The Site
This busy inner city traffic intersection created many challenges to creating a peaceful space for the memorial.
The NatureCulture team’s design solves these challenges with landscape elements to create a tranquil space.
The Ghaf Tree Forest
The Ghaf Tree Forest is a walled garden of UAE native species trees and plants. Many of these trees were rescued from nearby sites that development was putting at risk.
Trees planted close together grow tall with an open understory. The tree garden is a generous open space under a green canopy supported by slender vertical trunks.
Native species of trees and plants recognises both Sheikh Zayed’s passion for environmental preservation and local traditions in the use of medicinal plants. These species also provide habitat for local birds and butterflies now populating this inner-city park – established before Abu Dhabi’s first biodiversity park.
The Rim Walk Wall
The NatureCulture team’s design mitigates traffic noise with a curved and softly undulating wall – effectively creating a walled-garden.
The walkway along the top of the wall is a popular feature. Visitors walk around the wall to view the central art piece as a sculpture in the round. The Rim Walk Wall also offers new and interesting views of the surrounding city.
The NatureCulture team’s design mitigates traffic noise with a curved and softly undulating wall – effectively creating a walled-garden.
The walkway along the top of the wall is a popular feature. Visitors walk around the wall to view the central art piece as a sculpture in the round. The Rim Walk Wall also offers new and interesting views of the surrounding city.
The semi-circular profile of the wall capping invites comfortable and safe leaning onto the the wall to enjoy views of the artwork and urban forest below.
The Pavilion
The site is surrounded by a city skyline of brightly lit tall buildings. Distracting elements in the background compete with the visual presence of the delicate artwork.
NatureCulture’s design for The Pavilion solves this problem with a 30m high structure to house the artwork and screen out distracting background elements. Its form, materials and detailing are a deliberate understatement to keep the focus on the sculpture.
A simple stone façade complements the detailed complexity of the artwork. The rest of the structure is open, framing views of the artwork against the sky.
The south-facing wall houses a hidden internal staircase leading to the viewing gallery, a small room at the same elevation as the eyes in the sculpture. Here visitors gain close-up views of the artwork, along with the evocative experience of looking through Sheikh Zayed’s “eyes” over Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
The Constellation
The centrepiece of the memorial is The Constellation, a 20m-high sculpture by artist Ralph Helmick. It is a national tribute to the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. A transformative leader, Sheikh Zayed championed peace, tolerance, women’s rights and the environment.
The 1,327 geometric elements vary in size and shape. The elements are platonic solids – the five convex polyhedrons or “sacred geometries” renowned for their mathematical beauty. They shine like stars in a constellation that forms a portrait of Sheikh Zayed. In this way, they connect with the concept of nature, wisdom and guidance.