Zayed National Museum – Abu Dhabi

Foster and Partners has recently released images depicting the design of the Zayed National Museum located on Saadiya Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The designs were officially unveiled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashi Al Maktoum – the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai – along sided Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

The area in which the Zayed National Museum will be built is also going to eventually have several other museums constructed, not least the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi designed by Frank Gehry, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi which is designed by Jean Nouvel.

The design  was dedicated to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Naya, the founding President of the UAE. Apart from being named after Sheikh Zayed, Foster + Partners went on to explain how other elements were dedicated to the late Sheikh:

“[t]he analogies with falcons and flight are deliberate and relate directly to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry.”