ME Architect - Dec 2009

An ITP Business Publication

NEWS, DATA, ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FOR ARCHITECTS IN THE GCC

DECEMBER 2009 | VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 12

DECEMBER 2009 | VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 12 NEWS, DATA, ANALYSIS AND STRATEGIC INSIGHTS FOR ARCHITECTS IN THE GCC

A LIGHT RAIN Jean Nouvel’s lighting concept is guiding the design for the Louvre Abu Dhabi

An ITP Business Publication

INTERVIEW Stride Treglown’s Richard Philipson & Nathan Hones CASE STUDY Mishascape unveils its signature design for Dubai Quill CASE STUDY Perkins Eastmann’s Al Maktoum A&E Hospital CASE STUDY ZHA on Rome’s MAXXI museum

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CONTENTS DECEMBER

December 2009 ISSUE 12 VOLUME 3 14

26 ON THE WEB 03 WHAT’S MEA

keeps you in touch with the latest news from the industry with a synopsis of Construction Week online

07 INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

A roundup of some of the industry’s biggest stories and product launches from December

20

14 INTERVIEW: STRIDE TREGLOWN

33

Operations director Richard Philipson and UAE GM Nathan Hones go on the record with Jeff Roberts

40

20 CASE STUDY: DUBAI QUILL

New firm Mishascape unveils the designs for its Quill and, in doing so, creates a new mythology

26 CASE STUDY: MAKTOUM A&E HOSPITAL

PE principal Nadia Tobia deconstructs the design for Jebel Ali’s newest accident & emergency centre

28 INTERVIEW: BOB KNOTT

Jumeirah Golf Estates’ senior development manger of golf courses talks about taming the elements

39

33 INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY: MAXXI

Zaha Hadid’s newest project, Rome’s Museum of 21st Century Art, breaks down and decodes walls

39 BATTLE: PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

Miralles’ Scottish Parliament Building goes head to head with Foster’s famous Reichstag cupola

40 LAST WORD: CITYBUILD ABU DHABI

Graham Wood talks to MEA about how Citybuild differs from Cityscape and why architects need to be there

www.constructionweekonline.com | 12.09 | MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT

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ONLINE

the online home of:

IN PICTURES

5 MOST POPULAR

• Alessa signs US $200 million

JV with Huntair • Kiwi timber floats AD’s boat • Dubai World restructuring • Deal sought on Dubai World, Nakheel debts • Key points while entering into a joint venture

HH SHEIKH HAMDAN OPENS BIG 5 Kicking off with the official opening by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry, the exhibition saw a number of high profile deals announced, including a JV between KSA’s Alessa Group and US industrial conditioners manufacturer Huntair Inc worth US $200mn.

For more galleries, check out: www.constructionweekonline.com/in_pictures/

COLUMNS & FEATURES PODS ARE THE FUTURE OF BIG BUILDS Opting for pods makes construction on a project cheaper, requires less labour, produces a higher quality and reduces build times, said Unipods sales and marketing director Mike Usher.

A LONG WAY TO GO The results of the Construction Week salary survey are out, shedding a lot of light on the inner workings of the construction industry. Some pretty amazing trends are revealed, along with some alarming facts.

HURRICANE DAME

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

In Beirut to celebrate the Middle East launch of one of her latest creations, Patricia Urquiola spoke to Selina Denman about practical products – and why having a design style is just plain ‘stupid’.

The many benefits of Free Zones cannot be ignored but, with the possibility of a new ownership law coming into place, will construction companies decide to take their business elsewhere?

For more columns & features, go to: www.constructionweekonline.com/comments

For breaking news, go to: www.constructionweekonline.com/news/ Stories selected November 24-30, 2009

EDITOR’S CHOICE • Mott MacDonald to oversee

island infrastructure • Dubai construction receives professional mediation • Saleh to build Dubailand Marriott • Big 5 2009 ‘beyond all expectations’ • Freedom of choice Stories selected November 24-30, 2009

POLL: Thoughts on DW asking for a ‘standstill’?

63.2% It’s worrying; we’ll have to see what happens next.

26.3% It’s not great but DW & Nakheel have a lot of support.

10.5% It’s just a request; there’s no real cause for concern.

To vote in spot polls, go to: www.constructionweekonline.com

www.constructionweekonline.com | 12.09 | MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT

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EDITOR’S LETTER

THROWING STONES

-)$$,% %!34

Registered at Dubai Media City PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: 00 971 4 210 8000 Fax: 00 971 4 210 8080 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Dubai & London ITP Business Publishing CEO Walid Akawi Managing Director Neil Davies Deputy Managing Director Matthew Southwell Editorial Director David Ingham VP Sales Wayne Lowery Publishing Director Jason Bowman EDITORIAL Senior Group Editor Stuart Matthews Group Editor Jeff Roberts Tel: +971 4 435 6269 email: jeff.roberts@itp.com ADVERTISING Commercial Director Raz Islam Tel: +971 4 435 6371 email: raz.islam@itp.com Sales Manager Carolyn Lewis Tel: +971 4 435 6184 email: carolyn.lewis@itp.com STUDIO Group Art Editor Daniel Prescott Designer Lucy McMurray PHOTOGRAPHY Director of Photography Sevag Davidian Chief Photographer Khatuna Khutsishvili Senior Photographers Efraim Evidor, Thanos Lazopoulos Staff Photographers Isidora Bojovic, George Dipin, Lyubov Galushko, Jovana Obradovic, Ruel Pableo, Rajesh Raghav PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production Manager Kyle Smith Production Manager Eleanor Zwanepoel Production Coordinator Louise Schreiber Distribution Manager Karima Ashwell Distribution Executive Nada Al Alami CIRCULATION Head of Database & Circulation Gaurav Gulati MARKETING Head of Marketing Daniel Fewtrell ITP DIGITAL Director Peter Conmy Internet Applications Manager Mohammed Affan Internet Design Manager Hitesh Uchil Web Designer Meghna Rao ITP GROUP Chairman Andrew Neil Managing Director Robert Serafin Finance Director Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Board of Directors K M Jamieson, Mike Bayman, Walid Akawi, Neil Davies, Rob Corder, Mary Serafin Circulation Customer Service Tel: +971 4 435 6000 Certain images in this issue are available for purchase.

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I almost titled this editor’s letter ‘A little less conversation, a little more action’, because as I see it, for the last few months, there has been a lot of lip service about the construction industry in the Gulf.

Whether it was Cityscape Dubai or Big 5 or Index or the ubiquitous Proleads reports singing the praises of the region’s construction industry, people have been touting the strength of the market for months. I even contributed to the industry-wide love-fest by writing editor’s letters about the ‘post-Ramadan push’ and the bevy of burgeoning building projects.

Luckily, my first idea didn’t fit in the title box.

In light of the latest news from the Dubai World/Nakheel camps— which, at the time of writing, is still largely speculation—I sat pondering how best to convey those poignant Elvis Presley lyrics, but then I paused.

Perhaps that’s not fair. Perhaps it’s both unfair and short-sighted to condemn the building industry in Dubai based on speculation and hearsay.

The European and US pundits wax intellectual on chat shows and in newspapers about how Dubai is finished and how it’ll soon become a modern ghost town, complete with dusty saloons and tumbleweed. They sit casting stones in what has become one big global glass house.

Are major developers in the region in debt? Probably. Are major developers in the US and Europe in debt? Very much so. Has the building industry in the Middle East slowed down? Yes, but the pace of building in the GCC is still light years ahead of the grinding halt to which the same industries in the West have come. Have architects, facilities managers, developers and design professionals had to tighten their collective belts to do more with less in the Middle East building market? Absolutely. Using the same metaphor, I wouldn’t be surprised if those same professionals in the West have traded in their belts, trousers, socks and shoes for the proverbial cardboard box.

My point is this: The trend in the Middle East’s building industry suggests the status quo is both solid and steady. Those I’ve spoken to in the industry don’t anticipate massive growth, but they’re also unconvinced that we’ll witness the bottom falling out of anything. The reason Western criticism has turned to Dubai in recent months is because throughout Europe and North America, the bottom has already fallen out and they’re beginning the slow and tedious process of rebuilding. When you’re a little guy—a ‘non-player’ if you will—it’s easy to take pot shots at those near the top because frankly, no one takes you seriously.

Those same critics hailed Sheikh Mohammed as a visionary and Dubai as a modern miracle for more than a decade. And, sure enough, now that Dubai has shown a glimpse of mortality, the vultures are circling. To the vultures, my only advice is this: No one has forgotten that your economies have crumbled and that your long legacies lay in ruins. Put your own house in order before training your sights on this one because, at the moment, you are non-players and no one is taking you seriously.

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NEWS, DATA,

ANALYSIS AND

STRATEGIC INSIGHTS

S FOR ARCHITECT

IN THE GCC

DECEMBER 2009

| VOLUME 3

Publication

| ISSUE 12

Jean Nouvel’s lighting

Publication

MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT | 12.09 | www.constructionweekonline.com

Cover Design: Lucy McMurray/ITP

A LIGHT RAIN An ITP Business

Cover image: Jean Nouvel with Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman, TDIC

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Published by and © 2009 ITP Business Publishing, a division of the ITP Publishing Group Ltd. Registered in the B.V.I. under Company number 1402846.

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Richard Phillipson

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A&E Treglown’s INTERVIEW Stride STUDY Perkins Eastmann’s Al Maktoum Dubai Quill CASE

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INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

RIBA LAUNCHES GULF CHAPTER

BURJ DUBAI GROWS TALLER AFTER CTBUH CHANGES MIDDLE EAST // The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)—the international body that arbitrates on tall building height and determines titles including “The World’s Tallest Building”—has announced a change to its height criteria, as a reflection of recent developments with several super-tall buildings.

The new criteria wording: “Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to…” allows for the recognition of the increasing numbers of multi-use tall buildings with often several different entrances at different levels, whilst also accommodating buildings constructed in urban or suburban locations.

