Architects: MAD Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun Site Area: 4,392 sqm Constructed Area: 50,000 sqm Program: Office Headquarters Client: Al Rostamini Group Ltd Images: MAD
The site for the Al Rostamini group headquarters is a long waterfront within the central business area of Dubai. Rather than creating a traditional big office block on this site, and severing the water from the public, we wanted to build something above it.
Our concept is a thin slab, which hovers above the waterfront. This gives every office a view over the water, and frees up the ground level, allowing the public direct access to enjoy the waterfront.
The slab is lifted by nine diagonal tubes, voids within the structure. These tubes pierce the rear of the building, with four traveling through to appear as holes on the building’s front façade. The tubes travel through floors in different locations, creating a variety of different sized, undulating spaces within the building. These spaces correspond to the diverse uses of a headquarters office building.
The tubes also act as the method of circulation within the building: individual tubes transport the user to different floors. A lush forest is planted where these supporting tubes touch the floor. Thus a soft landscape of trees gives way to the hard landscape of the waterfront, and the reflective landscape of the water itself.
