Foster + Partners to design National Museum

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Leading UK architectural firm Foster + Partners has won an international competition for the design of the Sheikh Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi. It was judged to have best met the requirements of the competition brief, which was to design a unique and defining public monument for the late Sheikh Zayed and a national museum for Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

"A visitor needs to find this an oasis and an area of calm in a bustling part of the Cultural District," explained Lord Norman Foster. "The project calls for more than a museum, for a national museum to have values which will evoke an element of contemplation and have a greater spiritual element than other projects in the district," he added.

The museum will feature galleries individually devoted to UAE heritage, environment and the transformation of the Emirates. It will also include an educational centre, theatre, shops and a cafeteria. The Saadiyat Island's Cultural District will be home to the world's largest single cluster of world-class cultural assets including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi designed by Frank Gehry and the Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel.

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Norman Foster's legacy lives on
Posted by Hussain M, Khobar, Saudi Arabia on Thursday 24 January 2008 at 10:11 UAE time


Sir Norman Foster always captivated my architectural sences in some way.
If it was any other foreign firm i wouldve said "down with them"
but for Foster and partners i say...bring it on

its still a sad shame that we as arabs need europeans to design our cultural centers for us...
its like saying our firms are too stupid to do it on thier own....

Maybe its true... i dont but all i can say this is a good thing.

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