Working

ADEC Headquarters Building

Brief
Following an invitation to propose ideas for an expansive schools building programme, Keppie was later approached to take part in an international competition to design the new headquarters for the Abu Dhabi Education Council.   As a newly formed organisation, ADEC required a new building that would exemplify its ideals about the importance of positive environments to promote learning and development through social interaction.

The site for the new building was centrally located in Abu Dhabi's grid iron central district.  As with much of the city, the immediate context was a diverse mix of heights and architectural character.
Response
Our options began to develop around the idea of fixed and interlocking fingers of accommodation.  The space between these fingers would be less formal and more open. The
'walls' of the fingers would generally help provide the passive environmental controls needed for these internal garden spaces to function in the height of summer.   A further development of this idea was to use the rigidity of the fingers to counterplay against the fluid, amorphous form of the auditorium – a principal space where the interaction of visitors would be encouraged.

A significant influence for this form came from the work of the internationally renowned sculptor Richard Serra.  Serra's thesis of the viewer becoming part of the artwork by being within it was the stimulus for the form of the auditorium.
Outcome
Headquarters buildings need to display the personality and characteristics of the organisation they house.  Our interpretation of this led us to the view that we should maximise the site usage pushing the accommodation to the outer edges in order to create more fluid and contemplative spaces within the plot itself.  This appropriation of a 'public face, private space' model is in keeping with traditional references to Muslim architectural form.

Team