The museum’s five lightweight steel wings are part of the system of natural ventilation. Air vents open at the top of the towers, taking advantage of the negative pressure on the lee-side of the profile to draw hot air out from the atrium, assisted by the thermal effect of the heat build-up on the tips of the wings. The museum spaces are located within a mound, which has textured faceted panels that are an abstraction of the UAE’s topography. Of the six permanent galleries, four pod-shaped galleries are suspended above Al Liwan, and provide controlled environments to protect the sensitive artefacts on display. The towers’ triple-laminated glazing moderates the amount of daylight entering the lobby and the gallery spaces. The glazing includes a dense mesh interlayer, and each pod has a rooflight made of electrochromic glass that changes its transparency in response to outside light levels.
Zayed National Museum has opened its doors to the public. Located at the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi, the new national museum of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) traces the history of the Emirates, from the earliest evidence of human habitation to the civilisations that shaped its culture and identity, rooted in the values of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The building’s form addresses the challenge of sustaining life in a desert environment and the strong cultural traditions of the UAE.
