The Yas Hotel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Asymptote's design for the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi is so central to the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, that the track runs through it. The spectacular centrepiece to the Yas Marina development will provide a focal point for the brand new racetrack, which will hold it's debut race on 30 October. The $36billion development is set to be the most exquisite motorsport venue in the world. An expansive glass grid shell provides the most distinctive feature of the 500-room, 85,000m2 complex. Covering 217 metres the sweeping, curvilinear forms are constructed of steel and 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. Within this veil-like structure are two hotel towers and a link bridge passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the building complex.
Optical lighting and reflective effects against the backdrop of the sky, sea and desert landscape of Yas Island turn the hotel into an entertainment spectacle.

Asymptote's founders and partners Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture based their design around speed, movement and Islamic art and craft traditions. Rashid described the design as, “a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the 'art' and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de force.”

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w02n 2cents:

This would be another fantastic art piece by Asymtope. F1 Hotel allowed the architect to have a more bold and thematic design. Furthermore, the planning of seperated hotel into 2 towers with a link bridge passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the building complex. This idea solely give positive impact to this thematic hotel which became the best viewing platform in F1 racing. An expansive glass grid shell would just be the aesthetic feature for the hotel, no doubt it give the very artistic feeling on how the architct articulate the glass panel for the whole complex. But, for the context of Abu Dhabi with the dusty air and environment, it would be humongous cost for the maintenance.