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MASDAR INSTITUTE BY FOSTER + PARTNERS



Foster + Partners


The Masdar Institute is the first part of the wider Masdar City masterplan to be realised and creates an educational focus for the entire programme.


Foster + Partners


The Institute embodies the principles and goals of Masdar to create a prototypical and sustainable city and is the first building of its kind to be powered entirely by renewable solar energy.


Foster + Partners


The design incorporates a variety of passive and active environmental strategies and will be used as a test-bed for the sustainable technologies that will be explored for implementation in future Masdar City buildings.


Foster + Partners


The Institute's residences and laboratories are oriented to shade both the adjacent buildings and the pedestrian streets below and the facades are also self-shading. Over 5,000 square metres of roof-mounted photovoltaic installations provide power and further protection from the direct sun.


Foster + Partners


A 10-megawatt solar field within the masterplan site provides 60 per cent more energy than is consumed by the Masdar Institute, all of which can be fed back to the Abu Dhabi grid.


Foster + Partners


The campus will also use significantly less energy and water than average modern buildings in the UAE. Horizontal and vertical fins and brises soleil shade the laboratories, which have highly flexible 'plug and play' services to encourage interdisciplinary research.


Foster + Partners


The laboratory facades are formed from highly insulative inflatable ETFE cushions, which remain cool to the touch under the intense desert sun. Cooling air currents are directed through the public spaces using a contemporary interpretation of the region's traditional wind towers, and green landscaping and water provide evaporative cooling.


Foster + Partners


The laboratories and residential accommodation are supported by a variety of social spaces, including a gymnasium, canteen, café, knowledge centre, majlis - or meeting place - and landscaped areas that extend the civic realm. One, two and three-bedroom apartments are housed in low-rise, high-density blocks, which provide a social counterpoint to the research environment.


Foster + Partners


Windows in the residential buildings are protected by a contemporary reinterpretation of mashrabiya, a type of latticed projecting oriel window, constructed with sustainably developed, glass-reinforced concrete and coloured with local sand to integrate with its desert context and to minimise maintenance.


Foster + Partners


The perforations for light and shade are based on the patterns found in the traditional architecture of Islam.



Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners

 







Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners 








Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners 









Location: Masdar City, United Arab Emerits

Architects: Foster + Partners

Structural Engineer: Adams Kara Taylor

M+E Engineer: PHA Consult

Consultants: Gillespies, Claude Engle Lighting Design, Acentech, Arup, decarbon8, Lerch Bates, Mott MacDonald, RFD, RW Armstrong, RWDI, Sandy Brown, Systematica, WS Atkins

Area: 4 000 m2

Year: 2010

Client: Mubadala Development Company

Photographs: Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners 









“One of the world’s most sustainable communities for technology, Masdar City is an emerging global hub for knowledge, business, research and development. Located 17km from downtown Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Masdar City positions companies located here at the heart of this global industry.


Foster + Partners
Foster + PartnersA high density, pedestrian-friendly, sustainable development, Masdar City not only embodies Abu Dhabi’s commitment to a sustainable future but it is also pioneering best practices in sustainable urban planning, design, development and operation. As such, it is a model for sustainable urban development regionally and globally, as it delivers the highest quality living and working environment with the lowest possible ecological footprint, all in a commercially viable development.” Description from Masdar City.