Project Specifications:
Location: | Sharjah, UAE |
Studio: | Zaha Hadid Architects |
Design: | Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher |
Year: | 2022 |
Area: | 9,000 m² |
Category: | Office Building |
Main Contractor: | Al Futtaim Construction |
Photographs: | Hufton+Crow |
BEEAH Group's new headquarters in Sharjah, UAE, was opened on Wednesday, March 30 by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.
Powered by its solar array and equipped with next-generation technologies for operations at LEED Platinum standards, the new headquarters has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) to achieve net-zero emissions and will be the group’s management and administrative center that sets a new benchmark for future workplaces. With their twin-pillared strategy of sustainability and digitalization, BEEAH Group works across six key industries that include waste management and recycling, clean energy, environmental consulting, education, and green mobility. The headquarters is the latest milestone for BEEAH Group as it continues to pioneer innovations for Sharjah and across the globe, establishing a base of operations for the group to diversify into new, future-critical industries. With their new headquarters, BEEAH demonstrates how technology can scale sustainable impact and ultimately serve as a blueprint for tomorrow’s smart, sustainable cities.
Embodying these principles, the headquarters’ design responds to its environment as a series of interconnecting ‘dunes’ orientated and shaped to optimize local climatic conditions. Embedded within its context of Sharjah’s Al Sajaa desert, the design echoes the surrounding landscape shaped by prevailing winds into concave sand dunes and ridges that become convex when they intersect.
Design Philosophy.
The headquarters of Bee’ah integrates a green design idea by displaying an open, flowing, and friendly approach. It has a 7,000m2 floor space and is made from a sequence of dunes that lead to two major dune-shaped buildings that fit in with the desert landscape.
The public and managerial components of the firm are housed in the first of the two dune-shaped buildings. In the second dune, the administrative part has been designed. An entry lobby, auditorium, visitors educational center and gallery, departmental and management offices, and a staff café are among the amenities available on the two dunes.
A central courtyard surrounded by two dunes at the Bee’ah headquarters features a 23-meter-long, 17-meter-wide, and 15.3-meter-high concrete dome roof that improves natural ventilation and allows sunlight into the building.
Material & Façade.
The construction of the headquarters was broken down into several components and levels to reduce complexity. It involves a set of prefabricated structural steel ribs that sped up the building process and allowed more accurate cost and schedule forecasting.
To limit solar absorption and maximize thermal emittance, the facility’s exterior cladding and roof were made of lightweight glass fiber reinforcement concrete (GRC). For the building, about 4,000 GRC plates weighing 100kg apiece were employed. The project’s passive and active design strategy emphasizes a zero-energy strategy by combining insulated glass panels, outside materials that reflect sunlight, and window placement that minimizes solar heat gain and provides natural cooling.
Inside, slab and glass cooling help to adjust the building’s temperature in response to outside conditions. A solar farm provides electricity to the structure, which is stored in Tesla battery packs.
The smart meeting space’s lighting and temperature adjust automatically based on the number of people in the room and the time of day. The rooms come equipped with strong collaboration features for remote and hybrid work settings.
Aside from the technology integrations, the headquarters’ construction and finish are designed to be friendly, resulting in low energy use. The building’s curving façade was influenced by the nearby dunes and is oriented to take advantage of the Shamal breezes. The Headquarters generates a sense of oneness with the natural desert surroundings as it expands outwards.
The construction.
The building is principally comprised of two systems which work together: a concrete structure combined with a spatial structure system. With the intention of creating large-scale, free spaces of columns which allow the visitor to experiment with the fluidity of the interior, vertical structural elements are absorbed by the walls and curtain wall system. The specific geometry of the surfaces encourages unconventional structural solutions, such as the introduction of curved “starter columns” to achieve the inverse shell of the surface from the floor to the West of the building, and the “duck tail” resulting from the narrowing of the cantilevered beams which support the skin of the building on the East side.
The spatial framework system allows the construction a free-form structure and was also designed to save time throughout the construction process, while the substructure was developed to incorporate a flexible relationship between the rigid grid-work of the spatial structure and the seams of the free-form exterior cladding. These seams are obtained through a process of rationalisation of the geometric complex, the use and the aesthetics of the project. Fibreglass reinforced with concrete or polyester were chosen as the ideal cladding materials, as they allow for the powerful plasticity of the building’s design, while responding to a diverse range of related functional requirements: the Plaza, transition zones and the building’s wrapping.
The building, whose smooth, distorted grid-work of polyester-reinforced fiberglass panels do not have visible connections, appears less “as built” and more “as landed”.
In the construction, they used 121,000m³ of reinforced concrete, 194,000 formworks, and 19,000 tonnes of steel molds. To create the shape of the external skin, 5,500 tonnes of structural steel were required, creating the base for a surface of 40,000m² formed of panels of fiberglass reinforced with polyester or concrete. There were a total of around 17,000 individual panels with various geometries.
To emphasise the continuous relationship between the exterior and interior of the building, the illumination of the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre was carefully considered. During the day, the building reflects the light, constantly altering its appearance according to the time and perspective. The use of semi-reflective windows allows the interior to be perceived without revealing the trajectory of the spaces. By night, the building is gradually transformed by the illumination which flows from the interior, which develops the formal composition to reveal its contents and maintain the fluidity between the interior and exterior.
Sustainable Practices.
As previously mentioned, the headquarters places a strong emphasis on sustainability, using a large proportion of locally sourced materials and outfitted with cutting-edge technology to support operations at LEED Platinum standards with net-zero emissions and minimal energy use. For instance, slab and glass cooling control interior temperatures for maximum comfort, whereas glass-reinforced fiber panels are employed to limit solar gain. Wastewater is filtered on-site to reduce consumption, and the solar farm there charges Tesla battery packs to supply the building’s energy needs day and night. Additionally, all interiors make good use of vistas and brightness while minimizing the amount of glazing exposed to the harsh sun.
The headquarters is the most recent achievement for BEEAH Group as it keeps breaking new ground on innovations for Sharjah and the world, building a base of operations for the group to expand into new, essential sectors for the future. BEEAH’s new headquarters serve as an example of how technology may expand sustainable effect and ultimately create a precedent for the smart, sustainable cities of the future.
The smart meeting space’s lighting and temperature adjust automatically based on the number of people in the room and the time of day. The rooms come equipped with strong collaboration features for remote and hybrid work settings.
Aside from the technology integrations, the headquarters’ construction and finish are designed to be friendly, resulting in low energy use. The building’s curving façade was influenced by the nearby dunes and is oriented to take advantage of the Shamal breezes. The Headquarters generates a sense of oneness with the natural desert surroundings as it expands outwards.
Drawings.
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