0-14 tower by Reiser + Umemoto in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

O14, a 22-story tall commercial tower perched on a two-story podium, broke ground in February 2007, and comprises over 300,000 square feet of office space for the Dubai Business Bay. O-14 is located along the extension of Dubai Creek, occupying a prominent location on the waterfront esplanade. O14 is sheathed in a forty centimeter-thick concrete shell perforated by over 1,300 openings that create a lace-like effect on the building’s façade.

The concrete shell of O14 provides an efficient structural exoskeleton that frees the core from the burden of lateral forces and creates highly efficient, column-free open spaces in the building’s interior. The future tenants can arrange the flexible floor space according to their individual needs.

The shell is not only the structure of the building, it acts as a sunscreen open to light, air, and views. The openings on the shell modulate depending on structural requirements, views, sun exposure, and luminosity. The overall pattern is not in response to a fixed program, (which in the tower typology is inherently variable), rather the pattern in its modulation of solid and void will affect the arrangement of whatever program comes to occupy the floor plates. A space nearly one meter deep between the shell and the main enclosure creates a so-called “chimney effect,” a phenomenon whereby hot air has room to rise and effectively cools the surface of the glass windows behind the perforated shell. This passive solar technique essentially contributes to a natural component to the cooling system for O14, thus reducing energy consumption and costs, just one of many innovative aspects of the building’s design.

The holes are achieved by introducing computer numerically cut polystyrene void forms into the rebar matrix, and sided with modular steel slip forms prior to the concrete pour. Super-liquid concrete is then cast around this fine meshwork of reinforcement and void forms resulting in an elegant perforated exterior shell.

Architect: Jesse Reiser + Nanako Umemoto
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Design Team: Mitsuhisa Matsunaga, Kutan Ayata, Jason Scroggin, Cooper Mack, Michael Overby, Roland Snooks, Michael Young
Assistants & Interns: Tina Tung, Raha Talebi, Yan Wai Chu
Structure: Ysrael A. Seinuk , PC, New York, NY
General Contractor: Dubai Contracting Company (DCC), Dubai, UAE
Client: Creekside Development Corporation, Dubai, UAE
Site area: 3,195 sqm
Constructed Area: 31,400 sqm
Project year: 2006
Construction year: 2007-2009
Photographs: Reiser + Umemoto

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 11:17 am and is filed under Architecture Design. Tags: ARCHITECT, Architecture Design, Architecture News, Concrete, Cooper Mack, Creekside Development Corporation, Dubai, Dubai Business Bay, Dubai Contracting Company, Dubai Contracting Company LLC, Dubai Creek, Dubai United Arab Emirates, energy consumption, General Contractor, In Progress, Jason Scroggin, Jesse Reiser, Michael Overby, Michael Young Assistants, Modern, Nanako Umemoto Location, Nanako Umemoto, New York, New York New York, New York United States, Raha Talebi, Reiser + Umemoto, steel slip forms, Tina Tung, Tower building, UAE, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yan Wai Chu Structure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.