Wings over the Sea

A simple, but arresting image from nature – a bird skimming over the surface of a body of water – was the inspiration for this prototype of a museum to be located on a lake or ocean harbor.

With its wings unfurled as if in midflight, this powerfully poetic structure is an evocation of the natural world at its most graceful, dynamic, streamlined and ecologically interdependent. That inspiration, combined with concepts from automobile and product design, has been developed into a sculptural, asymmetrical form echoed in its interior by two great atria that feel equally organic.

Appropriately, given its nature imagery, the building is highly sustainable. Covered with photovoltaic cells, the entire roof structure protects the underside of the building from the harshest sunlight. That, in turn, allows for a more transparent curtain wall, which features a graduated frit pattern based on the building’s structural geometry.

Wings Museum
Location: Dubai, UAE
Client: Meraas Development
Architecture: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP
Function: Cultural Center
Building area: 375,000 sq. m
Total area: 1.5 million sq. m
Status: Concept

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Material provided by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP