A perforated concrete pavilion beside a still reflecting pool

Cultural · Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates · 2024

Qasr Al Nour Pavilion

A screen of concrete, a pool of shade.

Overview

Qasr Al Nour, the palace of light, is a pavilion for exhibitions and evening gatherings. Its perforated concrete screen draws on the mashrabiya: it lets in the breeze and the light, and holds back the heat.

Inside, the rooms open onto shaded courts. By day the screen scatters light across the floors. At night the building glows through it like a lantern above the water.

Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Year: 2024
Status: Completed
Typology: Cultural
Coordinates: 24.4539° N, 54.3773° E

In the Gulf, shade is the first luxury. Everything else comes after.

Halden & Voss

Gallery

A closer look.

Three images. Select any one to see it full screen.

Drawings

Drawn to be built.

Plan, section and elevation, from the arrival court to the garden court, each drawn to scale on the structural grid.

The ground floor, set out on a 6 × 5 m structural grid.42 × 15 m · 5 rooms · 630 m² ground floor

Materials

Made of few things.

Three materials, chosen at the source and left to age. Nothing is painted to look like something else.

Fair-faced Concrete
Cast once, in timber formwork we draw ourselves. The tie holes stay: they are how you read the pour.
Honed Travertine
Selected in blocks at the quarry, honed and never polished. It warms in the sun and stays cool underfoot.
Low-iron Glass
Without the green cast of ordinary glass, so the landscape reads true from edge to edge.