With the goal of helping Abu Dhabi achieve a fourfold increase in annual visitors by 2030, AECOM is working closely with Tourism Development Investment Corporation (TDIC), Abu Dhabi’s leading tourism development and investment company, to produce the master plan for Saadiyat Island, a new 6672 acre (2700 hectare) signature urban quarter to be built on a natural island directly adjacent to Abu Dhabi. Providing overall program management services for the island’s Cultural District, as well as all cultural assets on and off the island and approximately two-thirds of the island’s Public Realm.
The island’s Public Realm includes all external works beyond the building fabric: hard surfaces; planting works; furniture; signage; lighting; public infrastructure elements such as utilities boxes and control cabinets; playing fields and related facilities; and subsurface elements, such as irrigation systems and drainage. Along with that, AECOM will also be providing master planning, economics and architecture/engineering services on selected facilities on and off of the island.
When completed, Saadiyat Island will include some of the world’s most significant museums and cultural facilities, designed by leading international architects, to become a beacon for creative industries and social change in the Middle East:
- Zayed National Museum designed by Lord Norman Foster
- Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum designed by Frank Gehry
- Louvre Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel
- Maritime Museum designed by Tadao Ando
An additional exhibition and Saadiyat experience center will house temporary exhibits. It is currently being fast-tracked using a form of a design-build delivery and is slated for completion in 2010.
Although it is not located on the island, a fifth museum, the United Arab Emirates Military Museum, is also part of this program. In addition, a curatorial storage campus for artwork not on display at the five museums is currently being planned with education, research and restoration facilities. Each museum will have its own storage facility on the curatorial campus. Each of the five museums will pursue LEED-NC certification.
“AECOM will create an electronic program management system to allow real-time project tracking across all TDIC developments,” explained Lee Tabler, former chief executive officer, TDIC. “This alliance will deliver optimum cost-effectiveness, heightened responsiveness and greater contractor accountability. It will greatly improve TDIC’s risk management approach.”