The UAE Space Agency building is located in Masdar City, a pioneer in sustainability and a hub for research and development, aimed at spearheading innovations to achieve greener, more sustainable urban development.
As the principal design and build contractor on this one-of-a-kind LEED Platinum certified sustainable initiative, we were tasked to design and reconstruct the legacy United Arab Emirates Pavilion that was previously built, dismantled and shipped from Expo Milan 2015 by RIMOND.
Working as a unified team, we provided a seamless, highly collaborative and cohesive delivery built on trust, mutual respect, teamwork, innovation and creative problem solving.
Digital engineering was used extensively in design and construction to allow our client to make real-time decisions, see how the building would look and function, and identify project efficiencies.
We collaborated with the world-renowed global sustainable architecture firm Foster + Partners, developing their concept design to construction drawings, and obtaining all required statutory approvals.
Thanks to a digital twin of the building developed by RIMOND from the legacy pavilion in Expo 2015 Milan, our in-house design team delivered the design and incorporated the changes on digital models at blistering pace. Thanks to custom digital technology we tracked and traced each building component to be reused from the legacy pavilion, providing information and data from specifications down to installation manuals. This ensured data was accurate from day one.
Throughout the project, we reduced carbon emissions thanks to on site renewable energy solutions, and met energy targets, which has led to a USGBC LEED Platinum certification for the commitment to protect and conserve the environment while providing a healthy living and work setting through the design and construction of the building.
As a unique sustainability initiative, the building required to be designed with the legacy UAE Pavilion components that were shipped to UAE from Italy.
Managing more than 5000 shipped building components including GFRC cladding panels, MEP systems and special doors presented a unique challenge in design, statutory approvals, logistics and achieving original performance on building systems.
RIMOND was tasked to deliver a performing building that targeted LEED Platinum and Estidama 3-Pearl rating.
The end-to-end digital approach adopted during the construction and dismantling phase of the pavilion in Italy gave a great advantage to the RIMOND design team that was working in close collaboration with Foster + Partners, who provided the concept design for the legacy building in Masdar City.
The design and logistic team were able to identify and trace shipped components on the digital model, having access to whole lifecycle data and simply scanning QR codes on the physical components using the digital tool developed by RIMOND.
Our sustainability manager fostered a green-thinking culture to the whole project team – from designers and site managers down to foremen and equipment operators – to deliver outstanding sustainable outcomes and achieve LEED Platinum and Estidama 3-Pearl target.
We took green initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint and construction waste by introducing use of autonomous LED lighting, renewable energy for site offices and remote monitoring of equipment use and tracking fuel consumption.
