The Strata Tower, a forty-story, luxury residential building designed by architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote, has broken ground on Al Raha Beach and is now under construction. The tower is scheduled for completion in early 2011 and, at a height of 160 meters, will be the tallest building in the Al Dana precinct, the centerpiece of Aldar Properties PJSC’s prestigious Al Raha Beach development. The project and development will be showcased at Cityscape Abu Dhabi from May 13–15, 2008. The landmark Strata Tower is designed to signify a dignified and important future for Abu Dhabi and the region.
As a signature architectural statement, the Strata Tower’s articulate, striking physical presence seeks to encapsulate meaning through the use of abstract form drawn from both local cultural landscapes and motifs and dynamic forces of global influence. The Strata Tower’s design utilizes primarily mathematical means in its design to achieve both a poetic, as well as highly pertinent, architecture for the UAE, a region in flux with ambitions for continued rapid growth.
The Strata Tower’s innovative form was created using state-of-the-art, advanced parametric modeling tools and techniques from the onset of the design process to the production phase. The building’s design emerged from various influences and factors including economies of production and fabrication with special consideration given to environmental sustainability. Sophisticated computer modeling and tools were utilized to produce the building’s intelligent, environmentally responsive louver system that is held in a unique, cantilevered exoskeleton structure. The exoskeleton veils the entire tower in a shimmering curvilinear form set against Abu Dhabi’s surrounding desert and sea, embracing and reflecting the ever-changing light and atmospheres that enfold and contain it.
As architecture the Strata Tower resists being an overt, singular gesture reliant on a set meaning or association. Rather, the mathematical properties used, not unlike those in the manifestation of the arabesque or abstract calligraphy, give the building its supreme elegance, prominence and potential for meaning and significance.
This house, located in a sharply inclined terrain, is a composition of small linked and interconnected volumes. It consists of three bedrooms, a social bathroom, a living room, a dinning room, a small kitchen with a support washbasin, pantry, and even a small outdoor swimming pool. It faces south, allowing it to receive optimal solar exposure and to enjoy a particular natural view. The living area does not exceed 180sqm.
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- Tags: Architecture, Green, House
Jerome Olivet has conceptualized a home that’s just beyond description. For what would truly characterize the jet age but a ‘Jet House’? Architectural limits are challenged to the core and the elegance but virile designing of Jet House stands out from the quotidian. The futuristic (almost ‘too’) structure is soft and shimmering by the ocean. The façade captures the flowing streamlined body of a jet perfectly and emphasizes the movement even as it stands still. Solid concrete forms the gut of a beautifully polished exterior made of translucent marble. Built in a wonderful setting, Jet House is a villa connected via twisting lines through a wharf. The terrace is meeting place of these lines and the house itself opens onto two huge parking spaces. The inside of the two-storeyed structure is as imposing as its shell and an elevator readily transports residents to either floor. The Jet House walks right out of sci-fi stuff and is suited to a day and age when people travel from within the confines of their abode. Till then enjoy the gallery below for some amazing pics.
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- Tags: Architecture, Jerome Olivet, Jet House
