towers are a literal and figurative marker in the sand for a more considered approach to sustainability in the built environment. Time will be the ultimate judge, but it is conceivable that, years from now, their completion in 2012 will be associated with the dawn of a new era in design in which inspiration will stem from the cultural and environmental criteria at the heart of sustainability. Tapping into this fount of innovation, designers will create places and spaces that are not just sustainable, but aesthetically, functionally and contextually distinguished. Al Bahr Towers proudly stand at the vanguard of this new tradition.

More than just a landmark design, Al Bahr Towers are a product of their time and place. The sustainable agenda that permeates Al Bahr Towers has percolated from even wider developments not only in the city of Abu Dhabi, but throughout the entire region. In 2005 the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) launched a 25-year plan to create a coherent programme for the city’s development founded on social cohesion and economic, environmental and cultural sustainability. As a reflection of its optimism in looking so far ahead, the approach embodied by this, the Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Structure Framework Plan, has been branded Vision 2030. Embracing the work of governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations, this vision allows the UPC to convey their message coherently to the Emirati communities and the rest of the world.

Inspired by Vision 2030, the UPC and the Environment Agency developed an environmental framework in 2009 titled Estidama – Arabic for sustainability. Estidama is not a regulatory framework for existing practices, but an advocate of a new mindset that offers new approaches to governance and the way community development is perceived and pursued. The purpose of Estidama is to provide a vision of sustainability in the Arab world by preserving and enriching Abu Dhabi’s unique cultural and physical identity. Estidama’s sustainable agenda stands on four pillars: the environment, the economy, society and culture.

Another visionary initiative emanating from Abu Dhabi in recent years is the earlier Masdar Initiative, developed in 2006 by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. The Initiative’s stated aims are to advance ‘the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable and alternative technologies’, helping to make Abu Dhabi a global leader in the research and development of renewable energy. Through the far-sightedness of the UPC, Estidama and Masdar, sustainability has secured its place at the core of Abu Dhabi’s ambitious plans and is the basis on which the city intends to become ‘THE sustainable capital of the Arab world’.

The concept of Al Bahr Towers has emerged from this progressive culture in Abu Dhabi in the early 21st century. This new cultural mindset views sustainability as fundamental to development, not a peripheral addendum. The client, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (the Council), is an investment arm of the Government of Abu Dhabi formed in 2007. The Council is committed to the UPC’s Vision 2030. With a responsibility to sustain Abu Dhabi’s prosperity for the future, the Council has a mandate not only to assist the government in achieving continuous financial success and wealth protection, but also to actively support sustainable growth for the Abu Dhabi economy. The Council’s new headquarters represented a unique opportunity to create a landmark structure that embodies these ideals and reflects the standing and prominence of this new government agency.

THE COMPETITION AND DESIGN BRIEF

In 2007 the Council launched a competition to design their headquarters and invited a select group of international architectural practices to participate.

On 28 May 2007, Aedas received their invitation and a copy of the brief. The submission deadline was 16 July, giving them just seven weeks to digest the brief and design and deliver a viable concept.

The brief stipulated that the building should use the highest-quality materials, finishes and architectural features and have an exterior that would make it an outstanding landmark in the Gulf Region. The only other general requirements were that the building should ‘contribute to and integrate with the surrounding urban environment, while being distinguished and modern’. Resonating with Vision 2030, the Council also expected the design to ‘take into consideration the architectural heritage of the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi in particular’.

Specific requirements concerning space were also outlined, but these were to be interpreted flexibly as guidelines rather than rigid conditions. The proposed building comprised two towers, one housing the offices of the Council’s headquarters and the other, situated on an adjacent plot, housing the Al Hilal Bank’s head office and other departments. Both towers were the maximum height permitted by local planners, which meant that they had 25 floors above ground, including a double-height ground floor containing a mezzanine level, and two floors below ground.