This will have an impact on both the height of tall buildings and their relative international height rankings. Burj Dubai, set to open as the world’s tallest building in January 2010, will now be measured from the lowest of its three main entrances (which opens into the entrance lobby for the tower’s corporate suite offices).

“Beginning in 2007, with the knowledge that Burj

Dubai’s Burj Dubai just got taller

Dubai would be significantly taller than any structure ever built, the CTBUH Height Committee met to review the criteria by which we recognize and rank the height of buildings,” said Peter Weismantle, Chair of the CTBUH Height Committee and Director of Supertall Building Technology at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in Chicago.

“The resulting revisions almost two years later reflect a general consensus of the committee in recognizing the most recent trends in tall building development around the world,” continued Weismantle.

Because of the policy change, the recently completed Trump International Hotel & Towers in Chicago will be measured from the publicly accessible Chicago Riverwalk, which adds an additional 27 feet. The addition means that Trump officially surpasses the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai to occupy the rank of 6th tallest on the list of completed buildings.

Also in response to the changing designs and forms of tall buildings, the Height Committee has elected to discard its previous “Height

to Roof” category. “The roof category just doesn’t make sense anymore,” said CTBUH executive director Antony Wood. “In the era of the flat-topped modernist tower, a clearly defined roof could usually be identified, but in today’s tall building world—which is increasingly adopting elaborate forms, spires, parapets and other features at the top of the building—it is becoming difficult to determine a ‘roof’ at all.”

The revised CTBUH Height Criteria are as follows: (i) Height to Architectural Top, measured to the topmost architectural feature of the building including spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other functionaltechnical equipment; (ii) Height to Highest Occupied Floor, measured to the level of the highest, consistently occupied floor in the building (not including service or mechanical areas which experience occasional maintenance access); and (iii) Height to Tip, measured to the highest point of the building, irrespective of material or function of the highest element.

RIBA President, Ruth Reed ABU DHABI, UAE // At a recep-

tion at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi, RIBA—via sponsorship from Geberit, global player in sanitary technology—launched its new Gulf Chapter, which aims to support architecture, architects and design professionals in the GCC. With no other architecture institute in the Middle East, RIBA Gulf will represent and engage locally-based architects and design professionals through education, Continuing Professional Development (CPD), networking opportunities, lectures and other activities.

“The launch of our Gulf Chapter highlights the significance of our members’ presence in the Gulf States and will enable us to provide further local support,” said Ruth Reed, president of RIBA, at the launch event.

“The Chapter will also be working to engage further with the diversity of nonmember architects working in the region and to promote best practice in architectural education by working closely with local universities.”

RIBA Gulf is open to all members in the region, as well as professionals working across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other GCC states.

“The whole business of architecture is far more global now, and UK architects in particular are more global,” said Richard Brindley, RIBA executive director of professional services.”

www.constructionweekonline.com | 12.09 | MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT

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INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

Jean Nouvel has spent almost every waking minute with Mattias Schuler and Schuler’s light sensor

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MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT | 12.09 | www.constructionweekonline.com

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

LOUVRE UPDATE: A LIGHT RAIN ON SAADIYAT ISLAND ABU DHABI, UAE // Saadiyat

Island recently played host to Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of TDIC, Pritzker Prize-winner Jean Nouvel, support staff from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, directors from Buro Happold and Agence France-Museums and climate engineers TransSolar at the future site of Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The collection of distinguished officials, architects and engineers were on site to conduct lighting tests to determine the precise way in which beams of light will filter through the building’s signature perforated aluminium dome. “The dome is the largest architectural element in the project and we want to test both its functionality and manageability,” explained Felix Reinberg, project director of the Cultural District for TDIC. To that end, a six-metre prototype of the dome has been installed on Saadiyat Island for the sole purpose of testing the play of light and shadow on the site—or, the “Rain of Light” concept— prior to fabrication of the final structure.

According to Nouvel’s design statement, the Louvre Abu Dhabi was designed as a complex of pavilions, plazas, alleyways and canals, evoking the image of a city floating on the sea. “Hovering over the complex will be a form inspired by traditional Arabic architecture—a vast, shallow dome or cupola—180 metres (590 feet) in diameter—perforated with interlaced patterns so that a magical, diffused light

will filter through,” explained Nouvel. “The cupola will create the effect of the light in the souk, when you play with different superposition of different images and enrich the interiors.”

ENGINEERING THE DOME While the finished dome will undoubtedly convey the elegance and weightlessness being sought, as Tim Page, project engineer and associate director of Buro Happold UK explains, the final product will belie the complexity of its realisation.

“What people don’t realise is that the dome represents a web of interlaced aluminium panels, tubes and bars, which is five and a half metres deep and 180 metres in diameter,” explained Page. “To achieve the design intent, we began with overlapping rectilinear patterns or, essentially, the structural version of a tartan cloth. We then began to remove the non-critical patterns to achieve the correct filtering of light.”

To achieve the finishing touches, Page and his team called upon mathematical formulae to ensure that everything was perfect. “Each layer has been mathematically matched up with those above and below it to achieve an exact size and shape for each dapple of light. It’s been a hugely collaborative effort—especially in terms of patternization.”

A PROTECTIVE DOME While the UAE enjoys sunny, dry weather for 90% of the year (320 days), the risk of endangering any of the

priceless artworks within the Louvre galleries was simply unacceptable. To that end, Matthias Schuler, adjunct professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and managing director of climate engineering firm TransSolar, has accounted for everything.

“We began with nine different dome designs,” explained Schuler. “[Jean Nouvel] wanted the feeling of the connection between inside and outside.”

For the rare rainy day in Abu Dhabi, Schuler is prepared. “The rain will not affect the museum,” he explained. “To ensure that people won’t get wet in the walking spaces between the galleries, there will be a transparent film between the layers of the dome to ensure that it does not rain in these areas. There will also be a drainage system hidden at the edge of the dome.”

After stalking back and forth through the prototype with light metre in hand, Schuler also made an important discovery. “Initially we thought the interior walls should be marble. After testing, we realised that because of its properties, marble walls refract an enormous amount of light onto the floor,” he explained.

He continued: “That amount of light creates a reflection that is harsh on the eyes and detracts from the artwork. The walls will be white, but most likely white matte. We’ll probably use a high-density ductile concrete for the interior walls.”

Not only is Schuler

unfazed by the elements of sun and rain, but in terms of accentuating the ‘Rain of Light’, he actually welcomes the wind. “We hope to have wind and dust sometimes.

We didn’t realise it at first but when the air is dusty, the beams of light are almost more powerful,” he said.

A RARE MOMENT WITH JEAN NOUVEL With consultants busy flittering and fluttering throughout the Saadiyat Island site, Nouvel was free to wax intellectual about his approach to architecture and the future of architecture in the Gulf.

“Every building has its own DNA,” said Nouvel.

“You have to find the character of the building…. Hence, my buildings are different each time and more related to the cultural, economical and social context…. [For this site] I wanted to play with the specific conditions present here. I am an architect of specifics.”

As far as Nouvel is concerned, the architectural boom witnessed by the Gulf or the collection of iconic building on Saadiyat Island isn’t excessive, it’s progressive. “[This site] is not a sporting match. It’s not a competition to see which building will be the best.”

He continued: “When the country is at its apogee, architects always create buildings that make strong testaments…. Now, its time for the Middle East to make its own testaments; my hope is that the cultural district of Saadiyat Island will do that for the Middle East.

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INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

KING ABDULLAH GARDENS GOES TO TENDER, WINS INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARD RIYADH, KSA// The joint venture between British consultancies Barton Willmore and Buro Happold has completed the design for the King Abdullah International Gardens (KAIG) – a giant botanical garden commissioned by the City of Riyadh as a gift to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to celebrate his accession to the throne.

“While we have extensive experience in the design and construction of cutting-edge projects in the Middle East,” said Jerry Young, project principal and partner at Buro Happold. “The design of KAIG has been extremely challenging because nothing as complex has been built on this scale and in this kind of environment before.”

Young continues: “There has been almost zero repetition during the design process and the end result

has been achieved through a truly multi-disciplinary, collaborative and innovative approach.”

Barton Willmore and Buro Happold won an international competition in 2007 to claim the right to design KAIG. Now, having completed the design with advisors from the UK’s National History Museum and Eden Project, KAIG is to be put out to tender to contractors.

KAIG’s design, which won the overall global leisure category for commercial property at the International Property Awards in mid-November, features a 10-hectare building—the equivalent of 15 football pitches—which will house the world’s largest indoor garden.

KAIG will be set within a 160-hectare site in an arid desert site within the KSA central region and, as

a cornerstone of the City of Riyadh’s growth plans, will provide a new destination for KSA nationals and international visitors.

Visitors will be able to walk amongst plants, trees and flowers which lived over 400 million years ago, as well as a range of external gardens which will include a maze, butterfly enclosure and aviary.

The project’s centrepiece will be a ‘paleobotanic’ building formed by two adjoining crescents that will rise 40 metres in height. The building’s roof, which will be the largest ETFE-covered structure in the world, will span up to 90 metres. KAIG will also feature an array of specialist tensile, pneumatic and grid shell structures.

KAIG will also showcase sustainable development and incorporate renewable

KAIG is an example of architects and engineers working together to build sustainable communities

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MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT | 12.09 | www.constructionweekonline.com

and low energy technologies.

It will employ thermal ice storage and black and grey water recycling systems, with underground reservoirs for storage and, with the outside temperature reaching up to 50°C, this approach will be vital to the control of the different historical climates inside the various gardens.

“KAIG is just one example of where we are working closely with a partner to create a new type of sustainable community,” said Nick Sweet, project director and partner in charge of urban design at Barton Willmore’s London office.

Sweet explained further: “Indeed, this project epitomises our desire to marry manmade structures with the natural environment and produce a broader narrative about their complex interrelationships over time.

The achievement in pulling together the KAIG designs is the result of a monumental joint effort.

