The Yas Hotel by [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] architects is nearing completion in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The building forms part of the Yas Marina development accompanying a new Formula One circuit.

The race track will pass through the complex under a bridge linking the two towers of the hotel.

A canopy made of steel and diamond-shaped, glass panels will be supported over the towers and bridge.

The 500-room hotel is due for completion in October this year to coincide with the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Images: The Yas Hotel – Abu Dhabi, UAE 2007–2009. Asymptote: Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture.
The following information is from Asymptote:
–
The Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi, Designed by Asymptote Architecture, Opens October 2009
Asymptote Architecture, the award-winning, New York-based practice,
nears completion of The Yas Hotel project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The Yas
Hotel is a 500-room, 85,000-square-meter complex now under construction
by Aldar Properties PJSC. Asymptote was awarded the commission to
design the buildings and environs from a closed competition two years
ago targeting an opening date of October 30, 2009 to coincide with the
Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Yas Hotel is one of the main architectural features of the
ambitious 36-billion-dollar Yas Marina development and accompanying
Formula 1 raceway circuit, also near completion. Asymptote’s founders
and partners Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture envisioned an
architectural landmark embodying various key influences and
inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with
speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming
the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions.

Of architectural and engineering significance is the main feature of
the project’s design, a 217-meter expanse of sweeping, curvilinear
forms constructed of steel and 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass
panels. This Grid-Shell component affords the building an architecture
comprised of an atmospheric-like veil that contains two hotel towers
and a link bridge constructed as a monocoque sculpted steel object
passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the
building complex.

The Grid-Shell visually connects and fuses the entire complex
together while producing optical effects and spectral reflections that
play against the surrounding sky, sea and desert landscape. The
architecture as a whole “performs” as both an environmentally
responsive solution as well as an architecture of spectacle and event.
The entire jewel-like composition of the project responds visually and
tectonically to its environment to create a distinct and powerful sense
of place as well as a breathtaking backdrop to the Formula 1 and other
events that the building will celebrate. The Yas Hotel is designed to
be a significant landmark destination on Yas Island for Abu Dhabi and
the UAE at large.
Hani Rashid describes the building’s design and its architecture as:
“a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and
spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the
‘art’ and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with
the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and
technological tour de force.”
Asymptote: Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture are leading architectural
practitioners of their generation whose innovative work and academic
contributions have received international acclaim. Since Asymptote’s
founding in 1989, the firm has been at the forefront of technological
innovation in the field of architecture and design and garnered praise
for visionary building designs, large-scale master plans, innovative
interiors, art installations, virtual reality environments and object
design.
Asymptote is currently working on a broad range of commissions at
sites in the United States, Europe and Asia including a
100,000-square-meter master plan in Bergamo, Italy; the World Business
Center Solomon Tower in Busan, South Korea, a skyscraper that will be
among the tallest in Asia at 560m; a luxury residential building in New
York city that is near completion; two contemporary art pavilions
commissioned by The Guggenheim Foundation for the Cultural District of
Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi; and a master plan for the city of Baku in
Azerbaijan. In 2000 Hani Rashid represented the United States at the
Venice Biennale of Architecture and in 2004 Hani Rashid and Lise Anne
Couture were awarded the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and
the Arts given in recognition of exceptional contributions to the
progress and merging of the fields and disciplines of art and
architecture.
Lead Architects
Asymptote Architecture:
Principals Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
Selected Consultants
Local Architects:
Dewan Architects & Engineers, Abu Dhabi
Tilke & Partners W.L.L., Dubai
Structural Engineers:
Dewan Architects & Engineers, Abu Dhabi
ARUP, New York
Grid-Shell Engineers:
Schlaich Bergermann und Partner (SBP), Stuttgart
Waagner-Biro, Vienna
MEP Engineer:
Red Engineering Middle East, Dubai
Façade Consultants:
Front Inc., New York
TAW & Partner, Hamburg
Grid-Shell Building Information Modeling (BIM) Consultant:
Gehry Technologies, Los Angeles & New York
Interior Architecture:
Jestico + Whiles, London
Richardson Sadeki, New York
De8 Architetti, Bergamo, Italy
Lighting Consultants:
LAPD Lighting Design, Hertfordshire, UK
Bartenbach LichtLabor GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria
Red Engineering Middle East, Dubai
ARUP Lighting, New York
Grid-Shell Lighting Consultant:
ARUP Lighting, New York
Link Bridge Engineers:
ARUP Bridge, New York
Centraal Staal, Groningen, The Netherlands
Landscape Design:
Cracknell Landscape Architects, Abu Dhabi
Posted by Rose Etherington from dezeen.com