ART & CULTURE

Cultural district on Saadiyat-Island

The cultural district is intended to lie at the heart of the new, high class tourist destination of Saadiyat. Gensler Associates, based in the USA, has developed a master plan for Saadiyat Island, which will be implemented by the Tourism Development Investment Company (TDIC) by 2018.

The cultural and arts district will hold a total of five large cultural institutes:

- Sheikh Zayed National Museum
- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum
- Louvre Abu Dhabi
- Maritime Museum
- Performing Arts Centre

The museums will be complemented by numerous additional facilities, such as the Biennale Park with pavilions for arts and cultural events, academies for fine arts, a creative campus for art, architecture, music and theatre, the Arts Biennale Abu Dhabi, the Architecture Biennale Abu Dhabi, the Arts Fair in Abu Dhabi etc.

Image: Cultural district on Saadiyat Island

1. Sheikh Zayed National Museum

The Sheikh Zayed National Museum is one of five cultural institutes planned for the cultural district on Saadiyat and will be the first of the museums to be opened. The museum is in honour of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first president of the United Arab Emirates. He played a decisive role in the formation of the Federation of United Arab Emirates and is still considered today as the “Father of the Nation”.

The project will be realised by the British architects Foster & Partners, the winner of the International Design Competition for the new museum, and is to be completed by 2010. The Sheikh Zayed National Museum will contain five galleries over a surface area of ca. 12,000 m2. The themes of the different galleries are the rich cultural inheritance, the environment, development and change in the United Arab Emirates, unity through leadership, and education. Moreover, the Sheikh Zayed National Museum will also provide an educational centre and a theatre as well as commercial premises and a café.

The aim of the museum is to place the visitor in a contemplative mood and to present an “oasis of peace“. Furthermore, the museum will serve as the “soul of the country for future generations”.

 

2. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum

It is planned to complete the largest Guggenheim Museum in the world – the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum – within five years. It has been designed by the architect, Frank Gehry, who also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Gehry let himself be inspired by local architecture in the Gulf region when conceiving his design, which is why the building contains many conical shapes, which give an air of movement to the building.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum will exhibit modern and contemporary art since the Second World War. In addition to its own collection of contemporary art, pieces of art from the international collection of the New York Guggenheim Museum Foundation will also be exhibited. The total surface area of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museums amounts to 30,000 m2. Of this area, the permanent exhibition will cover 9,474 m2, a further 3,395 m2 are available for special exhibitions.

In addition, there will be a department for architecture and design, a centre for art and technology, as well as a research institute and a laboratory for conservation and restoration plus an archive, library and educational facilities for children. The educational centre will have a dedicated area of 513 m2, the other facilities will be located in the remaining 16,618 m2. The museum’s galleries have different dimensions and shapes, which will allow for greater flexibility in hosting various exhibitions and shows.

Due to the enormous size of the museum, it will also be possible to host exhibitions that will not fit into any other museum in the world.

Image: Guggenheim Museum

 

3. Louvre Abu Dhabi

Many French institutes are participating in this project. Numbering among these, for example, are the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Centre Pompidou and also the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which together have formed the Agence Internationale des Musées de France.

Its director is Bruno Macquart, the former director of the Musée Pompidou. The Agence Internationale des Musées de France will oversee the construction of the building and the general concept of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and, amongst others, is entrusted with the organisation of French loan exhibits. The museum owes its origins to an agreement between the French government and the United Arab Emirates, which was signed in 2007. This agreement permits the use of the name Louvre Abu Dhabi for 30 years. Moreover, the museum will display works of art from French collections for ten years. In this respect, Abu Dhabi will pay a fixed sum to the Louvre and the Agence Internationale des Musées de France.

The architect of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is Jean Nouvel, who is likewise responsible for the Arab World Institute in Paris. The Louvre Abu Dhabi considers itself to be a universal art museum. The total surface area amounts to 24,000 m2, of which 6,000 m2 are dedicated to the permanent collection and 2,000 m2 to temporary exhibitions.

