Final Pilings Completed on “Louvre Abu Dhabi” designed by Jean Nouvel

Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of tourism, cultural, and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi, is celebrating the placement of the final pilings for Louvre Abu Dhabi. This is a major construction milestone as this landmark Saadiyat Island project progresses on schedule for completion in 2013.

Louvre Abu Dhabi

• Architect: Jean Nouvel
• Location: Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi
• Cost: US$1.3 Billion
• Projected completion: 2013
• Article source: Wikipedia & TDIC
• Total museum area: 24,000 square meters
• Permanent collection area: 6,000 square meters
• Image source: TDIC

Louvre Construction - August, 2010

Bauer International of Germany has been working onsite in the Saadiyat Island Cultural District since March 2010 to place 4,536 pilings, a total of nearly 100km of steel and reinforced concrete pile sections, approximately the distance from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.

Louvre Abu Dhabi

Lee Tabler, Chief Executive Officer of TDIC, commented “TDIC is delighted to see piling work reach the completion stage on schedule on Louvre Abu Dhabi. This is a significant moment in the delivery of this monumental institution as we look ahead to completion in 2013. The next key milestone will be the development of the substructure beginning in the last quarter of 2010, along with the main contracts works.”

Lovre Abu Dhabi Inside 1

Designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, this universal museum will be the first internationally renowned institution to be completed within the Saadiyat Island Cultural District, which will also be home to the world’s largest concentration of cultural institutions including the Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi museum.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Inside 2

The foundations, which were designed by UK based consulting engineers Buro Happold, implement a complex piling system to ensure that they achieve the prescribed 100 year design life, and to reduce the chances of water intrusion. These piling works constituted the second sequential contract to be issued for the Louvre Abu Dhabi since its groundbreaking in May 2009. The first package of enabling works, also executed by Bauer International, was completed in January 2010 after 503,000 m3 of earth had been excavated to accommodate the museum basement.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Inside 3

The completion of the Louvre Abu Dhabi piling works coincides with the commencement of the piling works for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the contract for which is scheduled to start this week. The placement of the 1,400 piles for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be carried out by Al HabtoorHSSG JV and is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of 2011. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi concrete works tender package is due out before end of this year, for which announcements will be made in due course.

About Louvre Abu Dhabi

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is a planned museum, to be located in Abu Dhabi, UAE. On Tuesday 7 March 2007, the Louvre in Paris announced that a new Louvre museum would be completed by 2012 in Abu Dhabi. This is part of a thirty year agreement between the city of Abu Dhabi and the French government. The museum is to be located on the Saadiyat Island complex, and will be approximately 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft) in size. The final cost of the construction is expected to be between €83 million and €108 million.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Inside 5

Artwork from around the world will be showcased at the museum, with particular focus placed upon bridging the gap between Eastern and Western art. However, the construction of the museum has caused much controversy in the art world, as many objections have been raised as to the motives of the Louvre in this deal.

Location

Saadiyat Island’s Cultural District will house the largest single cluster of world-class cultural assets.In addition to the Louvre Abu Dhabi these will include: the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, to be designed by United Kingdom-based construction company Foster and Partners under the direction of Lord Norman Foster; the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi contemporary arts museum – the world’s largest Guggenheim and the only museum to be located in the Middle East; a performing arts centre designed by Zaha Hadid; a maritime museum with concept design by Tadao Ando and a number of arts pavilions.

Louvre Abu Dhabi Inside 6

Design

The museum will be designed as a “seemingly floating dome structure”; its web-patterned dome allowing the sun to filter through. The overall effect is meant to represent “rays of sunlight passing through date palm fronds in an oasis.” The total area of the museum will be approximately 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft). The permanent collection will occupy 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft), and the temporary exhibitions will take place over 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft).

Tags: Abu Dhabi

Category: Museum

This entry was posted on Friday, February 4th, 2011 at 12:38 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.