The Al-Bahr Towers Investment Council new headquarters is a pair of remarkable new skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi using 3D simulation and BIM technology to redefine sustainable design in architecture. What makes this project truly unique is the way it adapts the local vernacular Islamic sunscreens (mashribiyas) for the 21st century to enable a sustainable high-rise in one of the world’s hottest climates. Aedas Architects tackled this sustainability challenge by designing one of the world’s most intelligent building envelopes to date, with each façade composed of 1,049 computer-controlled, dynamically folding mashribiyas. As the sunlight falls across the building over the course of the day, these shades fold and unfold in order to precisely control solar exposure, heat gain and natural light levels, ultimately reducing the load of traditional cooling systems by 25 percent. The design of sustainability into the building doesn’t end there; south-facing photovoltaic cells on the roof of each tower will generate energy directly for the building. Gehry Technologies (GT) provided key assistance to the designers to simulate 3D aspects of the complex shading device, and to ensure the building was constructed onsite as designed.
This design demanded the highest level of mathematical and engineering rigor from design to construction. It was not only an unprecedented project in its engineering, size and complexity, but also fast-tracked in a four-year schedule, including design and construction. In order to achieve the major cost and energy savings of the project, Gehry Technologies (GT) worked with Aedas Architects and Arup Engineering to embed the complex rules of design into a sophisticated, adaptive digital model in GT’s Digital Project 3D system. This intelligent model became the crucial foundation for the integration of design, geometry, engineering, fabrication, construction and product life-cycle planning that was reused in the construction phase to plan construction and virtually eliminate errors on the complex façade. A traditional drawing package was supplemented by 3D direct-to-fabrication files, tables specifying angles of installation and other high-precision data generated directly from the common master model. Abdulmajid Karanouh, the project architect, explained: “We have been able to retain our design vision using Digital Project and introduce and verify advanced features through its intuitive operation, powerful solver and advanced analysis tools that give the model extra dimensions beyond 3D. Digital Project is a methodology that allows Aedas to test, explore and optimize our designs and thereby take the process to a higher level.”