| Title: | The Louvre Park Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE |
| Markets: | Public Realm, Parks and Green Spaces, Cultural |
| Client: | Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) |
| Services: | Landscape architecture |
| Region: | Middle East and Africa |
| Date: | 2018 |
| Team: | Gillespies, Jean Nouvel and Buro Happold |
| Photography: | Jonothan Marshall | Mohamed Somji | Gillespies |
Located on the southwestern side of Saadiyat Island, a new cultural district is being created that will transform the United Arab Emirates into a global cultural hub. A significant waterfront park by Gillespies connects several world-renowned cultural establishments, including the recently completed Louvre Abu Dhabi by Pritzker Prize-winner Jean Nouvel.
Gillespies was appointed as Lead Consultant by client TDIC to design and deliver the Louvre Park, a 3.8-hectare waterfront park that provides a unique and befitting setting for the three celebrated cultural establishments: the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by architect Jean Nouvel; the Zayed National Museum by Norman Foster; and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by Frank Gehry. Gillespies also delivered the amenity parks adjacent to the Louvre Museum and a purpose-built guest and staff car park.
The Louvre Museum - which opened to the public in November 2017 - sits within the wider masterplanned waterfront park. It was the first museum to be completed as part of this new cultural district.
Gillespies’ designs for the waterfront park capture the green ambitions and majestic grandeur contained within the Abu Dhabi City’s 2030 Vision, emphasising the scale and beauty of the buildings and the western horizon at the promontory of this new coastline.
Landscaping has been used intelligently across the park to provide shading and cooling, with soft planting and tree-lined promenades providing green, accessible, comfortable and attractive connections between the cultural establishments. A sweeping promenade scribes a dynamic relationship with the sea, affording visitors magnificent views towards the Louvre and opportunities to relax and stroll along this strip of tranquil coastline.
The park planning and design were driven strictly by a sustainability rating system that has been carefully tailored to the local climatic conditions. State-of-the-art irrigation systems condition the landscape to perform to strict sustainability criteria, whilst the selection of native and adaptive planting resonates with the wider natural landscape of the UAE, establishing a strong local identity for this iconic global destination.