Collaboration has been key in order to integrate all disciplines and services to ensure we stayed true to our original design concept,” Barton Willmore provided masterplanning, architecture and landscape design services while Buro Happold pwrovided project management services and structural, building services and infrastructure engineering design, as well as a range of specialist consultancy services.

The JV team has also been responsible for the design of KAIG’s infrastructure including earthworks, roads, footpaths, coach and car parks, an energy centre, sewerage treatment systems and services including electricity, telecoms, gas and water.

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS

RIBA President, Ruth Reed with some of the student entrants

Students were surprised and slightly dismayed at the jury’s decision to commend five teams

Peter Jackson announces those commended in the RIBA student competition

The RIBA Gulf launch and student competition took place at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi

RIBA GULF STUDENT COMPETITION SEES FIVE WINNERS ABU DHABI // In conjunction with last month’s launch of the RIBA Gulf Chapter, the results of a RIBA student competition—‘Urban Exchange: The Souk’—were announced at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Chaired by Peter Jackson, Architect Advisor to HH Ruler’s Office in Sharjah, the jury included principal judge Sir Michael Hopkins CBE, Dr Yasser Elsheshtawy of UAE University, Dr Adil A. AlMumin of Kuwait University, George Katodrytis from the American University of Sharjah as well as two observers from RIBA Competitions.

Students were given the challenge of exploring new visions and developing design proposals for ‘the city’.

The jury set the challenge of re-addressing the nature of street culture and its human activities in an urban context. Students were asked to choose a site in an urban context which they felt was in need of rejuvenation, and come up with ideas and concepts representing a modern interpretation of the souk.

“RIBA Gulf, by virtue of its stated aims of supporting the education of young architects and continuing professional development of practicing architects, is a fundamental way to positively influence the quality of architecture in this region,” said Simon Crispe, RIBA Gulf Chapter

Ambassador and regional director for Atkins.

Overally, 19 student teams entered the competition and the judges were pleased to see a wide variety of responses to the architectural brief. Schemes largely fell into three broad categories: urban grain; building specific; the process and generic issues around the theme.

Although no single winner emerged from the shortlist— the jury felt the aims of the brief hadn’t been fully met— the judges recognised quality elements within five schemes and thus, elected to commend five entrants equally.

“While the entrants might be disappointed that no 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prizes were awarded, this was not an easy competition brief,” explained jury chairman Peter Jackson. “Student architects are generally taught to focus a great deal on the form and function of individual buildings and, as a result, often fail to see buildings in relationship to one another, and in particular to the spaces we can create between them.”

Sir Michael Hopkins added: “The bringing together of the Schools in the GCC to think about issues of context, place and sustainability, in their related but particular areas, is a very valuable exercise, which it would be worthwhile to repeat…. I’d very much like to come back

next year to help judge it.”

Regarding the future of RIBA Gulf and creating conscientious, eco-friendly places, Crispe urges a reconsideration of the traditional way of finding solutions in the built environment.

“The focus of the communication [between architects and clients] should be on quality of design, combined with support and promotion of quality education of architects at all levels, ages and experience to understand and address global challenges as never before,” explains Crispe. “The RIBA felt this was the time to foster those communications and reach out to not only its own RIBA architects in the region but all architects and students alike who are practicing and learning here in the Gulf.”

The RIBA Student Competition was sponsored by Geberit and commendations went to the following student teams: Shruti Gupta (School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi); Haitham Mohammed Al Busafi, Aliya A Sattar Al Hashim, Ahmed Abdullah Al Muqbali, Adi AL Farei (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman); Nasreen Al Tamimi (Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalunya, Spain); Esraa Ali Osman Mohammed, Marwa Ahmed (UAE University, Al Ain); Navid Nikpour, Islamic Azawd University (Dubai).

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INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

Q&A FLORIS SMITH

Richard Philipson

Nathan Hones

MOUSTACHIOED MAESTROS Stride Treglown looks to build facilities in the Middle East that everyone can access

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n a profession where practicality can easily give way to pomposity and pretentiousness, Stride Treglown—Abu Dhabi’s newest kid on the block—seems a breath of fresh air. Take, for example, the fact that the entire firm, whether in Abu Dhabi or London, participated in the well-known tradition of ‘Movember’, the month-long moustache-growing charity event created to raise money and awareness for men’s health (specifically prostate cancer and depression).

Observing the tradition, and in honour of an afflicted colleague, the 280-strong firm set up shop in the UAE capital less than six months ago and is hoping to bring

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a building typology of which the region is in drastically short supply: well-designed schools and hospitals.

Despite feeling slightly sheepish about their new facial hair, London-based director of operations, Richard Philipson, and general manager of the UAE office, Nathan Hones, agreed to give Middle East Architect an hour of their time. And, much to their chagrin, we took pictures.

Richard, what can you tell me about the Stride Treglown story?

RP: Stride Treglown has been around since 1953. It was founded in Bristol. In the early 1950s, it was mostly post war,

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public work and fairly traditional, commercial architecture. It did a bit in the health and education sectors. It was a relatively small provincial practice. For the next 20-30 years it stayed that way, until the 1980s. Toward the end of the 80s, Stride Treglown began to grow and develop further.

To date, what is the firm’s core competency or primary skill set?

RP: We’re able to provide architectural services in pretty much every sector. The business is mostly definitely a commercial practice with its founding in well-designed, well-considered, buildings that are deliv-

Q&A FLORIS SMITH

ered on time, buildings that don’t leak and buildings that give clients what they want.

That is changing a bit now though. I think Stride Treglown is being recognised for good, innovative, cutting-edge architecture. In fact, in the UK, we’re about to start on site with our new office in Cardiff which will be the first BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ office building in the UK. It achieved 89%, which is the highest Outstanding score in the UK as well.

INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

33-49 Victoria Street Building, Bristol, United Kingdom

Nathan, as the man on the ground, what is your remit?

NH: Well, I joined Stride Treglown in July 2009 after being in the Middle East for more than five years. My main responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the firm in Abu Dhabi. That includes: Responding to queries, attending meetings, turning around presentations, submissions, eventually authority approvals and documentation guidelines. And, very importantly, working with Richard to integrate my contacts with those of the firm to create a solid network of clients, consultants and contractors.

What is the most valuable thing you bring to Stride Treglown?

NH: I came to the UAE six years ago and I was based on site at Dubai Festival City.

As the project architect, I oversaw a team of architects, engineers, interior designers and landscape architects. Working on site you learn very quickly about documentation and the approvals process. That sort of thing you can only really learn being based in the place.

After that, I moved out to another site at IMPZ. The first time I went out there, I was with the engineer from Halcrow, who were doing the roads at the time, and I asked him to take me to the site. So we got into his 4X4, and after driving over several sand dunes quite quickly, he stopped on one of the taller ones and he pointed off in the distance to a camel that was walking between two dunes.

He asked me, ‘Do you see that camel down there?’ and I nodded my head and then he said, ‘Well that camel is walking along the southern boundary of your site’.

So that was my introduction that project. I helped to establish an architectural site office for about 40 staff—that was everything from designing and fitting out the office interiors to establishing logistics for the staff to liaising between the established office and the mobile one.

IN THE UAE, THERE’S LESS OF A NEED FOR HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL; THERE’S LESS OF A NEED FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE. THERE IS A REAL NEED FOR WELL-DESIGNED, WELLCONSIDERED EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE PROJECTS. NATHAN HONES www.constructionweekonline.com | 12.09 | MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT

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INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

THE MEN BEHIND THE MOUSTACHES As an architecture student, who or what inspired you?

RP: On the way here today, I thought to myself, he’s going to ask me that question and now I’m glad I thought about it. For me, it’s easy, it’s a guy called Aldo Rossi. He was a rationalist architect. I studied at Liverpool University and for our BArch, 19 of us hired a red double-decker bus and drove around Europe.

During that time, I saw my first Rossi building, it was the Cemetery of San Cataldo in Modena [Italy]. It was a pivotal moment in my architectural career. It was very evocative, very emotional and that marked the first time that a building affected me that way. At that moment, Aldo Rossi became my guru.

NH: My inspiration came from a not dissimilar source.

I went to Sydney University and we also took a tour around Europe on two buses and we visited a lot of modernist architecture. We started in Paris and worked our way down to the south of France. We stayed in some of the most amazing examples of architecture; things that had been designed by Le Corbusier, for example.

We went to [Notre Dame du Haut] Ronchamp, which is one of my favourite buildings. I heard a service sung by a priest in Ronchamp with the light coming through the windows and it was amazing. If that can’t lift your spirits then nothing can. Most of the stuff we saw on that trip was mind-blowing.

To answer your question, I bring five years of on site experience where I designed and delivered pre- and postcontract. Stride Treglown was looking for someone who had been involved in setting up and organisation from the grass roots level. From a hardware and logistics perspective, Stride’s was starting here from scratch and what I bring is experience and contacts in terms of consultants and government authorities.

Given the global economy, why come over to the UAE? Why now?

RP: We do quite a bit of strategic planning in Stride Treglown. We have a strategy for growth—not something that is particularly aggressive—but we recognise that we provide a national service in the UK and I think we started to consider opportunities for an international office approximately three or four years ago.

We’re a Top 20 architect in terms of turnover and staff numbers, and it seems all of our competitors are getting a reasonable portion of their income from work abroad while we are not. It makes you think, what could we be doing differently?

From there we began to look at places where we thought the environment

My favourite building is...

RP: Rossi’s Cemetery at Modena.

NH: One that responds to the place. One of my favourite Australian architects is a guy called Glen Murcutt, who often talks about the genius loci of a building or ‘sense of place’. I honestly think a building needs to be of the place.

What three words describe you as a person or as an architect?

RP: Friendly. Accessible. Mentor.

NH: Organised. Approachable. Innovative.

As an architect or as a person, what is something you love?

RP: Open space.

NH: My family. The sense of family.

What is something you hate?

RP: Lack of order. And, I have to say, moustaches. I’ve just seen myself in the mirror and I look ridiculous.

