One of the world’s most iconic hybrid projects remains “on schedule”, with officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) confirming that the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Museum is 76% delivered and on track for a 2025 opening—19 years after first being proposed and 14 years after works on the massive foundations started.
Designed by the 95-year-old award-winning architect Frank Gehrig, the project—which uses mass timber construction systems in its structure—is currently being constructed on Saadiyat Island, a cultural district off the coast of the UAE capital.
“I hope that the people of the UAE embrace this building and that this work will endure as a landmark for the country for many years to come,” said Mr Gehrig – winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the National Medal of the Arts, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, and American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Architecture.
Mr Gehry’s design comprises galleries of varying heights, shapes, and characters. It will also contain a centre for art and technology, a children’s education facility, archives, a library and a conservation laboratory.
“The largest of the four global Guggenheim museums, this spectacular building will comprise steel, concrete, wood and aluminium,” according to Besix Watpac, who is delivering the four-year project in a joint venture with Trojan General Contracting LLC on behalf of the UAE Department of Culture and Tourism.
Why UAE and Saudi Arabia lead the Middle East in driving timber building
In May, Wood Central reported that the Middle East is pivoting from concrete-and-steel-based construction to timber, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia leading the regional green switch. With new green building standards like Al Sa’fat (Dubai) and Estidama (Abu Dhabi), developers are now considering mass timber alternatives to eliminate carbon in buildings.
In October 2019, Michael Obermair, the CEO of the German engineering business Wolf System, claimed that breakthroughs in manufacturing and the push for the green economy meant that it was only a matter of time before “wooden skyscrapers” would take off in the UAE.
Wolf System is a family-run contractor and sustainable construction services provider with 3,000 staff worldwide – including in the UAE and the wider region:
“Following this worldwide trend and commitment [to] sustainability, I see timber skyscrapers taking off in the Middle East.”
- Wood Central will have exclusive updated from this project in the coming months.