Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Aeon (II)

This is a project by Reiser + Umemoto - RUR Architecture and it is located at Dubai, United Arab Emirates. There are five images for Aeon (II).

: © Luxigon

Project images

Designer's statement

With our Jumeriah Lake “Aeon” project, the prominent L-shaped site and the background of closely spaced towers offer truly unique opportunity to rethink the tower typology in context - the long site shape allows us to go horizontal rather than vertical. With Aeon, the Dubai norm of slick curtain wall clad towers has been put aside in favor of a responsive cladding system in tune with the arid desert environment. The folded plan-form of this 45-story building combines the inherent efficiency of parallel floor slabs with rich sculptural possibilities. There are many benefits to this new configuration. While systematic and rational, each floor plate allows for unique office configurations, ranging from boutique to mid-size. Superlative views are created in the tips of the folds resulting in more corner offices. Moreover, the folded form creates an inherently stiff outer surface, which frees the cores from the burden of lateral forces and radically reduces the roles of cores in shear capacity.

Skin

A new concept for the building skin is also being proposed. Rather than the typical curtain wall solution, we propose an economical floor to ceiling window-wall assembly which also allows for the economical creation of the buildings folded forms. The glazing steps rather than wraps and will be entirely standardized. The building’s reticulated skin is made of perforated aluminum panels. These will have a beneficial effect both aesthetically and environmentally, shading the building from glare and heat, yet allowing for directed views from within the offices. As with the glazing, the skin panels and their fixings are standardized, only one type is used. The rich variation and quality of the outer fabric is created by following the folded building form. Thus while every built element is standard, the openings between are unique and continuously vary.

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Principals: Jesse Reiser + Nanako Umemoto
Design team: Mitsuhisa Matsunaga (Lead), Neil Cook, Michael Overby, Michael Loverich
Interns and assistants: Shin Koseki, Bobby Frederick
Structural engineer: Ysrael A. Seinuk, PC, New York
Architect of record / MEP Engineer: Erga Progress, Dubai, UAE
Selected renderings: Luxigon, Paris
Structure: Concrete core, tilting columns, perforated layered facade
Size: 58806 sq. m.
Type: Office Tower
Year: 2008