Louvre Abu Dhabi exhibition architect announced

Nouvel design to combine with the exhibition architecture of Nathalie Crinière Agence France-Museums, in partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), have announced the firm of Nathalie Crinière as exhibition designers for for the Louvre Abu Dhabi, one of the five major institutions being planned for Abu Dhabi Saadiyat Island Cultural District. Nathalie Crinière was awarded the project through a competition among an all French line-up of six invited design firms and will now combine their design with the existing architecture design by Pritzker Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel.

Nouvel’s design concept refers to the existing landscape as arid and explains that this has given way for the design to evolve into fantasy. This can clearly be seen in the renderings which show an expansive web dome ceiling and large water pools complementing the white walls and open spaces.

The 26,000 sq m Nouvel building will join the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, by Lord Norman Foster; the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, by Frank Gehry; a performing arts center, by Zaha Hadid; and a maritime museum, designed by Tadao Ando to create the Saadiyat Island Cultural District, planned to be the world’s largest single concentration of premier cultural institutions. Louvre Abu Dhabi is currently scheduled for ground breaking later in the year and completion in 2012-2013.

Niki May Young
News Editor