Good Thinking

Wing shaped towers of Zayed National Museum act as thermal chimneys

Wing shaped towers of Zayed National Museum act as thermal chimneys
The Zayed National Museum
The Zayed National Museum
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Foster + Partners, the UK-based architectural firm behind such innovative designs as Qatar’s Lusail Iconic Stadium and Masdar City, has unveiled yet another breathtaking concept with its design for the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi. The design comprises five wing-shaped solar towers sculpted aerodynamically to work like the feathers of a bird’s wing and draw cooling air currents through the museum.

Conceived as a monument and memorial to the late founding president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the wing-shaped design was chosen to reflect Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. The museum will be the centerpiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District with the five lightweight steel towers sitting atop a man-made, landscaped mound and the museum’s galleries placed at their bases.

The Zayed National Museum
The Zayed National Museum

Thermal chimneys

Fresh air that is captured at low level and drawn through buried ground-cooling pipes is released into the museum’s lobby. As the towers heat up, they act as thermal chimneys to draw the air up vertically through the galleries by way of the thermal stack effect.The thermal stack effect, also referred to as the chimney effect, is driven by buoyancy that occurs due to a difference in indoor-to-outdoor air density resulting from temperature and moisture differences. The greater the thermal difference and the height of the structure, the greater the buoyancy force, and thus the thermal stack effect.

Air vents at the top of the wing-shaped towers also take advantage of the negative pressure on the lee side of the wing profile to draw the hot air out and keep the structures ventilated.

The Zayed National Museum
The Zayed National Museum

The central lobby is dug into the earth to take advantage of its thermal properties, while the interior spaces open up to an outdoor arena for live displays with hunting birds. There is also a gallery devoted to falconry as part of a wider focus on conservation.

"We have sought to establish a building that will be an exemplar of sustainable design, resonating with Sheikh Zayed’s love of nature and his wider heritage,” said Lord Foster.

Saadiyat Island is located 500 meters (1,640 ft) off the coast of Abu Dhabi and is the largest single mixed-use development in the Arabian Gulf. Arranged as seven districts, the Cultural District will also include the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, as well as a Performing Arts Center and Maritime Museum. The Zayed National Museum is already under construction and will be the first of the museums proposed for the island.

Foster + Partners via inhabitat

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4 comments
4 comments
Gadgeteer
Bravo. It takes good architects to make something that\'s functional, aesthetically pleasing and novel. All we seem to get nowadays in the US are Frank Gehry and people who think they can out-Gehry Gehry, leading to weird, asymmetrical forms that have no function whatsoever and merely increase the costs of constructing and maintaining a building. I have nothing but unbridled contempt for every design that came from Gehry.
Sqidge
An excellent achitectural interpretation of the traditional Arabic wind tower, invented by them eons ago, and now beautiful to boot. Go Abu Dhabi!
Anumakonda Jagadeesh
Marvel in Architecture.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
John Lomoro
At what altitude above sea level will this construction be, keeping in mind that we are going to see a rise in sea level over next several year.