Construction begins on 40-storey Strata Tower

The Strata Tower, a 40-storey, luxury residential building, by Aldar Properties has broken ground on Al Raha Beach and is now under construction.

The tower is scheduled for completion in early 2011 and, at a height of 160 metres, will be the tallest building in the Al Dana precinct, according to a statement sent to Emirates Business by Asymptote Architecture.

Designed by architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, the tower is designed to signify a dignified and important future for Abu Dhabi.

"As a signature architectural statement, the Strata Tower's articulate, striking physical presence seeks to encapsulate meaning through the use of abstract form drawn from both local cultural landscapes and motifs and dynamic forces of global influence.

The Strata Tower's design utilises primarily mathematical means in its design to achieve both a poetic as well as highly pertinent architecture for the UAE, a region in flux with ambitions for continued rapid growth," the statement said.

The Strata Tower's innovative form was created using modern, advanced parametric modelling tools and techniques from the onset of the design process to the production phase.

The building's design emerged from various influences and factors including economies of production and fabrication with special consideration given to environmental sustainability.

Sophisticated computer modelling and tools were utilised to produce the building's intelligent, environmentally responsive louver system that is held in a unique, cantilevered exoskeleton structure.

The exoskeleton veils the entire tower in a shimmering curvilinear form set against Abu Dhabi's surrounding desert and sea, embracing and reflecting the changing light and atmospheres that enfold and contain it.

Strata Tower's architecture resists being an overt, singular gesture reliant on a set meaning or association. Rather, the mathematical properties used, not unlike those in the manifestation of the arabesque or abstract calligraphy, give the building its elegance, prominence and potential for meaning and significance.

Asymptote Architecture was founded by principals Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture in 1989.

The company is currently working on a broad range of commissions at sites in the US, Europe, the UAE and Asia including three landmark towers in Tbilisi, Georgia; commercial office towers in Budapest and Prague; and the World Business Centre Busan in Busan, South Korea, slated to be one of the tallest buildings in Asia upon completion in 2011. Projects designed by Asymptote now under construction include an innovative, high-end condominium building in New York City and a 500-room hotel in the UAE.