ArchDaily Projects Renovation United Arab Emirates Foster + Partners 2014 Abu Dhabi Central Market / Foster

REFURBISHMENT IN ARCHITECTURE
presented by the MINI Clubman

Abu Dhabi Central Market / Foster + Partners

01:00 - 21 October, 2014
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Architects
Foster + Partners
Location
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
Category
Market
Project Team
Norman Foster, David Nelson, Gerard Evenden, Stuart Latham, Muir Livingstone, John Blythe, Edson
Yabiku, David Crosswaite, Giulia Galiberti, Sandra Glass, Ashley Lane, Giulia Leoni, Emily Phang, Bram
van der Wal, Ho-Ling Cheung, Luca Latini, Franquibel Lima, Chris Nunn, Riccardo Russo, Jillian Salter,
Ronald Schuurmans, Sunphol Sorakul, Daniel Weiss, Laura Podda, Yong Bin Kim, Yvonne Jendreiek
Area
689416.0 m2
Project Year
2014
Photographs
Nigel Young / Foster + Partners
Manufacturers
SAS International

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Text description provided by the architects. Abu Dhabi’s Central Market is one of the oldest sites in the
city. Inspired by the traditional architecture of the Gulf this scheme aims to reinvent the market place,
giving the city a new civic heart. By offering an alternative to the globalised one-size-fits-all ›shopping
mall it offers a distinctive modern interpretation of the regional vernacular. As a shopping experience it
combines luxury goods boutiques with food markets and cra - based trades. Like the traditional souk,
these different experiences are brought together in an interior architecture of dappled sunlight, bright
colours and fountains, with a changing rhythm of squares, courtyards and alley ways.

For up to six months of the year the climate here is very pleasant – comfortable enough to stroll and sit
outside. That has inspired a sequence of public routes and squares in which the barriers between
inside and outside are dissolved. Open at night as well as during the day, these new spaces provide an
important central venue in the city during festivals and celebrations and are cooled naturally when
conditions allow.

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For the remainder of the year, the spaces can be enclosed by roof panels that slide into place to enable
the internal environment to be controlled more closely. The perforations in the roof and interior panels
– a pattern developed with a scholar of Islamic arts – continue outside, wrapping the podium building
in a textured facade. The design of the panels is based on octagonal forms, which reference both
traditional zellij tilework and more recent research into mathematical geometry. Continuing the
greenery of Abu Dhabi, the site is generously landscaped, the roofs of the podium buildings forming a
series of terraced gardens.

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Rising above this dense, close-grained ‘mat’ is a cluster of tall buildings, which vary in height and
massing depending on whether they contain offices, apartments or a combination of a hotel and
serviced apartments. Visually they form a family, with smooth, reflective facades designed to need
little maintenance in this dusty desert environment. Layers of internal shading on the towers control
glare and solar gain.

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