Dubai Solar Innovation Center

Dubai, UAE

2012

The earth engaged Dubai Solar Innovation Center is partially embedded in arcing dunes and sheltered by a cooling cloud-like “tent”. In response to Dubai’s climate we have created a light and airy decentralized “village” below an innovative solar cavity roof structure. The building separates programmatic spaces with Riyadh Courtyards both as part of the building’s environmental strategy and to give visitors the feeling of being enveloped in a cool green garden. The Interactive Visitors Walkthrough Areas unfurl along gently descending ramp-ways. The low-lying structure takes advantage of thermal mass of the earth and the dune to maintain a constant temperature. The outer surface of the building’s cavity roof is covered with amorphous cell thin film solar collectors, shading the airspace, while the inner surface provides the center’s environmental seal. The airspace between protects the center from the desert heat. A solar chimney, “Burj al Shms”, uses the sun’s energy to induce cooling air movement though the cavity roof system and the building’s Riyadh Courtyards. At the end of the exhibit sequence Visitors ascend the spherical “sun” of the “Rising Sun” IMAX Theater to experience views in all directions.