Sheikh Zayed National Museum

The inspiration behind the “immense concave veils” of Christian de Portzamparc’s design for the Sheikh Zayed National Museum was “the sheets of a tent, the sails of a Dhow” as a way to represent the intemporal Bedouin existence in these eternal lands, where the stars silhouette the immensity of a silent sea of dunes.
This project is not a simple building, it represents the breath of a nation exemplified by Sheikh Zayed.
We enter the large space of the monumental tent on foot or by car, enjoying its coolness and fringe of water. The envelope reveals a partnership between light and shade. The areas of the museum are organized according to an axial hierarchy which defines the route.
Dominating the peninsula of Saadiyat, the large curved zones are wefts of cables in which are threaded blocks of ceramic.