project darwin
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Program Museum, Cafe, Conservation, Storage, Research
Size 43,000 m²
Client Confidential
Year Competition 2020
Project Darwin was the code name for a major museum located in the Saadiyat Cultural District of Abu Dhabi. The foundation of our concept begins with a restoration of the landscape, revealing the natural conditions of the region and bringing them to the water’s edge. This approach showcases the great diversity of habitats, landscapes, and natural environments of the UAE. The goal is to provide visitors with a viscerally real and immersive experience of nature in addition to the interior exhibit experience. To achieve this, the architecture adopts a gentle touch upon the land, a building which treads gently upon its site and acts in partnership with the ground plane to create a unique experience and a natural history museum that is integrated with the natural world. The pod concept that forms the basic module of the museum program undergoes a series of evolutionary transformations to develop key features in response to the project’s design criteria. Each module is carved, shaped, embellished and optimized to satisfy a host of architectural and programmatic needs. The result is a range of variants in the overall colony all based upon the same typology and genetic makeup but adjusting to distinct needs through each subset of pods and their corresponding programmatic function.
The space planning of the museum program is derived out of a focus on the visitor experience, creating a memorable, impactful visit with clear natural wayfinding and easy access to amenities and galleries. The strategic zoning of the museum allows for flexibility in security and ticketing points, with easy access to the gift shop, cafe and visitor services. The planning also supports the daily operation of the museum’s programs including special events, temporary gallery access and installation of traveling shows, and separate and discrete service access that separates offstage activities from the view of visitors. The architectural concept supports the interpretive themes and content, creating immersive exhibit environments in each of the pod subsets within a dynamic spatial envelope. The configuration of the plan further allows for flexible visitor sequences: a linear, consecutive and sequential experience for the first time visitor who is led through the entire narrative journey, and the option for the repeat visitor to go directly to their favorite exhibit halls.
We firmly believe that architecture can and should extend its reach far beyond the medium of form and space. It can and should have a substantial effect across a wide variety of important spheres: from building performance to restorative approaches benefitting ecologies and habitats, from improving the human-natural interface in systems like urban water runoff, to the embodiment of poetic, artistic and thematic meaning for public appreciation. We also believe in the importance of rooting these ideas in their specific locales, and at the same time appealing to global audiences.
This is an ennead project completed under the leadership of Mr. Li.