Miracle Buildings in Abu Dhabi: Al Bahar Towers with Innovative Sun Protection

In the capital of the United Arab Emirates there are many interesting and modern buildings that amaze with luxury and splendor. Among them are two twin towers called Al Bahar, which, although not the tallest, have one innovative feature. Their creators were able to realize the seemingly impossible: to achieve a comfortable microclimate inside the building without using a grand air conditioning system.

Maintaining the optimum temperature for office workers in a building located under the scorching sun, in a climate where in summer the air temperature stably keeps at around 40 ° C in the shade, is not an easy task. In winter, Abu Dhabi, of course, is more comfortable, about 20-25ºС, but, alas, this time of year lasts here only 3 months, from December to February, and then the temperature starts to rise again.

In such conditions, the construction of high-rise buildings leads to enormous energy costs for their maintenance, the lion's share of which is spent on cooling the air. If this was not embarrassing for the Gulf countries rich in hydrocarbon raw materials, then recently, here, including in the UAE, there has been a desire to build environmentally friendly buildings using innovative materials and technologies in order to minimize greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

The authors of the project are engineers at Aedas Architects Ltd, specializing in the design and construction of unusual buildings around the world. In order to prevent overheating of the external facades of the building, it was decided to close the skyscrapers with a giant lattice screen that would move and provide shading depending on the intensity of sunlight. An innovative design of moving gratings, as it were, envelops the towers from all sides, except the north, where this is not necessary. The smart design is controlled by a computer program and provides a more comfortable indoor temperature, as it delays about half of the sun's rays.

The building has only 29 floors, which is a little by the standards of modern skyscrapers, and the total height of the towers is 145 meters. It houses offices of government officials and various business centers. For the original solution to the problem of surface heating, the building received a prestigious international award, which is well deserved, given that this is a really valuable find in a desert climate.