ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
The facade operates as a 360-degree system, layered in response to the building’ s solar orientation.
used tower to face in multiple directions and to offer a constantly changing profile across the city.
Covering 167,733 m2, Wasl Tower houses a diverse mixed-use programme that includes the Mandarin Oriental Downtown hotel, residential units, offices, and amenity spaces such as the hotel’ s multi-story health and wellness centre, and a convention hall for ceremonies, weddings, and conferences, creating a vertical community that caters to a variety of user groups. The design also incorporates elevated public areas, offering unique spaces for socialising, dining, wellness, and chance encounters high above the city.
“ The aim was to make a visit to Wasl Tower as attractive and contemporary as possible,” says Ben van Berkel, Founder and Principal Architect of UNS.“ As such, a dedicated concept of health, comfort, and wellbeing throughout was developed for the building.”
A transformative facade With its completion, Wasl Tower now hosts the region’ s tallest building to feature a ceramic facade, a robust material chosen for its cultural significance and durability. Thousands of ceramic fins provide shading, reduce heat radiation, and capture high winds, adapting to the desert climate while reducing cooling loads by approximately 10 % compared to older towers in the city. Ceramics, a traditional material in the region, were reimagined by UNS for high-rise applications, combining low-tech manufacturing methods with advanced design techniques. Its reinvention at scale signals a continuity between material heritage and modern innovation.
The facade operates as a 360-degree system, layered in response to the building’ s solar orientation. The ceramic fins form a protective cloak that wraps around the tower, acting as a passive environmental filter. Their placement and configuration on the facade, developed through parametric modelling, balance environmental performance with aesthetics. The fins allow daylight to penetrate deep into the interior while shielding incident solar heat gain, supporting both energy efficiency and occupant comfort.
Each composite ceramic fin features a custom terracotta profile, baked with a metallic glaze that enables it to transform visually throughout the day and seasons. As the fins channel wind around the building, integrated aluminum grills enable the airflow to cool the heat absorbed by the ceramic modules, while the cavity between the fins and the tower’ s interior curtainwall system further supports passive cooling. This dual-purpose envelope combines functionality with expressive design, creating a facade that is both energy efficient and visually striking.
This veil also houses a custom lighting system designed in partnership with Arup Lighting, which is programmed to reflect the ever-changing rhythm of the 24-hour city. Subtle shifts in tone and intensity animate the facade after dark, turning the building into an active participant in the urban landscape.
By pairing traditional materials with advanced engineering, the Wasl Tower facade offers a scalable
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