Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi: Rain of Light
The Louvre Abu Dhabi is an art museum, located in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The museum is located on the Saadiyat Island Cultural District and is approximately 24,000 square metres in size, with 8,000 square metres of galleries, making it the largest art museum in the Arabian peninsula.
Designed by Jean Nouvel, it is the result of a 30-year deal worth over £663 million between the French state and the Emirate, for use of the French institution’s iconic name and the loan of works from its collections, as well as 13 partner museums across France.
The vast 180m diameter dome-like roof is inspired by the cupola, a distinctive feature in Arabic architecture. Nouvel’s dome is a complex, geometric structure of 7,850 stars which are repeated at various sizes and angles in eight different layers. In daylight, the sun passes through and casts what Nouvel has called a ‘Rain of Light.’
Secured at just four points over a cluster of stark white cubes below. Interiors are incredibly sleek, with furniture and fittings also designed by Nouvel. Star-shaped perforations filter the sun’s rays through the eight stainless steel and aluminium layers. Passive design strategies like shade and natural ventilation control the temperature inside the 180m-wide dome, combating the harsh desert climate. ‘The dome creates a microclimate,’ Nouvel explains. At night some 4,500 lights bring the structure to life.
Photography: Roland Halbe, courtesy of Louvre Abu Dhabi
The centrepiece of Nouvel’s vision is a huge silvery dome that appears to float above the museum-city. Despite its apparent weightlessness, the dome weighs around 7,500 tonnes (similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris).
It is a symphony in concrete, water and the subtle play of reflected light. The design was inspired by the region’s rich architectural traditions, palm trees of Abu Dhabi where their leaves filter and soften the bright sunlight from above to project a dappled pattern on the white, cuboid gallery walls, as well as the museum’s unique location at the point where the Arabian sky meets the sands of Saadiyat Island and the waters of the Arabian Gulf.