The galleries would be natural and less finished. The exterior walls are going to be in stone with some variety of colour and texture. The core of the museum is galleries forming a courtyard where big arts such as sculptures can be displayed. Around courtyard, there are galleries of various height and sizes to create four floors. The third ring of the galleries would be larger galleries more like raw industrial space with exposed lighting and systems, this space is designed to accommodate a new scale of contemporary art. To enter these galleries, visitors can go through main entrance or can enter by a boat. Then, walkways and covered walkways can lead them out into the desert landscape.

Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is not only about its innovative appearance. The unusual design of the museum is also aiming to maximise environmental efficiency and sustainability. The open top tepee design is a natural cooling system that draws the hot air out of the space based on the very old method. Using this system led the core design concept of this museum. And these series of conical shaped tubes imitates indigenous wind tower (barjeel in Arabic) of this region that provides cooling.

These are just a part of the energy efficient features that this museum has to be resistant to the heat of summer in Abu Dhabi. Water walls cools down the atmosphere in the main courtyard, night ventilation and/or evaporative downdraft cooling activates exposed thermal mass. There are also radiative cooling through activated floor or water surfaces, reduced or increased cross ventilation depending on temperature and partially evaporative daytime cooling.

As energy saving strategies, there are controlled daylight supply to replace artificial lighting, solar protection of facades and roof opening, well shaded building skin with ventilated cavity, optimised displacement ventilation system to minimize fresh air demand and wind induced ventilation. As renewable energy strategies, wind turbines at/in wind towers, solar building screen-photovoltaic shading of roofs and facades, solar driven absorption cooling with gas or waste heat back-up and desiccant re-humidification with solar regeneration.

And as low impact strategies, water saving fixtures, low flush/vacuum toilets, grey/brackish water system, local desalination, sewage treatment, waste sorting and durable local building materials are used. Meeting recent high-rising concern on environmental efficiency and sustainability, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi can be defined as complete form of architecture of new era.

The museum is surrounded by water and water view on all sides. Adding desert landscape to the beautiful sea and the sun suggested some direction of this museum. “I want to play off the blue water and the colour of the sand and sky and sun,” says Gehry. The intention for this new Guggenheim is to house contemporary art from all over the world, not just Western culture. He explains, “It’s got to be something that will make sense here. If you import something and plop it down, it’s not going to work.”

Gehry designed this museum to accommodate all sorts of architectural experience which were impossible to fit in existing museums. He defines Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, in other words, as “architecture to accommodate architecture”.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
Address: Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE (completion in 2025)
http://www.guggenheim.org