Abu Dhabi stunning development projects

As discussed in the previous post, "The Louvre in the Desert", Abu Dhabi plans to build a $27 billion tourist and cultural development on Saadiyat Island, opposite the city. The project includes:

- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,

- maritime museum

- performing arts center,

- Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The first tourist attractions will be available for viewing in 2012, and the entire project is scheduled for completion in 2018. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has commissioned no less than four of the world's most famous architects to create what promises to become one of the world's most important cultural destinations: Frank O. Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Tadao Ando and Zaha Hadid.

1) Abu Dhabi Guggenheim

With its spectacular architecture of compressed and intricately interconnected cuboids, prisms, cones and cylinders, and with a total area of almost 30,000 square meters (323,000 square feet), the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim will probably far outshine its New York City predecessor. Gehry is satisfied: "Approaching the design of the museum for Abu Dhabi made it possible to consider options for design of a building that would not be possible in the United States or in Europe," he says, adding that, "It was clear from the beginning that this had to be a new invention."

2) Performing Arts Center
Fifty-seven-year-old Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who lives in London, also has bombastic plans. Her Performing Arts Center, a building complex 62 meters (203 feet) tall, will include two concert halls, an opera and two theaters. The total number of seats will be 6,300 -- about as many as the Lincoln Center in New York has. Like the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the theater complex will also offer spectacular views of the Persian Gulf and the skyline of the city.

3) Maritime Museum
Tadao Ando's Maritime Museum promises to be another highlight. Born in 1941, the minimalist architect is known for his austere style, which combines the Japanese Zen tradition with the modernist penchant for bare concrete. Inspired by dhows, the traditional sailing vessels of Arab merchants, Ando has designed a fragile-looking building in the shape of an abstract sail curved by the wind. Embedded in an oasis-like natural scenario dominated by a subterranean aquarium, Ando's restrained architecture promises to become a popular haven of contemplative peace within the planned architectural overkill.

The so-called Biennale Park, another development project planned for Saadiyat Island, openly acknowledges its Venetian inspiration with 19 pavilions designed by 19 younger architects. Hani Rashid is one of them. He's an Egyptian architect who lives in New York and is considered one of the most important contemporary architectural theorists. The park will be criss-crossed by a 1.5 kilometer (0.9 mile) navigable canal. As the country with the highest per capita income in the world, the United Arab Emirates certainly have no inhibitions about competing with the traditional cultural capitals of the world.

Of course, all these cultural highlights also require a tourist infrastructure that can cope with the masses of people expected to arrive from all over the world. Two 10-lane highways will connect Saadayat Island to the city and the airport. The completion of 29 hotels -- including a seven-star luxury hotel that is presumably Abu Dhabi's reply to to the legendary Burj Al Arab in Dubai -- is planned for 2018. There will also be a marina for cruise ships and moneyed yacht-owners, expected to provide mooring for about 1,000 vessels.

Saadayat Island promises to far outdo Las Vegas and Bilbao -- the traditional red rags for cultural pessimists and critics of tourism -- in terms of its capacity to provoke. And yet many culture fans may end up in Abu Dhabi sooner or later -- whether to admire the city or just to rant.

Source: Spiegel Intl