AUDI INNOVATION HUB - DUBAI DESIGN WEEK 2018 

Project Name: Audi Innovation Hub / Dubai Design Week 2018

Architect or Architecture Firm: MEAN* Middle East Architecture Network

Office Website: https://www.m-e-a-n.design

Contact Email: Info@m-e-a-n.design

Completion Year: 2018

Built Area (m2 or sqft): 165 sqm

Project Location: Between buildings 9 & 10 at Dubai Design District, Dubai, UAE

Photographer: ©Jalal Abuthnia 2018

Lead Architect: Riyad Joucka

Team: Yara Manla, Rasha Saffarini, Kavya Chandrasekar, Stephie Moukarzel, Wael Nasrallah

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

MEAN*, Middle East Architecture Network designed and built the Audi Innovation Hub in Dubai Design District for Dubai Design Week 2018.

Audi commissioned MEAN*, an innovative Dubai-based architecture practice, to design the Hub to reflect their brand ethos of “ Vorsprung durch Technik ” or Advancement through Technology and to reflect the theme of this year’s Audi Design Award; 'Connections'. 

Starting with a line - the simplest geometry used to connect two bodies - MEAN* envisaged a curved structure sweeping in space, bridging exterior and interior spaces, woven with connecting lines.

MEAN* worked with generative design tools and digital manufacturing as well as aluminum, galvanized steel, tensile cables and recycled rubber from car tires to build the structure as a spatial innovation apparatus that pushes the boundaries of structural and architectural design.

The CNC-bent steel pipe structural elements provide a guided path for tensile cables to connect through, generating a volumetric space as well as adding to the synergetic structural hybrid. These straight lines rotate through weaving, overlapping and connecting to generate an animated effect of streamlined dynamism, expressed through the overlapping of the lines, commonly known as the 'Moire´' Effect'. The intention is to provoke the animated experience of a road trip, as the visitor walks around the pavilion.

The design features a symmetrical architectural and structural layout that recalls the balanced nature of the contemporary automobile. The mechanically fixed structure is identical on both halves of the central symmetry line, for ease of fabrication, assembly and reassembly. The central spine of the space features an arched covering, fitted with generative lighting patterns that resemble symmetrical constellations.

The brightly lit, digitally manufactured structure, is a white contrast to the black matte rubber surface manufactured and supplied by Bee’ah, which covers the façade of the structure. The material, made from reconstituted vehicle tires, has been recycled into an environmentally conscious and efficient building material.

Fitted with a space for the latest Audi A7 to be showcased, an area for talks as well as a space for refreshment and gathering. The space provided the venue for the week-long program of Audi Innovation Talks, showcase space for two of the latest Audi models and the winner of the annual Audi Innovation Award.