• The central hall of Abu Dhabi airport has to be regarded as the main gate of the city. It's a landmark. It must be representative of a particular place and its identity. It must be unique to Abu Dhabi. The landmark is represented by three key-elements. The first one is a huge suspended ring. This is the main communication centre.The external part has a shiny LED skin and a line of screens to provide information about what's on in Abu Dhabi, while the internal part includes 28 departure boards.

• Its shape is visible from every point of the hall, that's why it provides an impression of confidence giving the sensation of never getting lost. It is a focal point. To increase the magnetic influence of the centre we designed the hole, made of LED lights, which provide the sensation of water flowing down to a central black hole.

• Its powerful force of attraction symbolizes Abu Dhabi city condition which is a key point of attraction for business, sport, culture and art.To enhance the central elements we designed the background wall composed by modular aluminium elements covered by LED elements. It is also a key element to control the atmosphere of the hall because one side is entirely covered by LED elements so it can both provide emotional feelings and commercial communication.

• It acts like a filter controlling light and noise, but as the same time it is transparent permitting a complete view of the entire hall. A serious analysis of the marketing concepts studied for the country of Abu Dhabi permit us to produce a project made to measure. It includes commercial aspects, emotional aspects and functional aspects. But they complement each others because the project is designed to run like clockwork.

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credits:

Client:
Abu Dhabi airport administration

Architects, management and art directors:
Matta and Partners: arch. Guido Matta
Cristiana Favretto, Antonio Girardi architetti
arch.Ferruccio Zavan

Structures:
Studio Ingegneria Tiziano Bonato