Ateliers Jean Nouvel Louvre Abu Dhabi

A new museum conceived not as a building but as an actual piece of city is the extraordinary project given to us by Jean Nouvel in Abu Dhabi. Hosting the story of humanity, this small citadel constructed with buildings, squares and alleys is umbrellaed for comfort by a magnificent dome that forms and creates a layer of artificial nature on top.

FROM THE ARCHITECTS’ PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The complex was designed in the form of a museum-city on the sea, an agglomeration of white buildings inspired by medinas and traditional low-rise Arab settlements. Sitting on Saadiyat Island, the museum is made up of 55 individual buildings, 23 of which are art galleries. The facades are built from 3,900 panels of ultra-high performance concrete, each 4 metres tall and weighing 10 tonnes. The special concrete material protects the museum from the effects of waves and enables the units to resist outward-bending forces. This is a key consideration during receding tides, when rapidly falling water pressure can create a suction-like effect on the museum’s cladding. At the beginning of the construction process, the museum was built within a dry dock. Construction of the dry dock began with the installation of a rock embankment, technically known as a revetment. This created a new, temporary coastline on the southwest corner of Saadiyat Island, which was then backfilled using sand pumped from the seabed.