It will be possible to view works of art in the galleries from different periods and regions, as well as contemporary art exhibited together with older works of art, which is intended to illustrate the continuity of different eras.

Image: Louvre Abu Dhabi

 

4. Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum has been designed by the Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. In his design he has assimilated the natural landscape and the maritime tradition of Abu Dhabi. The building is intended to represent the elements of earth and water, which characterise the culture of the city.

The museum’s interior, with its ramps and floating areas, is intended to invoke the idea of a ship. Below ground level, a giant aquarium will emphasise the maritime theme. Some 4,400 m2 will be available for permanent exhibitions. In addition, there will be an educational centre covering 400 m2, a theatre, shops and restaurants.

Image: Maritime Museum

 

5. Performing Arts Centre

The Performing Arts Centre has been designed by the only female winner so far of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Zaha Hadid. The Iraqi-born architect is known, amongst others, for the Stadt-Casino Basle and also realised the new Sheikh Zayed Bridge.

The organically designed building will be situated between the Maritime Museum in the south and the Guggenheim Museum in the north. The building does not have any right angles and only contains binominal shapes. The roof is formed from an organically shaped network of windows and is therefore transparent. The building is 62 metres high and has 14 floors. The building’s shape reflects the representation of a network of branches.

The entire surface area of the Performing Arts Centres amounts to 52,381 m2. It will contain five halls, which will be used for concerts, operas, musicals and both classical and experimental theatre, and will offer seating capacity of 6,300. Performances of local, regional and international artistes will be held here.

Furthermore, an academy of performing arts is also planned, which will encourage artistes, choreographers and theatre directors.

Image: Performing Arts Centre

 

6. Abu Dhabi Biennale Park

In the Abu Dhabi Biennale Park, 19 international pavilions will be erected alongside a canal that follows a zigzag course. These will be designed by internationally renowned architects and will vary in their size and diversity in relation to their surroundings.

Besides an alternating art and architecture biennale, further events will also be hosted here such as studios for artists and architects, and conferences or art and design fairs.

The following architects will participate in the Biennale Park:

David Adjaye (United Kingdom)
Asymptote Architecture - Hani Rashid & Lise Anne Couture (USA)
Yuri Avvakumov (Russia)
dxb LAB (UAE)
Gehry Partners (USA)
Greg Lynn FORM (USA)
Khalid Al Najjar (UAE)
Pei-Zhu (China)
Seung H-Sang (Korea)
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill - SOM (USA)

7. New York University Abu Dhabi

The cultural district on Saadiyat Island will also be home to the NYU Abu Dhabi.
Rafael Viñoly Architects PC are responsible for the development of the campus areal.
All the facilities will reflect the latest state of the art technology. The university will enjoy spacious seminar rooms, an extensive library and a wide variety of facilities offered by information technology.

Furthermore, there will be study laboratories, academic buildings, dormitories, residential developments and student services, as well as sports and activity centres.
The NYU Abu Dhabi will thus in no way be inferior to its American model.

CURRENT COMMENT

Dear SAADIYATONLINE visitors,

it`s a real pleasure to be able to write to you today for the first time with our comment.

The launch of Saadiyat island`s news website and to accompany this launch with various subjects all around the areas of Lifestyle and luxury represents a welcome challenge to us. Especially as Abu Dhabis` development has just begun we will get the chance to observe the rise of this ambitious plan of a new and highly significant cultural destination in the next years and further(more) possibly help forming it a little even virtually. Thus we are going to develop this medium gradually and next to general news and information we will give space to different ways of modern communication. As a matter of course this will happen within the world wide web`s possibilities but at a later stage also beyond it.

Also we publish your comments with pleasure after checking them and further we welcome any kind of feedback.

Up to our next comment I remain with kind regards.

Yours,

Denis Lademann

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