Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Green tower sprouts from the deserts of Abu Dhabi

© KPF

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

In designing this headquarters for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Kohn Pedersen Fox referenced elements of traditional Islamic architecture as well as the building’s location in verdant coastal zone that earned the city its nickname “Garden of the Gulf.” The architects also proved that corporate buildings can boast sustainable elements even in the harsh environment of a desert.

KPF’s design team took a vertical plane and folded it four times to create the building’s plan: two finger-like wings, one aligned to the city’s street grid, the other pointing toward Mecca across the sea. These wings enclose a central atrium, recalling a traditional Islamic courtyard, that soars more than 40 stories into the sky and serves as a thermal chimney to extract stale air from the building: just one component of the project’s eco-friendly design.

An innovative façade system cuts down on the amount of solar heat radiating into the interior rooms, thereby reducing the need for air conditioning. Two layers of low-E glazing sandwich a layer of micro-perforated blinds, which the architects have dubbed “sails,” that are solar-activated and furl or unfurl in time with the sun’s movement across the sky. The cavity between the layers of glass also helps ensure that waste air is drawn outward and recirculates to the building’s cooling plant: reducing the need for mechanical air return paths.

The building’s superstructure is comprised of post-tensioned floors and steel. Its western elevation, which encloses the atrium, features a web-like net of frets that recall traditional Islamic motifs—and symbolize the telecommunications and computing network that the tenant needs to do business in the 21st century.

Formal name of Project:
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority

Location:
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E

Gross square footage:
1,287,645 sq. ft.

Owner:
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) www.adia.ae

Architect:
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (International) PA
13 Langley Street
London WC2H 9JG
44-207-836-6668 tel.
44-207-497-1175 fax
www.kpf.com

Left to right: David Leventhal, AIA, Kevin Flanagan, AIA, M. Arch, David Doody, Blair Stewart