The Thyssenkrupp Elevator Award to develop an iconic tall Emblem Structure for Zaabeel Park in Dubai recently went to Francois Blanciak Architects‘ proposal. Their tower was conceived as virtually reversible, it’s top and bottom parts having similar circular / alphabetical characteristics. In sharp contrast with the surrounding office buildings, the circulation core here is not the focus of the plan but an element around which the program of the tower oscillates. The lower part of the building contains a children’s library on level 1, and a series of 3 conference rooms on level 2. As a reference to Islamic architecture, a shaded arcade surrounds the ground level courtyard that leads to the entrance of the children’s library.
Hosting an art gallery and designed as a prolongation of the movement induced by the rest of the building, the generously cantilevered top-level viewing platform offers a 270° panoramic view of the most scenic part of the dubai skyline. Structurally, the tower is engineered as a continuous steel cage which transmits the load to the deep central foundations of the circulation core. As the two opposite horizontal parts of the tower are basically symmetrical, the weight of the podium is used to balance and stabilize the cantilever of the viewing platform.
