THE MAKING OF THE
Louvre Abu Dhabi khaleej times | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | Wednesday, NOVEMBER 29, 2017
Ushering in a new era The 23 permanent galleries of Louvre Abu Dhabi tell the story of humanity
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■■ Deepa Narwani
Must-see attractions
ouvre Abu Dhabi opened in the capital with a lot of pomp and fare earlier last month ushering in a new era of art appreciation in the region. The museum is located on Saadiyat Island and is the first of its kind in the GCC. The important collection of artworks and artefacts on display stem from all around the world and span the entirety of human existence from prehistory to present day. The galleries aim to tell the story of humanity through its 12 chapters. Louvre Abu Dhabi was formed by an intergovernmental agreement between Abu Dhabi and France in 2007. The agreement states that the name of Louvre is on loan for a period of 30 years, and artworks from French institutions will be on loan for 10 years on a decreasing basis as the permanent collection grows; and the programming of temporary exhibitions for 15 years. On a visit to Paris last year, Louvre Paris was at the top of the must-see sights in the city for me because the attraction played such an integral role in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, where the protagonist Robert Langdon finds the answers he is seeking for. The main event for me was, of course, standing in a queue to glance at Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile that beckons you. I also spent almost a whole day gazing at the many amazing Egyptian sculptures, Greek antiquities, ornate Roman ceilings and
■■ Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait La Belle Ferronnière ■■ Self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh ■■ Monet’s 1877 painting of the Saint-Lazare railroad station ■■ A portrait of Napoleon crossing the Alps on a white horse, by Jacques-Louis David ■■ Giovanni Bellini’s Madonna and Child
paintings, and soaking in all of the art. Louvre Abu Dhabi is as stunning as its sister museum and has been designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, and is a city on its own with 23 permanent galleries, temporary exhibition space, a Children’s Museum, auditorium, restaurants, as well as a retail and a research centre. Surrounded by the sea, visitors can walk the promenades beneath the museum’s stunning dome and experience the mesmerising ‘rain of light’, inspired by the shadows of overlapping palm trees in the UAE’s precious oases. The dome consists of almost 8,000 unique metal stars set in a complex geometric pattern. The opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi offers art aficionados a chance to admire, learn and be immersed in a work of art itself. With so many mysteries to decode, Dan Brown could possibly even set his next bestseller right on our shores! — deepa@khaleejtimes.com
7,500 8,000 $1.3
billion
tonnes The total weight of the dome
Metal “Stars” form eight layers of the roof
Estimate cost of the Project
180
metres
diameter of the dome shading two-thirds of the Museum
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khaleej times | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | Wednesday, November 29, 2017
THE MAKING OF THE Louvre Abu Dhabi
Dubai Opera, Pitagora seats by Poltrona Frau.
» Poltrona Frau Group ME
Designing a cultural landmark Poltrona Frau Group ME delivers exquisite leather-based seating solutions Poltrona Frau Contract Division has worked alongside Pritzkerprize winning architect Jean Nouvel for years to perfectly bring to life his creative intent for the furniture collection at Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum. This prestigious project was managed and delivered by the company’s UAE-based subsidiary, Poltrona Frau Group ME.
The furniture collection includes armchairs, stools, tables and double-sided sofa benches for the museum, and gel coat tables and benches for the Louvre cafè and restaurant. A total of 177 custom pieces were designed specifically for this project, hence fitting perfectly to the environment of the Louvre museum building. The collection comprises a range of seating solutions in leather that take inspiration from the harmonious lines of the profile of the Louvre building on Saadiyat Island that visitors will be able to use during their visit to the museum to better appreciate the unique atmosphere. “Architecture does not stop at
the front door,” said Nouvel. “The separation between architecture and interior design is artificial: any detail has the potential to disrupt the sense of harmony and destroy meaning.” Poltrona Frau Group ME has been active in the UAE since 2007 delivering prestigious projects such as Dubai Opera, New York University Abu Dhabi, and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, among others. The company represents the group’s three iconic Italian furniture brands: Poltrona Frau, Cassina and Cappellini. The brands’ furniture collection can be viewed in the showroom situated in Downtown Dubai.
Kennedee sofa, Vanity Fair and Ming’s Heart armchairs, Bob tables, by Poltrona Frau.
Security at its finest Rasilient protects Louvre Abu Dhabi with state-of-the-art forensic video surveillance The Louvre in Abu Dhabi demands the highest level of security to protect the priceless masterpieces that are housed within. With hundreds of surveillance cameras covering 8,000 square metres of exhibitions, Louvre’s essential requirements are security, performance and reliability. Rasilient provides the surveillance video storage system solution capable of meeting and exceeding Louvre’s requirements while offering unmatched data integrity and storage reliability, as well as scalability to accommodate future growth. The Louvre’s surveillance system includes 2.5 petabytes of storage using Rasilient’s fully redundant PS5000 series storage systems. Based on Rasilient’s No Frame Drop (NFDTM) technologies, the Louvre system will enjoy video recording with no recording gaps. Every single camera frame is processed and recorded. In addition, Rasilient’s ProactiveTM technology also monitors the health of
every disc drive inside the Louvre system to enable cloning right before an actual drive failure. The Louvre system protects against any unrecoverable data loss caused by simultaneous multi-drive failures. ProactiveTM also enables scheduled service rather than reactive emergency service calls, thereby enabling the Louvre museum to cut its operating expenses. The Louvre’s storage system also has a highly scalable architecture. This makes sure every dollar invested by the Louvre is protected against obsolescence. As the museum’s surveillance needs change, more storage space and processing power can be added independently to the existing storage system to accommodate the new environment. For the ultimate video surveillance protection, please contact Sales at Sales@rasilient.com
Rasilient provides the surveillance video storage system solution capable of meeting and exceeding Louvre’s requirements while offering unmatched data integrity and storage reliability, as well as scalability to accommodate future growth.
