Louvre Abu Dhabi | Palm trees and medinas.

‪@Abu-Dhabi‬
Nouvel says he drew his inspiration from two key elements in Arabic architecture: light and geometry. These two elements already featured in the Paris World Arab Institute which he designed in 1986. One of its distinctive features was the motorized diaphragm openings on the South side of the building whose polygons of varying shapes and sizes create a geometric effect recalling the traditional wooden lattice screens of the Alhambra.
Here Nouvel compares the carefully contrived “rain of light” that comes through the complex canopy of the dome to the way light filters through the roof of a souk or the leaves of a palm tree. Below the dome 55 white pavilions are clustered together, higgledy-piggledy, in an artful muddle, like the white washed houses of a medina. With a total thickness of 7 meters and an overall perforation percentage of only 1.8%, the massive steel canopy forms a protective layer which softens the micro-climate under the dome by a few degrees. The sun’s rays “must infiltrate through its different strata. “Many will be blocked, others will find their way” explains Nouvel. “Bright spots will appear here and there and then disappear”.
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