NH: I don’t think I really hate anything. I have some immense dislikes of some things but I’m not sure what I hate. I guess I really dislike when someone is unhappy about something but then they don’t do anything about it. If you’re at a point in your life where something is bugging you to that extent, change it, do something about it. Increase your knowledge base; expand your network; change your environment; do something.

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was right for expansion. Around the time of Cityscape Dubai 2008, our chairman and marketing director had a look around and thought that the UAE might be one of those places.

At that time, the observation they made was based on the confidence and vision coming out of Abu Dhabi and the 2030 plan. They saw a clear opportunity for anyone involve in the construction industry to get involved. But more than that, they came back with a feeling that Abu Dhabi was place with a bit of heart and soul and they really liked that.

Now that it’s here, how will Stride’s distinguish itself?

RP: From the beginning, we recognised the vision of the 2030 plan but we also knew that Stride Treglown isn’t exactly an iconic architecture firm. We’re not going to be designing skyscrapers for people. It’s not our core competence. At the moment, our expertise is in educational buildings— right through primary school, secondary school and on to universities.

And, the same goes for health-

INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

care facilities. From GP surgeries to community clinics to specialist units to hospitals. One thing we recognised when we got here was that all of that expansion that is happening throughout the country requires community-based infrastructure to support it and provide a level of accommodation and facility that will provide the support the public and providers need.

That’s one of our strengths. We know a number of our competitors that are here providing those types of buildings right now and we feel we can compete with them on a level playing field. We do in the UK and we feel that it’s possible here too.

So, for the time being, our business plan for the future identifies those two particular areas of the market place that we’ll focus on: Education and healthcare facilities.

Linked into public and community facilities is the real opportunity to demonstrate a capability in inclusive design. That’s a real advantage for us. We bring the whole of our services together in one package that responds to client needs. That’s where we think we can compete most effectively.

NH: In addition to that, there was obviously a need. In the UAE, there’s less of a need for high-rise residential; there’s less of a need for commercial space. There is real need for well-designed, well-considered education and healthcare projects. The UAE government has announced

AED 17 billion over the next year for social infrastructure. It’s not only something Stride Treglown has a strength in, it’s something that has been identified at the federal level as a necessity in the UAE. That federal intiative and Stride’s focus in the UAE meld together perfectly.

RP: There’s a need for those facilities throughout the MENA as well. A lot of place

Windsor Building, Royal Holloway, University of London

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INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

The University of Reading’s Carrington Building demonstrates Stride Treglown’s core competency

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INTERVIEW STRIDE TREGLOWN

in the MENA are growing and expanding and those infrastructure projects need to be there to support that growth. For us, we need a foothold and we need to establish ourselves in one place in order to test our systems and procedures. Once we’ve done that, we can analyse them and determine whether or not changes need to be made and whether our initial assumptions were correct. After that, we can look at offering our services elsewhere in the region.

If we find we need to expand our services and competencies, we are prepared to do that as well. We’ve got a very strong master planning team in London. If you get a chance to design a master plan for a university campus, you’re in right at the very beginning and there’s also the opportunity to look at the building blocks that go along with those types of project as well.

What do you see—or perhaps not see—in the Middle East in terms of inclusive design?

RP: Focusing on the positives, I think there is a recognition that inclusive design is important. I think there is either lip service to it, or, and this is probably more likely, the level of understanding of what it actually means isn’t very sophisticated.

From our point of view, inclusive design actually includes everyone throughout their lives. Most people immediately start talking about people with physical disabilities because those are the most easily observed and the solutions are the most obvious. They’re very straightforward solutions—despite having been largely ignored in the West for a long time.

But inclusive design is also about designing for the partially-sighted, the hardof-hearing, and its also about mothers with children in prams or elderly people using a cane to assist them. It’s also about people who are colour blind or dyslexic or have memory issues. It has to include our society as a whole. We find that as soon as you begin to recognise architecture can be improved by inclusive design you produce better buildings.

That’s where our architecture is going in the UK, we’re still educating clients to some extent and a similar thing is needed here. We’ve talked to people at Estidama and Abu Dhabi Municipality and we’ve found that as soon as you mention inclusive design, there’s a real keen desire for more knowledge. The authorities are beginning to recognise a need for inclusive design, which is very encouraging.

NH: Generally what happens here is that architecture competitions or proposals to key clients that are prepared by very talented, very skilled CGI concept architects, fail to include some key elements of inclusive design.

Because the pace of development—as in most emerging markets—is quite rapid, people have started piling and started enabling works and have only realised after approaching authorities that they needed to allow for certain aspects and so they’ve just been added on.

headed. Stride Treglown, in 12-18 months time, will be a business of five or six people on the ground in Abu Dhabi. That team will be able to respond decisively, work quickly, make decisions with authority and also come with the experience of working in the region already.

Our tripartite model is simple: lighttouch responsive team here; talent and expertise in the UK; talented, fast, accurate production information guys in Vietnam.

In 18 months time, hopefully that’s in place and hopefully we’ve got some big

THE OBSERVATION [OUR DIRECTORS] MADE WAS BASED ON THE CONFIDENCE AND VISION COMING OUT OF ABU DHABI AND THE 2030 PLAN.... THEY CAME BACK WITH A FEELING THAT ABU DHABI WAS A PLACE WITH A BIT OF HEART AND SOUL...

RICHARD PHILIPSON Regarding sight or hearing impaired people, no one would normally do audit tests in reception areas or large foyers to determine reverberation time or provide a PA system to explain ways to move through a building. Because that means additional service and it means another person who has to have input in the design, in the past there hasn’t been enough time for that design, it has unfortunately been overlooked.

The benefit of an economic slowdown— if there is a ‘benefit’—is that people have been able to look back at the ways things have been done and improve on areas that have been neglected. I think this is a unique selling point of Stride Treglown.

It’s been really well-received with the authorities because they realise it is a necessity and now we have the time to include these elements in a more holistic design. The neglect of inclusive design really is a product of an emerging market but, hopefully, that will change now.

Abu Dhabi is Stride Treglown’s first international office, where do you see it in 12-18 months?

RP: Well, we’ve got a plan in place. While everything doesn’t always go according to plan, if you’ve got a roadmap, at least you know the direction in which you’re

schools and master planning projects on the ground working for us and we’re starting to look at Oman, Qatar and elsewhere in the region. It’s a steady but focused effort to build on the plan. After six months, I think we’re on track.

NH: Well, I’ve worked for a few architecture firms and none of them have had a strategic, goal-oriented plan in place like Stride Treglown. From a micro-level, I’ve learned all about the strategy and growth and organisational development. From a day-to-day perspective, my aims and aspirations tie in with Stride Treglown’s, so when Richard talks about growing the company to five or six people, I need to be bringing to the table the opportunities that enable that growth to occur. That means speaking to clients and government agencies and letting people know we’re here.

I’ve got my own KPIs so that’s refreshing.

It’s measurable; it’s justifiable. Personally, I know I need to do certain things for the company to succeed.

RP: We’ve got a budget of just over £1 million to set up our office here. That’s what we can afford to spend; we’ve had a good few years. We’ve got the strength to enable us to invest that. We knew we could come here and risk that £1 million on the opportunity, which is potentially beyond our dreams.

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CASE STUDY DUBAI QUILL

AREAS Sky Café (+44) • Main area 125 m² • Lower level area 60m² Library (+4) • Finite area 215 m² • Escalator lobby area 60 m² Rose Garden (+1) • Open area 725 m² • Lobby area 195 m² Auditorium (-2) • Main area 690 m² • Foyer / waiting / reception area 340 m² • Lobby area / restrooms 280 m² Car park (-5) • Escalator lobby area 170 m² Total Built up area • 2135 m² Total Usable area • 2860m²

Dubai Quill was designed to pay homage to a new symbol for the city and the UAE

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CASE STUDY DUBAI QUILL

THE DUBAI QUILL Dubai’s newest firm, Mishascape, unveils its signature project and, in the process, introduces new mythology

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reated for a competition that called for a ‘Tall Emblem Structure’ in Dubai’s Za’abeel Park, Dubai Quill aims to be an emblematic symbol that represents the aspirations of the city of Dubai, its leaders and its inhabitants.

Designed by Misha Stefan-Stavrides, founder of Mishascape, one of Dubai’s newest architecture studios, Dubai Quill responds to the sociocultural demographic of the city while, at the same time, offering recreational, scientific and cultural space within the overall plan.

While at first glance, Dubai Quill may resemble something more science fiction than sand dunes and cityscapes, StefanStavrides actually designed his structure around an Arabian folk tale he wrote.

In fact, despite its space-station-like first impression, according to his original design brief, Dubai Quill is completely organic and totally contextual.

“The building’s curve, earthbound by gravity, captures the graceful tension between earth and sky, balanced between present and future. The architecture uses a soft geometry to define nature’s poetry of motion, written in a single line,” explains Stefan-Stavrides.

“As seen in the curvaceous architecture of mosques and tents…the flowing robes of local dress…the organic flux of Arabic calligraphy…or the soft swirls of sand dunes.

The Quill’s form captures the essences of the visual iconography surrounding us in the UAE,” he adds.

THE FOLK TALE nce upon a time, a lonely feather lived in a beautiful Palace, where exotic birds flocked and flew in the lush tropical gardens. The feather was lonely because she wanted to be part of a wing of one of the exotic birds, but the birds had enough feathers of their own. All the different birds rejected her pleas.

The Peacock had long colourful feathers of his own and couldn’t use her. The Falcon had strong wide feathers and another would make him too heavy. The Dove had graceful white feathers and another would unbalance her peace and harmony. Even the Flamingo refused, stating that he was too tall and refined for another feather.

So one day, as the winds blew in from across the sands, the feather asked the wind to carry her away.

