A desire to go beyond the limits of the imagination by transforming a deserted and inhospitable location into a new museum complex, a centre of culture for the third millennium, has taken form in the capital of United Arab Emirates with the ambitious Louvre Abu Dhabi project designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.
The new museum rises on Saadiyat Island, a place set aside for development by the Saadiyat Cultural District. This area has been dedicated entirely to art and culture and will also host the Zayed National Museum designed by Norman Foster, a maritime museum designed by Tadao Ando, the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim by Frank Gehry and the Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, extending over 24,000 square metres, is the largest museum on the Arabian peninsula and is regarded as one of the world’s most ambitious cultural projects; it hosts over 600 works - including two by Leonardo Da Vinci, a celebrated portrait of Napoleon by Jacques Louis David and two paintings by Picasso - divided into four macro-areas: antiquity, the medieval age, the modern age and globalization.
The real challenge was to make the museum welcoming and attractive to tourists, endeavouring to overcome the difficulties posed by the climate. To enhance the building’s scenographic impact and above all to recreate a ventilated micro-climate enabling visitors to walk comfortably in the outdoor areas, protected from the sun but without air conditioning, Jean Nouvel located the new city-museum directly over the sea.
In this unusual context the Italian firm FILA, an example of business excellence and world leader in surface care treatments, is the key contractor in protecting the entire grey limestone exterior from water, salt, atmospheric agents and wear.
To permanently maintain the beauty of the complex, with its 55 white buildings protected by a 180-metre-diameter steel dome, countering the rising of marine salts and protecting the exterior area from other pollutants, the natural stone was treated and protected using specialist products that are particularly suited to difficult climatic conditions: MP90 ECO XTREME, an anti-stain protector without hydrocarbon-based solvents, HYDROREP, a water-repellent protector, and PW10, a natural effect, pre-installation, anti-rising agents protector.
“It was a very demanding project – comments FILA’s General Manager for the Middle East Fabrizio Nicoli – in terms of both the technical requirements and the extremely difficult environmental conditions of sweltering heat and high humidity. Following a test phase FILA products were chosen due to their high performance and effectiveness even under these conditions”.
Thanks to this project, which followed two previous projects at the Presidential Palace of Abu Dhabi and the Hotel Armani in Dubai, FILA has confirmed its position as a fundamental strategic partner in the United Arab Emirates for the protection and safeguarding of ultra-high quality buildings.
FILA, an example of business excellence and the international leader in solutions for the treatment and care of surfaces, is the only brand that, with its wide range of innovative and technologically high-performance products, has successfully forged ongoing partnerships with over 220 international manufacturers, trade associations and international research institutes.