Description

The drive to Sa’adiyat Island (the “Island of Happiness” in Arabic) just off Abu Dhabi City is not particularly spectacular. After departing from the gleaming glass towers of the offices and hotels at Emirates Palace, passing the wide, green Corniche, one reaches the commercial port and finally the bridge to the island. The masterplan for the island, drawn up by SOM, envisages a complex of five museums that form a “Cultural District”, augmented by other functions such as a large marina, residential quarters and a natural green oasis.

The Louvre building, designed by Jean Nouvel, seems low, almost modest compared to many of the other new buildings in Abu Dhabi. However, that is before one becomes aware of the vast dimensions of the flat dome with a diameter of 180 metres. It is only from the central inner plaza that the enormous domed roof becomes apparent in all its splendour and one immediately grasps the concept: a sheltering, intricately “woven” hood under which individual blocks of different sizes have been grouped in the tradition of a medina. Running between the 55 blocks of this small town there are courtyards, passages and several wide stairs that lead to the water. The museum houses exhibits ranging from the most naïve representations of human existence from 3000 B.C. to Ai Weiwei’s “Fountain of Light” – the Louvre in Abu Dhabi is proud to be the first universal museum in the Arab world. The rooms are all built according to the same principle, but no two are alike. The floors are covered with different types of stone, lined with wood and usually have illuminated ceilings. There are also dark cabinets for particularly sensitive treasures.

Nouvel, who also designed the interiors, speaks of a palace of many rooms inspired by the Arabian context: the intention is that it should have a souk-like atmosphere suffused with diffuse light. The luminous ceilings which scatter the light to be as glare-free as possible are expressed as luminous carpets in the air. To this end, cast glass was chosen with a faceted texture that creates the requisite combination of refracted and diffuse light. The reductive glass cabinets rest on vibration-resistant – and by extension also earthquake-resistant – bases that also make it easier to switch and replace works. Rest areas between the galleries offer views of the courtyards.

The roof construction is entirely open. With only five days of rain a year, the little water that falls is allowed to trickle through the structure and rain onto the blocks and open spaces beneath. A greater problem, however, is sand: the museum galleries are designed so that in the event of a sandstorm, no sand can get into the gallery spaces.

Originally published in Bauwelt 02.2018, pp. 20-35, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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