The wind gently picked her up and whisked her into the sky. She swirled round and round, up and down and eventually came to land in a grassy opening with trees and palms all around. She settled next to a solitary rose growing on the grassy slope. The scent was lovely. At one end of the opening, a lake rippled against the soft bank. Children took boat rides on the lake and people picnicked under the shade of the trees. Some walked together along the paved walkways, enjoying the sunshine and smiling. It was perfect, thought the feather. I will stay here in this beautiful park.

But that night, as the winds left, a huge storm came over the park. The sky growled and cold rain fell from the angry clouds. As the thunder raged above, a bolt of lightning cracked down from the heavens onto the feather lying on the wet grass. Instead of burning it to a crisp, something strange and magical happened. The feather began to change.

She started to grow and transform. She was changing into whatever she dreamed she could be. She dreamed as hard as she could. She would have the beauty and form of the Peacock feather, the strength and width of the Falcon feather, the grace and balance of the Dove feather and the height and elegance of the Flamingo feather. She would shape herself to reach the sky, where all the other birds fly—as high as the minarets.

She would be a symbol for inspiration, because even a feather wants to be more that just a feather. For a thousand nights she transformed herself from the spot beside the rose where she was let down by the wind and now she was ready, knowing what she would be.

A symbol of knowledge and learning. A place where people visited, a spectacle where ideas could be discussed within her frame. A space where people could view the park from the sky just like a bird. A place where new ideas could inspire others and where rose gardens would scent the air. A place where the continuing history could be forged and written for future generations. The lonely feather had transformed herself into a Quill. The Dubai Quill.

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WHY A FEATHER? While the Arabian connection makes sense after a bit of explanation, it certainly isn’t immediately intuitive. So, it stands to reason that the architect might have chosen a more obvious or straightforward design to illustrate his vision. But, according to Stefan-Stavrides, that wasn’t an option.

“The starting point for the design was the feather, but that wasn’t the design itself. The Quill isn’t an enormous, overscaled feather. It’s much more refined than that,” explains Stefan-Stavrides. “A lot of buildings [in the Middle East] end where they begin—at the starting point.

Architecture should go through a series of permutations, developing the diagram, in order to reach maturity. If not, the result is pastiche, or worse, a design that is predictable and lacking in subtlety.”

In order to achieve that subtlety, he purposely stayed away from the common, sometimes pastiche, symbolism of UAE architecture and sought to highlight something just as prevalent, but something that remains slightly unnoticed.

The Quill’s curve captures the graceful tension between earth and sky, balanced between present and future

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“I must have heard ‘inspired by the palm leaf’ a hundred times to introduce a new scheme…. I’m always looking for overlooked metaphors which are just as relevant to the region,” said Stefan-Stavrides. “The UAE has a rich legacy associated with birds. Falconry, flamingos at Dubai Creek, peacocks at the royal palaces and even the dove graphics used for the logo for Dubai’s Parks & Horticultural Department. It therefore seemed apt and timely to introduce the symbol of the feather to develop the aesthetic.”

THE ROSE/FEATHER INTERACTION The rose, Stefan-Stavrides explains, is much like the feather in this part of the world—very prominent, yet very overlooked. “Alongside the reference of the feather, the rose is a particularly interesting and appropriate flower to the region and one that very few parks have, even though they do well in this climate when shaded from direct sunlight.”

He continues: “Both Attar of Rose, a steam extracted oil used in the creation of

CASE STUDY DUBAI QUILL

The Quill is orientated to catch the the western sunset

The Quill’s form is meant as a symbol of strength, longevity and individuality

perfumes, and Rose Water, which is used for cooking, are widely used locally and throughout the Middle East…. [Moreover] a Roman custom, borrowed from ancient Arabs, was to place roses outside a place where confidential discussions and meetings were taking place.”

The Rose Garden is elliptical. Cut roses are set into vases built into the curved edge wall in a grid formation and can be purchased from the kiosk at the narrow far end. Curved, ramped, timber pathways lead the visitor to walk around the rose bushes growing in the soil.

The observer may view the horticulture from lower and higher levels, finally being tempted at the kiosk to purchase a bouquet or rose products, all under the shade of the splayed fronds above, which overlap the open void and beckon potential visitors.

DECONSTRUCTING THE DESIGN The conception of Dubai Quill was an effort to marry nature and architecture, using the fluidity of curvilinear forms growing out of the landscape to curve upwards and embrace the sky.

Moreover, the purity of the forms is expressed as a symbol of strength, longevity and individuality, where the fragmented parts reconstitute to form a linear, directional composition.

“The Quill’s curve…captures the graceful tension between earth and sky, balanced between present and future. The architecture uses a soft geometry to define nature’s poetry of motion, written in a single line,” explains Stefan-Stavrides.

The structure itself—which is constructed of shiny, iridescent material—reflects and refracts the surrounding landscape and flora set against the backdrop of Dubai’s metropolis. By employing a repetitive series of parabolic lines in the selfsupporting quill-like structure, the profiles splay upwards from an elliptical plan at grade to a focal centre, a vertical point 134.5 metres above the datum level.

The Quill, its vane orientated southwards, shades the Grand Plaza and glazed auditorium roof below from direct sunlight. The Sky Café, embedded into the structure of the Quill, is oriented to catch the light from the western sunset, bathing the space in a crimson glow.

Internally, the kinetic expression of repetition permeates from the structural forms themselves through to decorative internal elements, thus blurring the boundaries of where the architectural

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Roses were historically used to signify confidential meetings

BOTH ATTAR OF ROSE, A STEAM EXTRACED OIL USED TO CREATE PERFUME, AND ROSE WATER, WHICH IS USED FOR COOKING, ARE WIDELY USED LOCALLY AND THROUGHOUT THE REGION. shell stops and the interior design begins.

The two disciplines fuse into one overall concept, creating forms and spaces which engage the local heritage and culture.

FORM AND FUNCTION The organization of the composition is instantly visible, allowing visitors to understand the program, which offers a flexible arena within the Grand Plaza and the area between the auditorium roof and the splayed profiles of the Quill for live events and exhibitions. The adjacent terraced amphitheatre can also be used for live shows and events.

The public realm at this level (+4.00) offers an elliptical paved promenade area in plan, with the Quill rising at one end and the pealed-away fronds of the sunken rose garden at the other.

Entry to the children’s library and elevators to the Sky Café are at ground level, with secondary perpendicular ramps leading down to the rose garden (+1.00) and Conference area (-2.00) entrances below.

Further escalators and elevators located at the Grand Plaza, allow for vertical circulation to the underground car park (-5.00).

The Conference area houses the main auditorium space, with the proscenium stage and the VIP area behind. The oval plan includes two compartmented areas that can be screened off to provide separate lecture rooms, or opened up to accommodate larger conferences.

A strip water fountain uniformly flows over the glazed roof into the 1.5 metre wide pool, which wraps the form. The water is

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recycled, providing a self-cleaning mechanism for the glazing. It also cools the surface and space around. Events can be held in the surrounding area, where kiosks and stands can be positioned.

The main space is created by two cylindrical elevators, contained within the spine of the Quill. The elevators are conceived of as funicular pods hanging off cables that run up the inside of the hollow shaft.

A WORD TO THE WISE There is no hesitation when Stefan-Stavrides explains that he designed the Quill to push the envelope. He wanted to create something that would be distinct in its form, yet subtle in its approach.

He sought neither the latest palm nor a ‘modern’ series of mashrabiya. Instead, Stefan-Stavrides designed the Quill to perform a specific function for its specific context and, as such, the Quill could exist nowhere else on Earth than Dubai’s Za’abeel Park.

When asked if the Quill could bring about a new typology for Middle Eastern cities, Stefan-Stavrides seems surprised by the question. “I don’t think the Quill gives way to anything. It has an identity which is its own…. If the UAE seeks recognition for good architecture, it must understand that the design process requires time and patience…. Slow down, do it properly and leave a legacy for future generations.”

His parting advice for young architects is simple and straightforward: “Invent, risk and don’t be afraid to fail. As is commonly said, fortune favours the brave.”

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Across from the rising Quill at one end, is the sunken rose garden at the other

BIOMIMETIC CONSIDERATIONS Power The Quill is considered as a self-supporting structure, where the splayed profiles contain a steel structural frame. The frame is clad in aluminium panels in the way aluminium boat hulls are fabricated.

Solar panels are embedded into the flat profile, which receives direct sunlight throughout the daylight hours. The solar panels generate power to light the various components of the project and power the AC systems.

Photo-luminescent materials will be used, where zero electricity is required for emergency lighting.

Water Cold water tubes, laid within the splayed profiles of the Quill, will cool the aluminium surface of the vane. During the evening hours, the humid air condenses on the surface and moisture trickles down channels set along the profiles. The water is collected at the base and recycled to be used within the building and for watering the rose garden.

Plant Plant areas are located adjacent to the existing services to the northern end of the site. A looped service road allows uninterrupted access to this zone. Tree planting will camouflage these out buildings.

Maintenance Self cleaning paint surfaces can be employed for use on the Quill. The auditorium roof utilises water over the glazing to cool and clean the surface. This water is filtered and re-cycled within a closed fountain system.

PROJECT SNEAK PEAK

AL MAKTOUM ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY HOSPITAL

By Nadia Tobia, Principal, Perkins Eastman

The atrium or ‘spine’ of the building is its main focal point

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PROJECT SNEAK PEAK

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nternational design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman designed the Al Maktoum Accident and Emergency (A&E) Hospital in Jebel Ali Dubai for the Dubai Health Authority which, when complete, will become the Emirate’s first dedicated A&E facility.

“Based on our experience with largescale complex care facilities, we believe that the Al Maktoum A&E Hospital will create a new standard for innovative, patient-centered care in the UAE,” says Jonathan N Stark, principal and managing director of Perkins Eastman’s international operations. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be complete in 2012.

The design creates a facility capable of providing immediate care for minor- to high-level trauma accidents and emergencies. The 300-bed, 95,000 sm facility includes a four-story inpatient unit and a large clinical including the emergency department and support services component.

Led by Toronto-based Principal Nadia Tobia, the design team had to cater to a brief that required state-of-the-art healthcare design and technology, while at the same time maintaining world-class design using a non-institutional approach.