Internally, the tower containing the Council’s headquarters was separated into three zones, and that containing the Al Hilal Bank’s head office was separated into four. The Council Tower comprised: Zone 1 – basement, ground and first floor; Zone 2 – office floors; and Zone 3 – special facilities at the top of the building for high management and VIPs. The Bank Tower comprised: Zone 1 – basement, ground and mezzanine floors; Zone 2 – auditorium, multifunction hall and human resources; Zone 3 – office floors; and Zone 4 – offices of the Bank’s high management. The final requirements were for a lift system divided into management, public and service uses, and a separate structure for parking, making provision for adequate landscaping.

Populated with semi-mature date palms, the site occupied two undeveloped parcels of land on the northeast edge of central Abu Dhabi. Located in an area of ‘outer CBD’ (central business district) within a zone anonymously referenced ‘Sector 25’, the codes of both plots, C70 and C71, hinted at the city’s modern gridiron plan. The site’s northern aspect surveys lagoons and the ocean beyond, to the east it overlooks marine parks, and to the south and west are panoramic views of downtown Abu Dhabi. Each plot was a square with sides of 76.2 metres, making the total development area a rectangle nearly 12,000 metres square.

THE CONCEPT

Confronted with a conspicuously concise brief, Aedas immediately assembled a Design Team to tackle the proposal and deliver a competitive concept in 48 days. The Design Team had not decided how to manage the competition at this stage, but were thinking about the project and how they might try and derive a concept which related to the climate, the location, the culture and the status of the project. One week after receiving the invitation they wondered whether they could conceive a tower partially over-clad with a mashrabiya in the form of a ‘second skin’ which would provide solar protection while allowing the team to articulate the form. Abdulmajid Karanouh, a senior designer at Aedas looked at the climatic conditions in Abu Dhabi, such as solar gain, to see if they provided any clues.

Aedas’ initial approach to interpreting the brief was therefore founded on the principles enshrined in Vision 2030, which at that time had only recently been published. It also resonated with the Masdar Initiative and the draft proposals for Estidama. In Peter’s words, it provided an opportunity to design ‘a building which was rooted in its culture and responsive to its environment … to try and develop a new vernacular in a modern idiom’.

The Council’s brief combined with Abu Dhabi’s sustainable initiatives gave a very clear direction for the design concept. With the intention of designing what the brief described as an ‘outstanding landmark structure’ which had not only to be modern but also to respect the local vernacular, Aedas looked to the ancient practice of covering openings in buildings with wooden lattice screens. Known as mashrabiyat (singular: mashrabiya), these screens have been used in the hot climates of the Middle East and North Africa for centuries to offer partial shade, ventilation and privacy inside buildings.

Aedas also saw an opportunity to integrate the very latest technological expertise and traditional design. Having evolved over hundreds of years, Islamic design, as occurs in some other traditional cultures around the world, suffuses every facet of life, from the smallest decorative detail to the arrangement of entire cities. Its all-encompassing scope is a consequence of its geometric composition inspired by nature, science and faith. Aedas recognised that by drawing on the company’s advanced computational design skills they could, as Peter Oborn explained, ‘generate a pre-rationalised geometry, consistent with Islamic principles in design’. It was, potentially, the perfect marriage and, combined with the mashrabiya, ‘an opportunity too good to miss’.

Aerial photographs of Abu Dhabi and the site of Al Bahr Towers.
The main island of Abu Dhabi showing its gridiron urban plan, surrounded by mangroves, waterways, islands and the Gulf. A closer view of the site located on the edge of the urban area formerly occupied by rows of small palm trees.

What followed was a complex design process, which had to manage simultaneously a range of interdependent criteria: the site, the underlying geometry, the building form, the structural concept and the mashrabiya. The interconnectivity of these criteria meant that they had to be handled concurrently, so that in the final design they united to form an aesthetically coherent and functionally viable concept.

The Site

The rectangular site sits on the edge of an urban quarter on one side and of a natural marine environment on the other, access to which is constrained by a large arterial road. The semi-urban semi-coastal location had the potential to influence the design in a number of ways. The organisation of space inside the building could be affected by access to the outstanding view...