New York firm Asymptote Architecture has designed The Yas Hotel building design in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The hotel which has 500 rooms, and 85,000 square meters occupying area, is now being under construction by Aldar Properties. The completion date is projected this year, coinciding its opening date with the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on October 30, 2009.
Yas Hotel is being a part of the Yas Marina development which is worth 360 billion dollar investment. Both Asymptote’s founders and partners, Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, envisioned an architectural landmark embodying various key influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions.
The hotel building design comprised the architectural and engineering significance: a 217 meter expanse of sweeping, steel constructed curvilinear forms, and 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. The composition of Grid-Shell component formed an atmospheric-like veil that contains two hotel towers and a link bridge constructed as a monocoque sculpted steel object passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the building complex.
The architecture as a whole “performs” as both an environmentally responsive solution as well as an architecture of spectacle and event. Hani Rashid describes the building architecture as “a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the ‘art’ and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de force.”