The highly integrated design provides significant flexibility and a focus on patient care and family needs utilizing the most

the interior of the building. Superimposed on the “medical mall” concept is the hospitality model of design with cafes and shops in a comfortable environment. The design approach throughout the project was a response to cultural needs but also provided a high standard of clinical function.

Being a trauma center, a ground and rooftop helipad and an ambulance receiving area are directly linked to the trauma resuscitation suite and the OR rooms, diagnostic imaging unit with MRI, CT, and X-ray capabilities. Additional spaces for diagnostic imaging, surgery, endoscopy, lab functions, and an outpatient clinic are also included within the facility’s design.

A learning center with lecture hall, library and clinical teaching labs are provided and linked to the public areas.

Architectural features such as lighting, exterior and interior courtyards with plants and water features, signage and wayfinding elements and art displays will be highlighted to create a positive and pleasant environment. “Designing with the environment in mind is more challenging for hospital setting than for other types of buildings,” says Tobia. The volumes of energy consumed by a hospital, as well as the challenges presented by infection control measures and clinical standards are particular challenges in healthcare design.

A FACILITY OF THIS IMPORTANCE AND MAGNITUDE DEMONSTRATES THE COMMITMENT OF THE DUBAI HEALTH AUTHORITY TO BRING WORLD-CLASS EMERGENCY CARE TO DUBAI. advanced medical technology, international design, and healthcare planning solutions available. “A facility of this importance and magnitude demonstrates the commitment of the Dubai Health Authority to bring world-class emergency care to Dubai,” says Tobia.

From a planning perspective, the concept focuses on the atrium or “spine” of the building which provides direct access to all medical departments—crucial for organizing circulation flow and departmental adjacencies. This serves as the main spatial organising element. The atrium provides a central gathering space for patients and family and brings in natural light deep into

The project team is targeting EHS certification and LEED Silver certification.”

Aesthetically, the Al Maktoum A&E Hospital will be natural and soothing—an oasis for healing. The choice of colours in the main public areas are influenced by natural sandstone colour of the desert and are complemented with dark wood paneling, granite flooring and fritted glass.

The colours in the clinical patient areas also display a soothing palette and change on every floor to aid in patient and visitor wayfinding. Materials with good infectioncontrol characteristics for the clinical areas include resilient sheet flooring and solid surface for counters and sinks.

The design of the facility is both cultural and clinically sound

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nadia Tobia is a Principal of Perkins Eastman and the firm’s leader of the healthcare sector in the Middle East. She has more than 25 years of experience in master planning, urban design, interior design, and project management for civic, healthcare, and hospitality projects. Ms. Tobia has significant experience on large-scale master plans with international multi-disciplinary teams. In addition to her work in North America, she has completed projects in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, China, Ireland, and for the United Nations. Recently, Nadia has been a key player on the firm’s work in the Middle East, including the Sheikh Khalifa Specialist Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah and the Al Maktoum Accident and Emergency Hospital in Jebel Ali.

The project team is aiming for LEED Silver certification

Helipads grace the roof and exterior of the trauma centre

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FEATURE GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE

HARNESSING THE ELEMENTS Middle East Architect catches up with Bob Knott, senior development manager of golf courses for Jumeirah Golf Estates, to talk about designing, building and maintaining Earth, Fire, Wind and Water in the Middle East

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he Earth golf course at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates (JGE)— which recently played host to the Dubai World Championships—is a sharply defined, sculptured course that was inspired by the parklands of Europe and North America. Designed by golf legend Greg Norman and executed by Norman and JGE’s director of golf operations, Bob Knott, the course paints a magnificent pastiche of flora, rolling terrain and rushing water. These natural components also provide differing angles and changing perspectives from each tee.

The Earth course is streaked with what JGE calls, “Meandering, and occasionally daunting, water features [which] are everpresent factors when lining up one’s next golf shot”. Fully grassed since April 2008, JGE gave Earth two seasons to mature before the championship tournament.

LEGRAND’S JGE COMMITMENT A world leader in home automation, Legrand designs products that give residents total control over lighting and other home functions via a system of intelligent switches, touch screens, remote controls and the Internet. (www. legrandelectric.com)

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With a variety of inspirations that range from the olive groves of Spain to classic Roman towns and villages, the homes of the Earth neighbourhood offer a compelling variety of architectural styles. This diversity, coupled with the district’s verdant topography, lends an air of expansiveness and encourages residents to congregate in the development’s ample outdoor space.

Because of the publicity surrounding last month’s Dubai World Championships, the Earth course has become very familiar to golfers and golf course designers throughout the world. But JGE’s next offering, the Fire course—which Knott claims is completely finished—is still shrouded in a bit of secrecy.

In terms of golf course architecture, Fire is framed by a wide variety of flora, carefully selected to reflect the overall theme and to enhance its natural setting, which is largely burnt grass and red sand. According to JGE: “Fire is in complete harmony with its surroundings. The undulating topography, with considerable protrusions, creates a more challenging level of play.”

Rich tones of terracotta reflected on walls of stucco, stone and brick, the Fire

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neighbourhood draws on rustic Mediterranean architecture that complements the desert context. The seven communities sited around the Fire course are landscaped to complement the beauty of their desert surroundings. Middle East Architect caught up with Bob Knott, to talk about sustainability, design and maintenance of the Middle East’s most expansive golf course development.

First, how does one build a green golf course in the desert?

BK: When we started, we didn’t have the Dubai World Championship in mind. This began as simply a residential golf real estate development. When you build a golf course in the desert, the most important thing you need is water.

I can shape anything in sand, it’s a wonderful medium to work in, but if we have a 40mph wind coming through, everything I’ve shaped that day could be blown away.

So as soon as we shape, we need access to water, so the first thing I did when I came here was create a temporary lake.

We had a specific 24-inch main from Dubai Municipality that would service

FEATURE GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTURE

POGGENPOHL’S JGE COMMITMENT Poggenpohl has been the leading innovator of kitchen design for more than 110 years. It has a well-deserved reputation for offering superior quality and functionality. (www.poggenpohl.de)

B&B ITALIA’S JGE COMMITMENT Since Sin c its ce it fo found found un ati at on inn 1966, 1966 B&B B Ittali aliia hhas ass been a leeade bee been d r in der in cont on em emp mpora or ryy fur fuu nis nishings. nishin hin ings g TThe gs. compan com panny’s pany’s y succe y’ suucce cess is is bas based ed on a matc a hle at hl ss ala al chh my of iinn cche nnova ovatio tio ionn and nd ind i dust stria ri l skkili lss aim aim medd at pro rodu oduc ucing ing ng ttiimel meeless mel ess pprodu oducts ducts c s.. (ww www w.be bbeebit ebit bitali bi aaliliaa.iit) it))

WHEN WE FIRST CAME HERE, THE SITE WAS A RAW DESERT. SAND WAS BLOWING ALL AROUND, DUNES WERE SHIFTING AND GREG NORMAN WAS SURROUNDED BY CAMELS. our temporary lake so everything we built emanated away from that water source.

When we first came here, the site was a raw desert. Sand was blowing all around, dunes were shifting and Greg Norman was surrounded by camels.

The first thing he did was create a ‘routing’ which is a basic idea of where the course will lie from tee #1 to green #18—hopefully this is done in two loops of nine holes so you’re always coming back to a central point, which is the clubhouse.

Once we had that routing, we began decid-

ing on the style of the course. We began looking at features we could design into the landscape, whether those were lakes or streams or trees or general landscaping. After that, we began the plotting process.

At tee #1, we put a stake in the ground, then we would walk down what would be the middle of where the fairway would be and we would identify the turn-

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Bob Knott, the man on the ground at JGE, was tasked with executing Greg Norman’s vision

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FEATURE GREEN COMMUNITIES

ONE 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE, BY PHOTOSYNTHESIS, WILL PROVIDE ENOUGH OXYGEN FOR 100,000 PEOPLE PER ANNUM. THIS IS A MAJOR FACILITY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. EVEN FOR NON-GOLFERS, THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE. ing point—at around 275 yards away—and we put a stake in the ground there, which would then become the centre of the fairway. Then we would go another 180 or so yards and that’s the centre of your green.

After that, we brought in a team and began shaping. I had shapers here from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA, Mexico and Great Britain.

The shaping team literally came from all over the world.

At the rough grading stage we focus on the general look and shape of the golf course. Then another team comes in a does a fine grade. After that, another team comes in and starts putting in all the features. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. Then we get irrigation and topsoil and eventually grass.

To get to this level of quality, you have to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing those surfaces.

What can you say about ‘Fire’?

BK: The Fire golf course is a very special course. It is a hidden gem. It is the most beautiful golf course. The beauty of JGE is that the four golf courses have different themes. The formality of the Earth golf course, with its very formal shaped bunkers and so on, contrast sharply with the featured bunkering on Fire, which has a much more rustic feeling.

It goes much deeper than just one having red sand and the other having white.

Fire is a beautiful course. Of the two, Fire is certainly the equal of Earth as playing strategies goes—but Fire is a bit shorter.

For Fire and Earth, tell us more about what kind of shaping, sculpting and construction was required?

BK: I’ll give you some statistics. We moved and shaped two million cubic meters of earth for these courses. Across Fire and Earth, we have 60 hectares of playing surface. We have 30,000 square meters of greens and 25,000 square meters of tees.

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During construction JGE was using up to 5.5 million gallons of water per day Normally, I’d usually use a half metre of sweet soil under the surface, but on these courses we have used a full meter of sweet soil, that means we’ve got 600,000 cubic metres of sweet soil beneath the playing surface on these two courses.

How did you import all of that vegetation, specifically the grass?

BK: To ensure we achieved the grass we wanted, we took six or seven months locating the Bermuda grass from a specific farm in Pike Creek, Georgia. One of the first things I did when we found that grass was to build a 100,000 square foot nursery for us to grow the grass we needed and then whenever we were growing areas, we simply harvested from our own nursery.

