gehry partners returns to Abu Dhabi’s cultural district
On Saadiyat Island, where Abu DhabiIts cultural district gathers museums by the water, Gehry Partners adds another great cultural building to the skyline. Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, or the House of the Arts, will rise near the architect’s much-anticipated Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (see here), though this time the focus shifts from galleries to live performance.
The new space was inaugurated by UAEDepartment of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and is scheduled to open in 2030. It will bring the opera, theaterballet, concerts, jazz and outdoor performances in a single complex, adding a stage-based institution to an area already shaped by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the upcoming Zayed National Museum, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi and Gehry’s own Guggenheim.
Images courtesy of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi
a building around performance
Gehry Partners’ proposal appears in early renderings as a cluster of pale, billowing forms, pulled together like a fabric around the main halls. Architecture has its familiar movement studiohis work, with surfaces that rise, crumple and turn back on themselves, but the picture here is closer to a curtain caught in motion than a museum wrapped in metal.
A transparent facade will open up parts of the building to the city, giving passers-by a glimpse of the activity inside. Rehearsal, assembly, arrival and performance mechanisms are expected to become part of the public face of the building. This detail gives the work some life beyond the grand architectural gesture. He suggests a place where backstage can gently push to see.
Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi will rise near Gehry Partners’ upcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
halls, stages and an outdoor amphitheater
At the center of Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi will be a multi-purpose hall with more than 2,000 seats and an orchestra pit designed for 120 musicians. The scale gives the venue room for opera, ballet, major concerts and touring productions, while smaller venues will support more focused programs.
The plan also includes a 3,500-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 400-seat studio theater and a 250-seat jazz venue. Across the complex, more than 6,000 seats will be supported by restaurants, retail spaces, event spaces and a rooftop terrace. The building is designed as a year-round institution, with performances, residencies, workshops and co-productions fueling its wider programme.
the design gathers the space under pale forms that read like fabric in motion
beyond the museum map
Dar al Funoon expands the cultural map of Saadiyat Island in a different direction. The area has often been discussed through museums and collections, but this project adds the energy of time-based performance, where the building changes with each production, audience and time of use.
For Gehry Partners, the commission is also creating a pair in Abu Dhabi. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will bring the late architectHis sculptural language in the world of contemporary art, while Dar al Funoon gives the same language a more acoustic and theatrical purpose. One building will contain objects, while the other will hold voices, instruments and performers.
the main hall will seat more than 2,000 people with room for a 120-piece orchestra
project information:
name: Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi
architect: Gehry Partners
