Al Bahar Towers Responsive

Facade / Aeda

ARCH280.ACAIMICWRITING
SPRING 2016/2017
MIRA KHALIFEH
201701574
 Glass-skinned steel-frame skyscrapers have many advantages.
They're relatively quick, inexpensive and easy to build and require
comparatively few materials. But they pose problems; heat not least
among them. Buildings with fully glazed facades are essentially
greenhouses, so when the sun comes out, they can get uncomfortably hot.
The problem that is more acute in hot climates like that of the United
Arab Emirates, where, despite this fact, the appetite for glassy high-rise
continues to be voracious. For its design of Al Bahr Towers in Abu
Dhabi, Aedas has developed a unique intelligent skin, inspired by the
traditional Arabic mashrabiya, that it claims reduces interior heat gains
caused by sunlight by around 50 percent.

Any hot country that has seen more than a few centuries of civilization
tends to have already solved the problem of hot buildings. An old
Mediterranean or Arabic house, for example, will typically be built with
thick, heavy walls of adobe, clay or stone which, having cooled
overnight, draw heat from the interior over the course of the day.
Windows are few, small, and often shuttered to minimize and control
incoming heat. It's logical, then, that Aedas has looked to the past for
clues to heat management of its 145-m (475-ft) towers. They may not be
built from adobe, but an intelligent outer skin has apparently been
"informed" by a familiar feature of Islamic architecture: the mashrabiya.
Mashrabiyas are the wooden lattice screens, carved to some geometric
design, that have filled the windows of traditional Arabic architecture

(and particularly houses) since the 14th century

The outer skins of Al Bahr Towers are actually simpler than the
mashrabiyas from which they draw inspiration – at least in the sense that
they serve a single purpose: shade. But whereas traditional mashrabiyas
are passive, Aedas' modern interpretation adapts according to the sun's
position. The skin is made up of 2,000 umbrella-like modules per tower
which open and close to vary the amount of shade at that point according
to the time of day. The umbrellas are automated, controlled by the
building management system – something akin to a central nervous
system that allows a building's various systems to work with each other
rather than against.

The advantage of this approach, according to Aedas, is the avoidance of

dark tinted glass which inevitably restricts all incoming light all of the
time, and not merely the problematic direct sunlight at certain times of
day. Instead, these dynamic shades let daylight in for part of the day
allowing the use of artificial lighting to the interior can be reduced.
However, the energy saving from the reduced need for air conditioning is
likely to be at least as significant, if Aedas' predicted reduction in solar
gain is accurate.

What's rather nice about these modern mashrabiyas is that at various

degrees of openness, they take on different geometric patterns from
tessellating hexagons to spaced out alternately-facing three-pointed
stars.

Combined, the towers will contain about 70,000 sq. m (753,000 sq. ft.) of
office space. The slightly bulging form of the towers is reminiscent
of London's Gherkin, albeit with the tapering pinnacle sliced off. But the
partial covering of mashrabiyas, which almost resemble barnacles, give
the towers an identity of their own. Aedas tells Gizmag that Al Bahr
Towers are now nearing completion.

The week of intense sunshine in Abu Dhabi, temperatures steadily above

100 degrees Fahrenheit with 0% chance of rain.  So, in such weather
conditions, even architects listing environmental design.  For Abu
Dhabi’s newest pair of towers, Aedas Architects have designed a
responsive facade which takes cultural cues from the “mashrabiya”,
a traditional Islamic lattice shading device.
More about the towers’ shading system after the break.

Completed in June 2012, the 145 meter towers’ Masharabiya shading

system was developed by the computational design team at Aedas.  Using
a parametric description for the geometry of the actuated facade panels,
the team was able to simulate their operation in response to sun exposure
and changing incidence angles during the different days of the year.

The screen operates as a curtain wall, sitting two meters outside the

buildings’ exterior on an independent frame.  Each triangle is coated
with fiberglass and programmed to respond to the movement of the sun
as a way to reduce solar gain and glare.  In the evening, all the screens
will close.

“At night they will all fold, so they will all close, so you’ll see more of the
facade.  As the sun rises in the morning in the east, the mashrabiya along
the east of the building will all begin to close and as the sun moves round
the building, then that whole vertical strip of mashrabiya will move with
the sun,” said Peter Oborn, the deputy chairman of Aedas.

It is estimated that such a screen will reducing solar gain by more than

50 percent, and reduce the building’s need for energy-draining air
conditioning.  Plus, the shade’s ability to filter the light has allowed the
architects to be more selective in glass finished.” It (the screen) allows
us to use more naturally tinted glass, which lets more light in so you have
better views and less need of artificial light.  It’s using an old technique
in a modern way, which also responds to the aspiration of the emirate to
take a leadership role in the area of sustainability,” added Oborn.
REFERENCES:
http://www.theplan.it/eng/webzine/international-architecture/al-bahr-
towers

http://yacoubianarchitects.com/m/project/6
http://www.hashoogroup.com/burj-al-baher

http://newatlas.com/al-bahar-towers/26139/

https://skyscrapercenter.com/building/al-bahar-tower-2/9130

http://www.archdaily.com/270592/al-bahar-towers-responsive-facade-
aedas

https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e3/eb/ec/e3ebecb84b6725ec6ff7968908170272
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http://www.theplan.it/eng/webzine/international-architecture/al-bahr-
towers

http://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-facade-design-and-
engineering/fde0040

http://sinapsiarch.blogspot.com/2012/09/al-bahar-towers.html