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The Index
Height: To Tip
326 m / 1,070 ft
Height:
Architectural
326 m / 1,070 ft
Height: Occupied
322 m / 1,056 ft

Floors Above Ground

80
Floors Below Ground
5
# of Elevators
27
Tower GFA
170,400 m² / 1,834,170 ft²
# of Apartments
520
# of Parking Spaces
2,442
Click an image to view larger version.

Facts Companies Involved

Official Name The Index Ow ner/Developer Union Properties
Structure Type Building Architect
Status Completed • Design Foster + Partners
Country United Arab Emirates • Architect of Record Khatib & Alami; W oods Bagot
City Dubai Structural Engineer
Street Address & Map Dubai International Finance Centre • Design Bruechle; BG&E; Halvorson and Partners
Building Function residential / office MEP Engineer
Structural Material concrete • Design Roger Preston & Partners; W SP Group
Proposed 2003 Project Manager Edara Confluence
Construction Start 2005 Main Contractor Brookfield Multiplex
Completion 2010 Other Consultant
Official W ebsite The Index • Façade BuroHappold Engineering
Rankings C lick arrows to view the next taller/shorter buildings • W ind Alan G. Davenport W ind Engineering Group;
W indtech Consultants Pty Ltd
Global Ranking #82 Tallest in the W orld
Material Supplier
Regional Ranking #20 Tallest in Middle East
• Concrete CCL
National Ranking #18 Tallest in United Arab Emirates • Façade Maintenance CoxGomyl
Equipment
City Ranking #16 Tallest in Dubai
• Paint/Coating Jotun
• Sealants Dow Corning Corporation

About T he Index
The Index occupies a prominent corner site within the Dubai International Finance Center, a financial district intended to establish Dubai as
an investment market, and to provide a catalyst for further economic growth in the region. Balancing a mixture of residential, commercial
and social uses to support the Finance Center and wider community, the building represents a vertical city quarter with a population of
around 6,000 residents and workers on its 20,000 sq m (215,278 sq ft) site.

The Index exploits the sustainable paradigm of maximizing the environmental benefits of a compact, high-rise form with an efficient design
that reduces the need for mechanical cooling systems and artificial lighting. Oriented east to west, the building is positioned obliquely off-
grid, strategically designed to accentuate the metropolitan view of Dubai International Finance Centre on the north side and the Dubai
cityscape on the south. By turning away from the city axis, the building is also able to reduce solar gain; the building’s core mass absorbs
heat and limits its reliance on mechanical ventilation. A system of sunshades shelters the interiors on the exposed south elevation.
Entrance is via a dramatic four-story atrium with the tower sitting on a landscaped podium, which provides shaded pedestrian routes
through the site and a range of places to eat, shop and socialize. A 200-meter-long (656-foot) pool wraps around the edge of the tower: its
tranquil inlets help to cool the transitional spaces, reflect indirect light and animate the entrance with the sound and motion of water
cascading over the smooth stone shingles. The effect is a dramatic sense of arrival.

The perimeter of the site is marked by a colonnaded sequence of shops, and the space created between the tower and glazed façade
defines a semi-private garden, a shaded grove and seating where office workers and residents can relax. The landscape of the podium draws
on local species of date palms, which thrive in the desert climate and require less irrigation. Forging links with the wider master plan, the
retail podium also has a lower level connection to a large internal mall, which is accessible throughout the Finance Centre.

The floors are supported by four A-frame concrete “fins” that taper as they rise, creating a slender profile that reveals the building’s
structural system and internal organization. The inner and outer edges of the structural fins have a ribbed effect, created by pre-cast
concrete panels which are colored a light grey—this finish reduces the visual impact of sand settling on the façade, thereby minimizing
maintenance requirements and energy use.

The challenge for the design of The Index tower was to bring together a combination of retail, residential and commercial spaces within a
single tower, without compromising each function. The form of the tower articulates these different functions externally—the design
balances the needs of offices and high quality apartments within a single, coherent structure with a relatively compact footprint and very
slender profile.

The twenty-five floors of office space are concentrated at the base of the tower, so that the living spaces above can take advantage of
views towards the coast. The different functions are separated by a spectacular double-height, fully-glazed sky lobby, articulated externally
as a horizontal break in the façade. Residents’ facilities include a lounge, restaurant, pool and health club and the tower is crowned by
twelve luxurious duplex and triplex penthouse apartments which feature private swimming pools. In addition to balconies, the tower
incorporates eight large terraces spaced out on the slender edges of the building—these are structural elements, which have been fully
utilized to take advantage of the spectacular views from the tower.

Placing the lift cores on either side of the building, where they are clearly visible externally, ensures that orientation is clear. Each core gives
access to half of the floor plate and signage marks the east and west zones accordingly. A small central lift core, serving 40 levels of
apartments, rises to the sky lobby, where a local lift core transports residents to their individual apartments. The different functions
contained within the tower are echoed in the treatment of lift areas on the office and residential floors: the lower level lift lobbies are clad in
highly reflective stainless steel, while the upper floors are neutral, appropriate to a more domestic setting.
The environmental strategy is progressive and integrated with the tower’s architectural design: the open atrium at the base of the building
combines shading with a large water feature to create a cool microclimate; each apartment can be naturally ventilated; and large glazed
areas on the office floors maximize natural light, but are controlled by external shading on areas with high solar gain.
Each office floor plate comprises three 27x27 meter (89x89 foot) column free bays. These long span structures allow maximum flexibility for
space planning, so that the levels are suitable for large international financial corporations or can be subdivided for multiple tenancies.

The Index
CT BUH Initiatives Videos
The Index Chosen as Featured Building Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa: The Index: Passive
Sep 2012 – Featured Tall Building design for the Middle Eastern High-rise
3 Nov 2011 – Thomas Wiegand, Union Properties
CTBUH Releases Tallest Buildings Completed in 2010
Dec 2010 – CTBUH Journal Paper CTBUH 10th Annual Awards Dinner
3 Nov 2011 – Dinner 2011
Technical Tours, CTBUH 8th World Congress
4 Mar 2008 – Tour Report Interview: The Index
3 Nov 2011 – Toby Blunt, Foster + Partners

Research Papers CT BUH Awards

Tall Building's in Numbers: World's Tallest Offset-Core Buildings Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa 2011 Winner
Apr 2019 – CTBUH Journal 2019 Issue II CTBUH Awards 2011
Residential High-Rises in Dubai: Typologies, Tendencies and
Development Prospects
Oct 2018 – CTBUH Journal 2018 Issue IV
Tallest Buildings Completed in 2010
Dec 2010 – CTBUH Journal, 2011 Issue I

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