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
Multifamily Housing | Nov 7, 2019
Multifamily construction market remains strong heading into 2020
Fewer than one in 10 AEC firms doing multifamily work reported a decrease in proposal activity in Q3 2019, according to a PSMJ report.
| Nov 6, 2019
Solomon Cordwell Buenz opens Seattle office, headed by Nolan Sit
National design firm brings residential high-rise expertise to the Pacific Northwest
| Nov 6, 2019
Passive House senior high-rise uses structural thermal breaks to insulate steel penetrations
Built to International Passive House standards, the Corona Senior Residence in Queens, N.Y., prevents thermal bridging between interior and exterior steel structures by insulating canopies and rooftop supports where they penetrate the building envelope.
Multifamily Housing | Nov 5, 2019
The Collective Paper Factory is the co-living company’s first U.S. location
The building offers a stay model ranging from one night to 29 days.
Multifamily Housing | Nov 4, 2019
A historic ice cream factory now provides Milwaukee with affordable housing
Thanks to projects like this, the Lindsay Heights neighborhood is definitely on the upswing.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 31, 2019
Soltra at SanTan Village breaks ground in Arizona
Todd & Associates designed the project.
| Oct 30, 2019
James McHugh Construction breaks ground on 1000M, Michigan Avenue’s tallest tower to be
McHugh will start work on the 832-foot-tall residential 1000M tower in December 2019.
| Oct 30, 2019
The Beach Company acquires land for multifamily community in Chattanooga
River Rock project will add 163 apartments near the Tennessee River in Chattanooga’s downtown riverfront district.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 30, 2019
Techno-magnet: Multifamily development attracts top tech workers, students
Proto Kendall Square is wooing grad students and millennial STEM workers from what’s arguably ‘the most innovative square mile on the planet.’
Multifamily Housing | Oct 25, 2019
Chicago’s long-gestating luxury condo tower nears construction
Helmut Jahn designed the project.