The inaugural ‘Façade’ International Award for Façade Engineering Excellence has been won by Aedas Architects for the façade engineering work on Al Bahr Towers in Abu Dhabi.
RIBA President Stephen Hodder MBE presented the Award to Aedas UK Managing Director Mike Walters.
The Judges, representing the Society of Façade Engineering which organised the competition to celebrate its 10th Anniversary, liked the ‘overall ingenuity, uniqueness and engineering complexity of the façade design’ of the Al Bahr Towers, adding that ‘there wasn’t another project on the planet that appeared to embrace the principals of active shading in such a comprehensive and elegant way’.
Aedas, working with Arup Façade and Yuanda, created a mashrabiya façade for the project featuring more than 1,000 moving elements that expand and contract according to the sun’s position to reduce solar gain by more than 50 per cent, whilst also reducing the offices’ dependence on artificial light.
The winner was chosen by a small margin from a short list of 10 finalists by a panel of renowned façade engineers from Hong Kong, Italy and the UK, chaired by Chris Macey of Wintech Group, which also sponsored the event. In second place was the Shanghai Tower by Berres Dowdle of Surface Design in association with Marshall Strabala of 2Define Architecture, with another Berres Dowdle design, Sydney’s One Central Park, drawing up third.
Chris Macey, the SFE Competition Chairman and Managing Director of Wintech Group believes that the competition was an excellent way for the Society to celebrate its anniversary: “The International Award for Façade Engineering Excellence has defined the importance of high performance facades and the inseparability of this aspect of building design from the overall architectural process.
"The finalists, let alone the outright winner, are all fine examples of modern architecture per se, with exceptional work carried out on the facades of each.”
