Designed A Guggenheim Museum to be opened in AbuDhabi.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding was witnessed by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The MoU was signed on behalf of Abu Dhabi by Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of ADTA, TDIC and Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage Authority and Thomas Kerns, Director of Guggenheim Foundation. William Mack, Chairman of the foundation, was also present.

Frank Gehry to design Guggenheim museum
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/07/08/10052308.html

07/09/2006 07:58 PM | By Ahmed Ameen, Staff Reporter

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi is set to become the home of the world's largest Guggenheim museum.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday between Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) and the New York-based Guggenheim Foundation to establish a world-class museum devoted to modern and contemporary art.

The museum, to be called the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (GAD), will be built in the Cultural District of Saadiyat Island and will cover 30,000 square metres. It is expected to be completed in five years.

The museum is to be designed by the internationally-acclaimed architect Frank Gehry.

Collection of works

GAD will be the only Guggenheim museum in the region and will be larger than any existing Guggenheim worldwide, said Thomas Kerns, Director of the Guggenheim Foundation.

"It will be 20 per cent bigger than our existing 25,000-square metre Bilbao museum," he said.

According to the MoU, TDIC, which manages the authority's tourism assets, will own the museum.

The Guggenheim Foundation will establish and manage the museum's programme, which will include collection development, exhibitions and educational initiatives.

The museum will form its own major collection of contemporary art and will also exhibit masterworks from the Guggenheim Foundation's global collections.

"Today's signing represents the determination of the Abu Dhabi Government to create a world-class cultural destination for its residents and visitors," said General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the ceremony.

"This is a major step forward in our plans for Saadiyat Island and its Cultural District which will become an international cultural hub for the Middle East on par with the best in the world."

The MoU was signed on behalf of Abu Dhabi by Shaikh Sultan Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), TDIC, and Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage Authority, and Thomas Kerns.

"Abu Dhabi's museum will join exclusive Guggenheim museum network which currently includes New York, Venice in Italy, Bilbao in Spain, Berlin in Germany and Las Vegas," Shaikh Sultan said.
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Abu Dhabi building - PR from Zaha Hadid Architects 310107:

Abu Dhabi building

Zaha Hadid Architects announce the design of the Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre:
a new cultural institution for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation on behalf of
the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Abu Dhabi (TDIC).

Zaha Hadid unveiled the design of the new Performing Arts Centre at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE today.

Abu Dhabi architecture


Hadid’s Performing Arts Centre concept, a 62 metre high building is proposing to house five theatres – a music hall, concert hall, opera house, drama theatre and a flexible theatre with a combined seating capacity for 6,300. The Centre may also house an Academy of Performing Arts.

The Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre will be one of five major cultural institutions on the new 270-hectacre cultural district of Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi - developed by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation on behalf of the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Abu Dhabi (TDIC).

Abu Dhabi Arts Centre


Zaha Hadid described the design of the Performing Arts Centre as “a sculptural form that emerges from a linear intersection of pedestrian paths within the cultural district, gradually developing into a growing organism that sprouts a network of successive branches. As it winds through the site, the architecture increases in complexity, building up height and depth and achieving multiple summits in the bodies housing the performance spaces, which spring from the structure like fruits on a vine and face westward, toward the water.”

“The Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre is a continuation of the long-standing relationship we have with the Guggenheim Foundation and with the Emirate. We are very honoured to be a part of the project,” states Hadid. “Our first Guggenheim exhibition design, ‘The Great Utopias’, was in 1992 whilst the very successful mid-retrospective of our work closed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York less than two months ago. We’ve also been working in Abu Dhabi for many years, the Sheikh Zayed Bridge was a seminal project for the office and its construction is well underway”.

Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre


Thomas Krens, Director of the Guggenheim Foundation said, “In Abu Dhabi we have had the good fortune to discover a partner that not only shares our point of view, but expands upon it. The plans for Saadiyat Island and the cultural district, envisioned and developed by the Abu Dhabi Government, are, quite simply, extraordinary. When this comprehensive and inclusive vision is realised, it will set a standard for global culture that will resonate for decades to come.”



The Abu Dhabi Cultural District on Saadiyat Island
The Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation has been working with the Tourism Development and Investment Company of Abu Dhabi (TDIC) to develop all five institutions of the Saadiyat Island cultural district. The five institutions of the the Abu Dhabi Cultural District on Saadiyat Island:

1. Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects
2. Contemporary Arts Museum (Guggenheim Abu Dhabi) by Frank Gehry Partners
3. Classical Art Museum by Jean Nouvel Studios
4. Maritime Museum by Tadao Ando
5. Sheikh Zayed National Museum: (Architect to be confirmed)

Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre - PR from Zaha Hadid Architects 310107