I have been in touch with Louvre Abu Dhabi team for their grand opening and future events. I can not reveal too much but please wait anxiously for more updates!!! In meantime, check out their press release! ;)
Born out of an intergovernmental agreement between Abu Dhabi and France in 2007, Louvre Abu Dhabi and its universal story embodies the spirit of openness and dialogue among cultures, displaying works of historical, cultural and sociological significance from different times and civilisations. Once open, the museum’s permanent collection, as well as important loaned artworks from prestigious French institutions, will form an art historical narrative taking the visitor from ancient times to the contemporary through 23 permanent galleries in 12 sequences.
Design:
Pritzker-prize winning architect Jean Nouvel has sought inspiration for the concept of Louvre Abu Dhabi in traditional Arabic architectural culture. Applying a contextual approach to the site, the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been designed as a ‘museum city’ in the sea, with its contrasting series of white buildings inspired by the medina and low-lying Arab settlements. But here it is a modern interpretation made in ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). In total there are approximately 55 individual buildings making up this museum city.
The 180 meter-wide dome covers the majority of the museum city and becomes an iconic structure visible from the sea, the surrounding areas and Abu Dhabi city. The eight-layered dome is made up of four outer stainless steel layers and four inner layers separated by a steel structure five meters in height. The structure is made up of 85 super-sized elements, weighing on average 50 tonnes.
The dome’s complex pattern is the result of a highly studied geometric design, repeated at various sizes and angles in the eight superimposed layers. Each ray of light must penetrate the eight layers before appearing then disappearing, creating a cinematic effect as the sun’s path progresses throughout the day. Named the ‘rain of light’, this effect has been the subject of many models and mock ups over the years and is one of the defining features of the concept.
The dome is supported by only four permanent piers, each 110 meters apart and hidden within the museum buildings, giving the impression that the dome is floating. The interior dome elevation is 29 meters from ground floor level to the underside of the interior dome cladding. The highest point of the dome is 40 meters above sea level and 36 meters above ground floor level.
The museum design is a collaboration between traditional culture and modern construction techniques. Once open, the tranquil museum environment will encourage the museum visitor to enjoy the ever-changing relationship between the sun, dome, sea, buildings and land.
Environmental:
The dome will primarily act as a shading canopy to protect the outdoor plaza and the buildings below from the heat of the sun, providing local comfort and reducing building energy consumption. This strategy allows visitors to circulate outdoors between the Museum Galleries, Exhibitions, Children’s Museum, open plaza, café and restaurant.
Passive design techniques use the natural form of buildings and inherent properties of materials to improve outside conditions. Amongst the passive techniques that have been incorporated in the design are the following:
- Solar shading effect of dome roof and self-shading of buildings.
- Optimised roof perforations to allow daylight without excess solar gain.
- Exposed thermal mass such as stone floor and cladding that can benefit from nighttime cooling.
- Light coloured and reflective materials.
- A dome canopy to provide shelter from the sun which creates a dramatic ‘rain of light’ effect.
- Concept is based on the traditional regional architecture, which exhibits essential sustainable design characteristics.
- Passive water and energy conservation techniques.
- Highly insulated and air tight building envelope
- Highly efficient HVAC systems, lighting and sanitary fittings.
- 42% reduction in solar gain
- 27.2% reduction in energy use
- 27% reduction in water use
Energy and water metering is provided to enable monitoring of energy and water use within the building. Leak detection is also provided to flag up any unintended water use.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi design is targeting a LEED Silver rating and has achieved a 3 pearl Estidama Design Rating.
The museum’s main environmental focus is to create a comfortable micro-climate through the use of culturally-inspired passive design techniques such as:
Interior Exhibition Spaces:
The interior exhibition spaces (comprising the Museum Galleries, Exhibitions and Children’s Museum) make up 8,600 square meters. The Museum Galleries incorporate approximately 6,400 square meters and will contain a collection of 600 artworks, of which 300 loans from the French partner museums at the opening of the museum. The collection will present a universal art history narrative that encompasses a wide range of cultures, traditions and époques. The temporary exhibition space contains approximately 2,000 square meters dedicated to rotating exhibitions that will periodically provide a new subject or theme for the visitor to explore. The Children’s Museum completes the ensemble with approximately 200 square meters specially laid out for the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s youngest visitors, providing interactive exhibitions with real artworks specifically curated to be enjoyed by children.
Museum Galleries:
Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection spans human history, emphasising exchange and shared human experience. The dialogue between artworks, manuscripts and objects in Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection, from the most ancient to the most contemporary enables visitors to discover shared influences and intriguing connections between different cultures throughout history.
The museum trail, highlighting universal themes and common influences, transcending geography, nationality and history, begins with prehistory, the birth of civilisations and the first great empires. It explores concepts such as religion, exchange across trade routes, voyages and discoveries, the role of the individual in history and contemporary themes related to the modern period and globalisation.
Notable artworks in the collection include one of the finest examples of a standing Bactrian Princess from the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, a 3,000 year old Middle-Eastern gold bracelet with lion’s head, an 1878 painting by Osman Hamdi Bey titled A Young Emir Studying, Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece Children Wrestling , the René Magritte painting The Subjugated Reader, an 1928 collage by Picasso titled Portrait of a Lady, nine canvases by contemporary artist Cy Twombly and the most ancient known photographic representation of a veiled woman.
In the opening year, approximately 300 artworks from 13 key French institutions will be on display (see section below on partners for more details on the agreement). These will include Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière and a Spanish fountain spout of a lion said to be from Monzonfrom musée du Louvre, Claude Monet’s Saint-Lazare station andEdouard Manet’s The Fife Player both from musée d’Orsay, Henri Matisse’s Still Life with Magnolia (1941) from Centre Pompidou, Globe by Vincenzo Coronelli from Bibliothèque nationale de France, a rare saltcellar in ivory from the Benin Kingdom and a Baga D’mba mask from Guinea from musée du quai Branly, or a Chinese sculpture of a blue lady from the 8th Century from musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet.