DRAKE AND SCULL & SPECON Joint Venture Wish to congratulate His Excellency Mohamed Al Mubarak, TCA, TDIC and the French Government for the realization of the Louvre Museum, the iconic landmark project in Abu Dhabi. We are privileged to have been assigned and to have completed successfully the works for Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Drainage, ELV and Fire & Life Safety Systems for the Louvre Museum-Abu Dhabi.
Drake & Scull International PJSC P.O. Box 65794, Dubai, U.A.E. Tel: 04 4463444, Fax: 04 5514854 www.drakescull.com
Specon LLC
P.O. Box 87134, Dubai, U.A.E. Tel: 04 2940420, Fax: 04 2953856 www.specongroup.com
THE MAKING OF THE Louvre Abu Dhabi
khaleej times | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | Wednesday, November 29, 2017
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» Fischer Middle East
Building strong foundations The German company provided a number of innovative products and engineering solutions to create the cultural landmark
Fischer Middle East’s products were used for MEP applications (Seismic and Thermal expansion/contraction supports) in Louvre Abu Dhabi. The German engineering company and fixing manufacturer is renowned for their high-end quality products and has delivered a number of iconic projects in the Middle East and worldwide. The range of highly innovative products, with the expertise of engineering skills as well as the dedicated sales and technical team of Fischer Middle East, has contributed to the architecture adhesion and stability in the museum. The media conduits in Louvre Abu Dhabi were safely and firmly installed using Fischer heavy-duty anchors and installation systems such as the FUS rails and many others. The range of products used from Fischer in particular included the internally threaded anchor EA, the fixpoint saddle and clamp FFPK and FFPS, the bolt anchor FAZ II, the high bond-system FHB II, Epoxy Mortar FIS EM,
FUS type installation channels, construction and connection elements FAF and FFF1, the construction element FUF 180°, the connector FCN Clix P, the saddle flange SF L as well as threaded rods, nuts and washers. The Fischer Middle East team were in constant contact with the client’s engineers and purchasers
to provide advice and deliveries. Numerous extraction tests and training sessions were also carried out. The company’s application technicians also implemented earthquake simulations and stress analyses. “To a large extent, the DSIHLSpeacon engineers required tests on deformation behaviour and seismic tests on the mounts within a very short space of time,” explained Jayanta Mukherjee, Managing Director, Fischer Middle East. “Our team succeeded in carrying out over 150 cases of earthquake and stress analyses in approximately four months. The technical foundations for a special architectural experience as well as an art and culture venue were therefore successfully created.” For more info, visit www.fischer.ae or e-mail enquiry@fischer.ae
one source, endless capabilities.
Integrated Fire & Security Solutions
Protecting people, property and assets at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
Tyco Fire & Security UAE are proud to have provided integrated Fire & Security Solutions at Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. Tyco Fire & Security UAE provides leading-edge Commercial Fire & Security Systems to protect every kind of building, giving you total peace of mind. Our business is protecting people and property, and we are able to provide a full range of systems to combat almost any fire and security risk.
We are your Total Solutions Provider. For more information, please contact us at: T: +971.2.3076700 / E: TFSUAE-info@tyco.com / W: www.tycofireuae.com
khaleej times | ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT | Wednesday, November 29, 2017
AL SHAFAR STEEL ENGINEERING LLC
180m diameter of Steel dome Made out of 11,000 pieces of steel elements, 3500 Tons in weight Fabricated with very high level of accuracy by ASSENT in 2013 as a largest part of the Louvre Museum Project.
ASSENT factory is based in DIC, Dubai with a fully covered area of over 100,000 sqm with on-going works to double the area of the factory to ensure that ASSENT is one of the largest, if not the largest steel fabricator in the region. Currently having a fabrication capacity of up to 10,000 Ton per month and 120,000 Ton per year. The Abu Dhabi Louvre was a very complex structure where the accuracy of fabrication was essential to ensure the final geometry of the building was achieved. To ensure the required accuracy ASSENT plant is most advance and equipped with the latest technology of CNC, equipment to produce the quality, speed of production and accuracy to enable the most complex of Structures to be manufactured, and to manufacture the most stringent Project tolerances and Specifications. Upon delivery of the steelwork to Site, approximately 7,400 out of the 11,000 beams were sub-assembled by ASSENT into 85 No Super-Size Elements (SSE), up to 31 metres in length x 9 metres wide and weighing approx. 52 Tons, which in turn were lifted onto support towers. The balance 3,600 single piece beams were then installed between the SSE’s forming the final structure.
Mohammad Omar Gola
Essam Khalil
Amr Youssef
Tel: +971 - 4 - 247 1200 Fax: +971 - 4 - 422 98 26 Cell: +971 - 50 - 515 8545 Email: mohammad.gola@assent.ae
Tel: +971 - 4 - 247 1200, Ext: 1200 Fax: +971 - 4 - 422 98 26 Cell: +971 - 56 - 549 0978 Email: essam.khalil@assent.ae
Tel: +971 - 4 - 2471200 Fax: +971 - 4 - 4229826 Cell: +971 - 56 - 5490977, +971 - 50 - 6725308 Email: amr.youssef@assent.ae
Senior Sales Manager - Structural Steel
Sales & Estimation Manager
Sales Director - PEB