That was absolutely necessary because you cannot import that amount of grass we needed here. We needed to control the environment in which that grass was grown; we wanted to control the percolation rates;

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we wanted to control the type and quality of the grass on the surface and to do that, we needed our own nursery.

It’s about controlling the environment of the golf, as much as you reasonably can.

Remember, we’ve got in excess of 450,000 square metres of bark mulch and 3,600 mature trees. I have trees out there that are 11-12 metres high already.

To harvest and maintain that amount of vegetation, what are your water requirements?

BK: I’ll give you a couple figures on irrigation. We have 20,000 linear meters of mainline ranging from six to 24 inches in diametre. We have 70,000 metres of lateral irrigation piping out there.

We have 17,000 metres of power cable and 20,000 metres of communication cable. On just those two courses, we have 4,000 sprinkler heads. During construction, we were using 4.5-5.0 million gallons

FEATURE GREEN COMMUNITIES

BANG & OLUFSEN’S JGE COMMITMENT Founded in 1925, Bang & Olufsen manufactures high-end audio and video products that are world renowned for the benefits its cutting-edge industrial design brings to the appearance, function and operation of its equipment. (www.bang-olufsen.com)

JGE is “creating a habitat for human beings and wildlife”

MIELE’S JGE CONTRIBUTION Miele is a German manufacturer of high quality domestic appliances and machines for commercial applications. Miele aims to manufacture the highest-quality domestic appliances and commercial equipment in the world and to be seen by markets worldwide as providing an absolutely top-class household product. In the words of Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann, “Success is only possible in the long term if one is totally and utterly convinced of the quality of one’s products.” Therefore, continuous innovation is the foundation of our business success.” (www.miele.com)

Between Fire and Earth, JGE boasts 450,000 square metres of bark mulch

JGE employed the services of the some of Dubai’s best F&B providers for DWC

of water per day. We expect the cost of water after maturation to be about AED 6 million per year. Maintenance should be about AED 8 million per year.

But, it’s important to keep in mind, every gallon of water used on the course is treated water. Nakheel is building its own sewage treatment plant on the project site, which is big enough to supply water to the entire 1357 hectares. It’s creating a habitat for both human beings and wildlife. We have an extremely sophisticated computer system to regulate our water usage as well.

Some of those numbers are astronomical. In the era of sustainability, do you feel you have to justify using the amount of resources used?

BK: I think you do. For people who don’t understand golf courses, they can appear to be wasteful of resources and energy. As you might imagine, I have a totally reverse opinion. On a golf course you have the most wonderful natural environment. You only have to walk around this project site now to see some of the most marvellous wildlife, which has made its home here.

Up until 3-4 weeks ago, we had about 20 flamingoes living on the golf course. Next year, when they come back, we’ll have double that. I had a family of swans arrive

18 months ago and they’ve never left. I have tens of thousands of bird species that have found homes here. It’s an environmentally friendly place. We’re creating this environment, we have to be conscious of the environment as well.

In fact, Greg Norman and our chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem were founding members of the Environmental Institute of Golf. We’ve been very conscious that as we built this that we were mindful of where we were going with it. To build quality is expensive but it’s an enhancement to the environment. Let me give you another fact, one 18-hole golf course, by photosynthesis, will provide enough oxygen for 100,000 people per annum. This is a major facility for the environment. Even for non-golfers, this is a beautiful landscape.

What is the future of JGE? BK: I think JGE is a jewel in the crown.

I know times are difficult and things are hard but when this project is finished— hopefully in the next 12-18 months—I think it’ll set a benchmark for projects of this kind in the region. To be frank, golf courses are just like hotels; hotels need to put bums in beds, golf courses need players on the courses. If I have 500 people out there playing golf everyday, I’ll be happy.

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INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY ROME’S MUSEUM OF 21ST CENTURY ART

MAXXI Words ZHA • Images Helene Binet • Sketches/Tech drawings ZHA

The Italian capital’s National Museum of 21st Century Arts

FACT SHEET Total site area 29,000 m² Exterior spaces 19,640 m² Interior spaces 21,200 m² Exhibition spaces 10,000 m² Facilities 6,000 m² MAXXI Art 4,077 m² MAXXI Architecture 1,935 m² Total volume 113,000 m³ Maximum height 22.90 m CONSTRUCTION DATA Total Steel used for structure 6,700,000 kg Concrete cast in-situ 50,000 m³ Total surface of fair-faced concrete 20,000 m² Total surface area of glazing 2,600 m² Total working hours 1,250,000 Cost EUR 150 million Visitors forecast 200,000 – 400,000 per year Works of art 350 Architectural drawings 75,000

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he MAXXI relates with the urban context within which it is set by renewing the horizontal development of the former military barracks. The geometrical plan of the project aligns itself with the two urban grids that regulate the town planning structure of the area and the new interpretation of these two geometrical plans within the proposal generates the surprising geometrical complexity of the campus.

“The site has a unique L-shaped footprint that meanders between two existing buildings. Rather than seeing this as a limitation...” explains Zaha Hadid, principal and founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, “...we used it to our advantage, taking it as an opportunity to explore the possibilities of linear structure by bundling, twisting, and building mass in some areas and reducing it in others—threading linearity throughout both interior and exterior.”

The two urban grids are mediated by sinuous lines that harmonise the plan and facilitate the flow within the site. The pedestrian walkway that crosses the campus is open to the public and has been reinstated after approximately 100 years of being blocked by the barracks.

This walkway follows the soft outline of the museum, sliding below the upper level galleries towards Via Masaccio. The interior of the MAXXI can be seen by visitors and pedestrians through the numerous openings in its curvilinear walls that on the one hand, protect its contents, yet beckon the visitor through the broad glazed surface on the ground floor.

The main concept of the project is directly linked to the purpose of the building as a centre for the exhibition of visual arts. The walls that cross the space, and their intersections, defines interior and exterior spaces of the MAXXI. This system acts on all three levels of the building, the second of which is the more complex—with a wealth of connections with various bridges that link buildings and galleries together. The visitor is invited to enter into a series of con-

MAXXI represents an attempt to bundle, twist and build mass in some places and reduce it in others

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INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY ROME’S MUSEUM OF 21ST CENTURY ART

tinuous spaces, rather than the compact volume of an isolated building.

“The MAXXI should not be considered just one building—it should be thought of as several buildings,” says Hadid. “The idea was to move away from‘the museum as an object’ and towards the idea of a ‘field of buildings’.”

The interior spaces, defined by the exhibition walls,

MAXXI is designed around the concept of directional drifts and the distribution of densities rather than key points

are covered by a glass roof that flood the galleries with natural light filtered by the louvered lines of the roofing beams.

These beams underline the linearity of the spatial system, aid in articulating the various orientations of the galleries and facilitate circulation through the museum and campus.

“I see the MAXXI as an immersive urban environment for the exchange of ideas, feeding the cultural vitality of the city,” says Hadid. “It’s no longer just a museum, but an urban cultural centre where a dense texture of interior and exterior spaces have been intertwined and superimposed over one another.”

ZUMTOBEL’S LIGHTING SOLUTION

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Ever since the company was founded in 1950 by Dr. Walter Zumtobel, this vision has guided Zumtobel in developing innovative and individual lighting solutions. The objectives at the heart of this philosophy have always been the emotional effect of light within its architectural surroundings, people’s well-being, and energy- optimised use of light. Zumtobel generates unique customer benefit through the combination of technology, design, emotion and energy-efficiency.

The new MAXXI National Museum of the XXI Century Arts represented a target to develop a synergetic strategy in accordance with the development of internal (exposition galleries) and external design. The target to provide a scenario with the right illumination throughout the day offered the chance to combine natural light with the integration of different lighting solutions. It was necessary to develop a solution which embraced solar shields and dimmable luminaries.

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THE FIELD OF POSSIBILITIES The MAXXI addresses the question of its urban context by maintaining a reference to the former army barracks. This is in no way an attempt at topological pastiche, but instead continues the low-level urban texture set against the higher level blocks on the surrounding sides of the site. In this way, the MAXXI is more like an ‘urban graft’, a second skin to the site.

At times, it affiliates with the ground to become new ground, yet also ascends and coalesces to become massive where needed. The entire building has an urban character: prefiguring upon a directional route connecting the River to Via Guido Reni, the Centre encompasses both movement patterns existing and desired, contained within and outside. This vector defines the primary entry route into the building.

By intertwining the circulation with the urban context, the building shares a

INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY ROME’S MUSEUM OF 21ST CENTURY ART

public dimension with the city, overlapping tendril-like paths and open space. In addition to the circulatory relationship, the architectural elements are also geometrically aligned with the urban grids that join at the site. In thus partly deriving its orientation and physiognomy from the context, it further assimilates itself to the specific conditions of the site.

SPACE VS. OBJECT Our proposal offers a quasi-urban field; a ‘world’ to dive into rather than a building as signature object. The campus is organised and navigated on the basis of directional drifts and the distribution of densities rather than key points. This is indicative of the character of the MAXXI as a whole: porous, immersive, a field space. The external as well

as internal circulation follows the overall drift of the geometry. Vertical and oblique circulation elements are located at areas of confluence, interference and turbulence.

“After many studies, our research evolved into the concept of the confluence of lines, where the primary force of the site is the walls that constantly intersect and separate to create both indoor and outdoor spaces,” explains Hadid. “It’s an intriguing mixture of galleries, irrigating a large urban field with linear display surfaces.”

The move from object to field is critical in understanding the relationship the architecture will have to the content of the artwork it will house. Whilst this is further

expounded by the contributions of gallery and exhibitions experts, it is important here to state that the premise of the architectural design promotes a disinheriting of the ‘object’ orientated gallery space.

Instead, the notion of a ‘drift’ takes on an embodied form. The drifting emerges, therefore, as both architectural motif, and also as a way to navigate experientially through the museum.

