Stunning Façade for UAE commercial tower

Al Hilal Bank Tower on Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi was recognised as a ‘Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa Finalist’ in the 2015 Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Awards Program. The tower has glass, steel curtain wall system, giving it sleek, modern feel. The skillful articulation of the curtain wall’s fritted glass panels provides relief on the corners, giving it a stone-like appearance. This articulation has been achieved with minimal impacts on the very efficient typical office floor plate. Taken together, the design combines elegance and utility into a highly appealing commercial tower.

The tower is the flagship commercial development for the Al Hilal banking network, and the design offers an original scheme shaped by a combination of the building’s function, site, and contextual influences. The tower’s composition features stacked boxes that are slightly offset from each other vertically so that it shifts in massing as it rises. Designed to set the building apart from other towers on Al Maryah Island, while also providing efficient, column-free interior floor plates within, these forms derive their interest from a “push-and-pull” effect at the corners. In addition, the building’s façade changes composition at the created voids to accentuate this kinetic, shifted aesthetic.