Of a completely different caliber is Masdar, a contemporary experimental city 17 kilometers from Abu Dhabi. Its construction has so far cost $20 billion! This is just the beginning and a drop in the ocean, and eager people from all over the world can invest here. The city is being built in the spirit of a „smart city.” Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have commissioned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston to study ways of obtaining energy from renewable sources. It was found that creating a zero-emission smart city and an ideal city in such unfavorable terrain as the desert is possible. Masdar was to prove it, the idea was announced to the world in 2008 at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Norman Foster's architectural firm (Foster + Partners) is responsible for the project. In the form of the buildings, the architects tried to reconcile advanced, even futuristic technologies and elements typical of traditional Eastern architecture like ornament.
The contemporary experimental „city of the future” Masdar is located in the United Arab Emirates—it is being built from scratch in the desert near Abu Dhabi; construction photo
photo: © Jan Seifert
TheMasdar smart city was supposed to be completed in 2016, but reality did not coincide with the plans; the city already partially exists, but it is still under construction, and the date of final completion is still slipping away. Although it was supposed to be completely self-sustainable, in practice this has proved impossible, at least for now. A separate article would be needed to describe all the modern systems and technologies. But let words such as photovoltaic, geothermal energy, water treatment, energy reduction, zero-waste, zero-emission city and machine building, a system for capturing and storing CO2 for reuse, umbrellas like sunflowers, a wind tower, daylighting or unmanned automatic communication and a complete absence of cars stir the imagination.
A wind tower in Masdar that serves as the city's air-conditioning system—it is taller than the other buildings, so it sucks in hot air pushed by the wind over the city and sends it down, thus cooling it down
Photo: © Jan Seifert
Sounds perfect, doesn't it? But... this is where no one wants to live! Prestigious architects, prominent scientists, sheikhs with billions of dollars contributed to the creation of Masdar, and it's all for nothing. Fifty thousand people are expected to live here, and unofficially there are only three hundred permanent residents. No one brags about the infamous statistics. Apparently, no one has any desire to be a living tester in an urban laboratory, and the city, despite assurances, is not at all friendly to live in, even for the UAE. One can only hope that it is only at the construction stage....
I'll cite other projects located in the UAE, because the country provides plenty of extreme examples. One of them is the Sheikh Zayed National Museum on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, which was also designed by Foster + Partners. The monumental museum is intended to be both a memorial to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), the founder of the UAE. I will completely skip the aesthetic aspects here, and focus on the subject of the building's energy efficiency. The building's solar towers heat up from the sun's rays and function like thermal chimneys. This works so that heated (i.e. diluted) air rises upward and forces an influx of fresh cool air drawn from a collector, which is located directly below the museum, in the ground. In this way, convection and the coolness of the ground are utilized. The exhibition spaces are located inside an artificially raised mound. The procedure of placing all functions underground gives the desired coolness. There are no coincidences in this project, the form of the museum simultaneously plays a structural, cooling, ventilation or lighting role. The building's energy efficiency goes hand in hand with a modern form and a reference to Sheikh Zayed himself (the shape is meant to resemble the feathers and flight dynamics of a falcon, as he loved this bird).
Sheikh Zayed National Museum, hand-drawn concept sketch by Norman Foster
© Foster + Partners
Right next door, the world's largest Guggenheim Museum, designed by Fank Gehry, is under construction. The lump of the building, in Gehry's characteristic way, gives the impression of being chaotic, but nothing was found here by accident either. The design incorporates elements such as ventilation shafts or sun and wind shields, and takes advantage of the proximity of water and its natural circulation, which cools the air. Proposing natural materials also helps maximize the energy efficiency of the building's construction and operation.
There is a lot going on at Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi; it is currently the largest urban development under construction in the Persian Gulf. All the buildings being built there, as in the UAE, are spectacular, but further manifest the Arab state's desire to implement environmentally friendly technologies and respect for cultural heritage. It's just a pity that this high-minded approach completely fails to address respect for human rights and human safety... The builders of these stunning developments are laborers from poor areas of the world, poorly paid, uninsured, unprotected, who sometimes die on construction sites in accidents or die of overwork or thirst.
A visualization of the Sheikh Zayed National Museum on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi designed by Foster + Partners.
vision: © Foster + Partners
The examples presented are very different. They consume billions or are built from free garbage. Some roll up their sleeves and turn their designs and visions into buildings, while others use state-of-the-art technology and the hands of modern slaves. What they have in common is an experimental attempt to achieve efficiency or energy self-sufficiency, and a belief in making sense of it. Unfortunately, these endeavors do not have a broader impact, and aside from being eagerly photographed, in one audience or another, they ultimately do not change the world. Most focus on creating advanced technologies that essentially mimic the simple, idyllic life of our ancestors near the coolness of water, the shade of trees or the adaptation of activities to the operability of the sun in the sky. Wise heads at universities are looking for contemporary solutions analogous to such obvious things as catching rainwater or building with what is local, readily available and biodegradable. Although the world is changing and people are increasingly opting for heat pumps or photovoltaic panels in „ordinary” homes, it's still not enough, and climate change is proceeding rapidly and we don't have much time left.
The concept of the world's largest Guggenheim Museum, which was designed by Fank Gehry in his characteristic style.
© Frank Gehry
