concrete exoskeleton that combines form and function The amazing O-14 Tower in Dubai is nearing completion. Designed by Jesse Resiser Nanoka and Umemoto RUR Architecture of (the same architects who designed the New Museum in New York), the building's façade is eye-catching, which not only affect the eye contains the solar heat gain, and thanks to an advanced passive cooling system reduces energy consumption.
Like a sculpture than a building, the tower has a core of commercial office space. The decorative facade has more than 1000 "scrap" round and serves as an "exoskeleton." This external structure of reinforced concrete supports the core, and then allows interior spaces to be very open. The office space are virtually free of columns, can be divided and subdivided in the way they need tenants.
between the exoskeleton and the core runs exactly one meter of space, which also acts as a slide of hot air. Although a big city, Dubai still remains essentially a desert city.
So the exoskeleton not only protects the central core of the sun, but its form carries the warm air upward and then out, which saves money and energy for cooling the nucleus. The "scrap" circulars are carefully positioned to create the right views from limiting sun exposure. The tower of "only" 21 floors will house offices only, while the ground floor will have an exclusive luxury shopping center, Dubai-style, and an entrance to the promenade.
