The global financial crisis has derailed construction all over the world — even in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. But certain megaprojects continue to march ahead, though with tighter budgets, more pragmatic goals, and less ambitious schedules. One such project is Masdar City, in Abu Dhabi. In 2007, the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company chose a consortium led by London-based Foster + Partners to design the master plan for the 2.3-square-mile development it touted as the world’s first zero-carbon city.
As one more sign of the decline of the West and its dominance in things ultra-chic, Milanese fashion designer Giorgio Armani chose the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai for the setting of his touted debut in the hotel business.
From a distance, the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa in Dubai tapers to a near imperceptible spire like a mirage along the windswept desert coast of the Persian Gulf.
When Asymptote principals Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture won a 2007 competition to design a 500-room luxury hotel and marina on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, northeast of the mainland, the directive was firm: to create an iconic complex around a Formula 1 racecourse and complete it in time to host the country’s inaugural Grand Prix on November 1, 2009.
Project Specs The Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Asymptote Architecture << Return to article the People Architect: Asymptote Architecture 11-45 46th Ave. LIC, NY 11101 P: 212.343.7333 F: 718.937.3320 Lead Architects/principals: Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture Project directors: Mick McConnell, Andrew DrummondProject Managers: Theo Sarantoglou Lalis, Constantin, Doehler, Matthew Utley Architect of record: Dewan Architects & Engineers, Abu Dhabi Tilke & Partners W.L.L., Dubai Grid-Shell Engineer(s): Schlaich Bergermann und Partner, Stuttgart Waagner-Biro, Vienna Consultant(s) Landscape: Cracknell, Dubai Lighting: Arup Lighting, New York—Brian Stacy, Richard Fisher, designers Photographer Bjorn Moerman the Products Lighting Exterior(grid-shell): Cooper Lighting and Safety (luminaires)