Surrounded by desert, the curvaceous 75,350-square-foot building was inspired by the shape of sand dunes and oriented to optimize the prevailing Shamal winds and limit exposure to the harsh sun. Hadid placed the public areas, management offices, and administrative section inside the building’s two primary dunes. An oasis-like central courtyard is created at the intersection of the two dunes and is designed to increase the amount of natural ventilation and indirect sunlight that enters the building.
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Energy consumption for the building will be reduced by 30 percent using active and passive design approaches. One such approach is the use of ventilation energy recovery, which brings fresh air to the interior and recycles waste heat from the chillers into a heat source for domestic hot water supplies. The building will be 100 percent powered by low and zero carbon sources, with the majority sourced from solar panels and the adjacent Bee’ah Waste Management Center’s waste-to-energy facility. Use of new construction materials and water will be kept to a minimum.
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