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
Mixed-Use | Sep 21, 2017
Entire living rooms become balconies in a new Lower East Side mixed-used development
NanaWall panels add a unique dimension to condos at 60 Orchard Street in New York City.
Giants 400 | Sep 20, 2017
Bubble? What bubble?: Apartment and condo construction simply can't keep up with demand
Since the current multifamily boom took off in 2010, most activity has focused on large urban areas.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 20, 2017
New housing development rises from a historic textile mill’s ashes
Loft Five50 will add 137 housing units to Lawrence, Mass.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 19, 2017
Top 90 multifamily construction firms
Lendlease, Suffolk Construction, and Clark Group top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest multifamily sector contractor and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 18, 2017
Top 40 multifamily engineering firms
WSP, AECOM, and Thronton Tomasetti top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest multifamily sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 15, 2017
Hurricane Harvey damaged fewer apartments in greater Houston than estimated
As of Sept. 14, 166 properties reported damage to 8,956 units, about 1.4% of the total supply of apartments, according to ApartmentData.com.
Giants 400 | Sep 14, 2017
Top 95 multifamily architecture firms
Humphreys & Partners Architects, KTGY, and Perkins Eastman top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest multifamily sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 5, 2017
Free WiFi, meeting rooms most popular business services amenities in multifamily developments
Complimentary, building-wide WiFi is more or less a given for marketing purposes in the multifamily arena.
University Buildings | Sep 1, 2017
The University of Texas receives boutique-style student housing complex
The Ruckus Lofts provide 46 furnished units and 165 beds for UT students.
Mixed-Use | Aug 30, 2017
Former industrial building becomes 'lifestyle community' in ever-evolving Baltimore
The new community offers 292 apartments with 20,000 sf of retail space.