It is an argument that, for art practice is well understood, but in architectural hegemony has remained alien. We take this opportunity, in the adventure of designing such a forward looking institution, to confront the material and conceptual dissonance evoked by

I SEE THE MAXXI AS AN IMMERSIVE URBAN ENVIRONMENT FOR THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, FEEDING THE CULTURAL VITALITY OF THE CITY. ZAHA HADID

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INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDY ROME’S MUSEUM OF 21ST CENTURY ART

art practice since the late 1960’s. The path led away from the ‘object’ and toward fields of multiple associations that are anticipative of the necessity to change.

INSTITUTIONAL CATALYST As such, it is deemed significant that in configuring the possible identity of this newly established institution—housing both art and architecture—with its aspiration towards the polyvalent density of the 21st century, conceptions of space and indeed temporality are reworked.

Modernist Utopian space fuelled the white ‘neutrality’ of most 20th century museums. Now, this disposition must be challenged, not simply out of willful negation, but by the necessity of architecture to continue its critical relationship with contemporary social and aesthetic categories.

Since absolutism has been indefinitely

PROJECT DESIGN Architects Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher Project Architect Gianluca Racana (Zaha Hadid Limited) Structural Engineering Anthony Hunt Associates, OK Design Group Mechanical Engineering Max Fordham & Partners, OK Design Group Lighting Design Equation Lighting Acoustic Design Paul Gilleron Acoustic Design Team Paolo Matteuzzi, Anja Simons, Fabio Ceci,Mario Mattia, Maurizio Meossi, Paolo Zilli, Luca Peralta, Maria Velceva, Matteo Grimaldi, Ana M.Cajiao, Barbara Pfenningstorff, Dillon Lin, Kenneth Bostock, Raza Zahid, Lars Teichmann, Adriano De Gioannis, Amin Taha, Caroline Voet, Gianluca Ruggeri, Luca Segarelli, ABT David Sabatello & Giancarlo Rampini

suspended from current thought on the issue of art presentation, it is towards the idea of the ‘maximising exhibition’ that the design for the MAXXI gravitated. In this scenario, the MAXXI makes primary the manifold possibilities for the divergence in showing art and architecture as well as catalysing the discourse on its future. Again, the ‘signature’ aspect of an institution of this calibre is sublimated into a more pliable and porous organism that promotes several forms of identification at once.

ON CONTEMPORARY SPATIALITY In architectural terms, contemporary spatiality is most virulently executed by the figure of the ‘wall’. Against the traditional coding of the wall in a museum—i.e. the immutable vertical armature for the display of paintings, or delineating discrete spaces to construct order and linear narrative—walls in MAXXI create a critique of that coding through their emancipation.

The wall becomes the versatile engine for the staging of exhibition effects.

In its various guises—solid wall, projection screen, canvas, window to the city— the exhibition wall is the primary spacemaking device. By running extensively across the site, cursively and gestural, the lines traverse inside and out. “The walls of the MAXXI create major streams and minor streams,” explains Hadid. “The major streams are the galleries and the minor streams are the bridges and connections.”

Urban space is coincidental with gallery

MAXXI decodes the traditional notion of the ‘wall’ by making them versatile engines for displaying artwork

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space, exchanging pavilion and court in a continuous oscillation under the same operation. And further deviations from the Classical composition of the wall emerge as incidents where the walls become floor, or twist to become ceiling or are voided to become a large window looking out.

By constantly changing dimension and geometry, walls adapt themselves to whatever curatorial role is needed. By setting within the gallery spaces a series of potential partitions that hang from the ceiling ribs, a versatile exhibition system is created. Organisational and spatial invention are thus dealt with simultaneously amidst a rhythm found in the echo of the walls to the structural ribs in the ceiling that also filter the light in varying intensities.

STAGE FOR THOUGHT/ART It is in this way that the architecture performs the ‘staging’ of art, with moveable elements that allow for the drama to change. ‘Sets’ can be constructed from the notional elements of the gallery spaces.

These are attuned to the particularities of the exhibition in question, materialising or dematerialising accordingly.

The drift through the MAXXI is a trajectory through varied ambiences, filtered swpectacles and differentiated luminosity. Whilst offering a new freedom in the curators’ palette, this in turn digests and recomposes the experience of art spectatworship as liberated dialogue with artefact and environment.

ARCHITECTURE COMPARE & CONTRAST

BATTLE OF...

PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT BUILDING

REICHSTAG PARLIAMENT BUILDING

Location Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland Architect Enric Miralles Style Modernist, Abstract

Location Berlin, Germany Architect Paul Wallot (1894); Norman Foster (1999) Style Neo-classical, Modernist

Construction commenced June 1999 Construction finished October 2004

Original Reichstag building 1884 Destroyed by fire 1933

Estimated cost ÂŁ414 million First debate September 7, 2004

Original distinctive architectural feature Glass/steel cupola Refurbishment + new Norman Foster cupola 1999

Fun Fact Notwithstanding the level of controversy surrounding cost, the Scottish Parliament Building proved controversial in a number of other respects: the decision to construct a new building, the choice of site, the selection of a non-Scottish architect, and the selection of Bovis as construction manager after having earlier been excluded from the shortlist.

Fun Fact Construction of the building actually began well after 1871. In 1872 an architectural contest with 103 participating architects was carried out to erect an all-new building. Work did not start until ten years later though, owing to various problems with purchasing property for the new building and arguments between Wilhelm I, Otto von Bismarck and the members of the Reichstag about how the construction should be performed.

In 1997, the initial cost of constructing a new Parliament building was given as ÂŁ40 million, the final cost was more than ten times that amount.

In 1882, another architectural contest was held, with 189 architects participating. The original building was most acclaimed for the construction of an original cupola of steel and glass, an engineering masterpiece of the time.

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THE LAST WORD GRAHAM WOOD

CITYBUILD ABU DHABI Building cities and communities, one product at a time

C

ityBuild AD is a new international trade exhibition for the building and construction industry. It is happening on 18-21 April, 2010—in conjunction with Cityscape Abu Dhabi—and aims to become a B2B platform bringing together buyers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and importers of products used in the construction of real estate and infrastructure projects. MEA caught up with group director Graham Wood to get the lowdown on this upcoming event.

Put simply, what is the fundamental difference between Cityscape and CityBuild?

the it to be considered a success?

GW: There are many ways to view the success of an exhibition. The number of exhibitors already confirmed has exceeded all expectations, and with several months to go, we expect the exhibition area to sell out. That will be deemed a success.

In terms of visitors, the co-location with Cityscape Abu Dhabi will guarantee an excellent flow of trade visitors to CityBuild.

Add to this CityBuild’s extensive marketing, advertising and PR campaign and you have the foundations for high visitor numbers—which will also be deemed a success for a launch event.

UNDER ONE ROOF, ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS WILL BE ABLE TO SOURCE NEW PRODUCTS, LEARN ABOUT INNOVATION IN THE GCC CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, MEET MANY NEW BUSINESS PARTNERS AND ACHIEVE IN FOUR DAYS WHAT WOULD TAKE MONTHS TO DO WITHOUT THIS EXHIBITION TAKING PLACE. GW: Cityscape is the leading B2B exhibition for the real estate investment and development industry. CityBuild is the co-located exhibition for all product companies involved in the building and construction industry.

What kind of exhibitors are you expecting to attend?

GW: International companies from across the building and construction industry; tiles, aluminium, steel, concrete, water technologies, marble and stone etc etc

Is it fair to say Cityscape is for those funding projects while CityBuild is for those building them?

GW: Yes. The co-location of these two events is exactly what the industry is looking for. Investors can source new investment opportunities at Cityscape. Developers and architects can source new products and contractors at CityBuild.

Will CityBuild include a lecture series like Cityscape’s Green Day or World Architecture Congress?

GW: There will be a series of conference sessions, Innovation Zone displays, Showcases and workshops. At the time of writing, these sessions are being researched with key industry professionals and visionaries, to ensure that all topical and industry critical issues are covered.

This is Abu Dhabi’s first CityBuild. What needs to happen for

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In 2009, Cityscape Abu Dhabi

MIDDLE EAST ARCHITECT | 12.09 | www.constructionweekonline.com

and Dubai both underperformed compared to previous years. Is there any worry of a less-thandesirable turnout for CityBuild?

GW: At a time when many exhibitions were cancelled globally, Cityscape Abu Dhabi and Dubai bucked the trend and delivered very impressive exhibitor and visitor numbers. For CityBuild, we are very bullish about the expected turnout—as MEA readers will witness when they visit the show at ADNEC. CityBuild is being touted as a B2B event but will consumers, distributors or contractors be able to seal deals while attending?

GW: There will be no reason for a consumer to visit CityBuild as it is a trade only exhibition. But to answer the other part of you question, yes, distributors and contractors will be there signing deals alongside procurement managers, developers and architects.

Point blank question: How will CityBuild help architects & engineers do their jobs better?

GW: Under one roof, design professionals, architects and engineers will be able to source new products, learn about innovation in the Middle East construction industry, meet several new business partners and achieve in four days what would take months to do without this exhibition taking place.

Leading by Design...naturally

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uro Happold is an international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy with a world class reputation for delivering landmark projects in both public and private sector markets. We are renowned for bold and elegant design solutions which encourage the efficient use of materials, energy and natural resources.

The practice operates across four key areas: Buildings, Infrastructure, Environment and Specialist Consulting. We adopt an integrated approach, combining structural, civil, building services and technical consultancy skills with an in-depth knowledge of urban planning, environmental impact and sustainable construction.

Abu Dhabi Tel: +971 (0) 2 626 8622 Dubai Tel: +971(0) 4 335 8180 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Tel: +966 (0) 1 419 1992 Kuwait Tel: +965 689 3888

Celebrating thirty years in the Middle East

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uro Happold has been working across the Middle East since the practice was founded in the 1970’s and over the past 30 years our people have worked on many ground-breaking projects in the region.

Today we are proud of our achievements in the Middle East and look forward to contributing to the region’s economic prosperity over the coming years.

www.burohappold.com