Global firm Wiel Arets Architects revealed its plans for a 558-foot tower in Manama, Bahrain. According to ArchDaily, the tower will be called Bahrain Bay Tower, and will consist of two residential towers connected “by a plinth of retail, office, parking, and public park space.”
Housing options in the residential sections range from one- to three-bedroom units. Throughout the two towers, glazed and operable windows allow access to light and air in each living space.
"Due to the extensive amounts of glazing on the tower’s façade, a panel-like system of sliding aluminum louvers serves as an additional layer of privacy and shading—in tandem with the façade’s treated glass, and the covered exterior terraces,” the firm explains in a release. “Together, these elements protect the tower’s interior from passive solar gain, while the louvers lend to the tower, an ever changing and thus chameleon-like appearance, due to the reflections they catch from direct sunlight."
The ground floor is designed to be publicly accessible, composed mostly of retail and public lobby space.
About the ground level design, the firm says: "Due to a division of these ground floor spaces, along the site’s southern edge, a breezeway was created that allows the public to traverse the tower’s entire site—without entering its interior—which serves to infuse the tower’s immediate context with pedestrian life. In this way, the ground level frontages of the tower’s retail spaces are maximized."
Related Stories
| Nov 3, 2014
Novel 'self-climbing' elevator operates during construction of high-rise buildings
The JumpLift system from KONE uses a mobile machine room that moves upward as the construction progresses, speeding construction of tall towers.
| Nov 3, 2014
Cairo's ultra-green mixed-use development will be topped with flowing solar canopy
The solar canopy will shade green rooftop terraces and sky villas atop the nine-story structure.
| Oct 31, 2014
Dubai plans world’s next tallest towers
Emaar Properties has unveiled plans for a new project containing two towers that will top the charts in height, making them the world’s tallest towers once completed.
| Oct 29, 2014
Better guidance for appraising green buildings is steadily emerging
The Appraisal Foundation is striving to improve appraisers’ understanding of green valuation.
| Oct 27, 2014
Studio Gang Architects designs residential tower with exoskeleton-like exterior for Miami
Jeanne Gang's design reinvents the Florida room with shaded, asymmetrical balconies.
| Oct 21, 2014
Passive House concept gains momentum in apartment design
Passive House, an ultra-efficient building standard that originated in Germany, has been used for single-family homes since its inception in 1990. Only recently has the concept made its way into the U.S. commercial buildings market.
| Oct 21, 2014
Perkins Eastman white paper explores state of the senior living industry in the Carolinas
Among the experts interviewed for the white paper, there was a general consensus that the model for continuing-care retirement communities is changing, driven by both the changing consumers and more prevalent global interest on the effects of aging.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 15, 2014
Final touches make 432 Park Avenue tower second tallest in New York City
Concrete has been poured for the final floors of the residential high-rise at 432 Park Avenue in New York City, making it the city’s second-tallest building and the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere.
