Masdar City Abu-Dhabi's Sustainable City Project

Solution

Abu Dhabi has among the highest per capita energy consumption on the planet but Masdar City has been planned and developed to utilise the abundant solar power potential and uses enhanced traditional design practices to create natural cooling.

The city is surrounded by walls that exclude hot desert winds, Streets are short and narrow and angled to provide maximum shade and a 45m high wind tower captures cooler breezes and directs them into the streets. This results in an impressive 15 to 20 degree reduction in temperatures from the surrounding desert.

Buildings themselves employ design features such as terracotta walls perforated with Arabic Patterns that shade windows and received their energy from efficient solar power plants.

Masdar is a sustainable mixed-use development designed to be very friendly to pedestrians and cyclists and forms a stark and relaxed contrast to uncomfortable and energy hungry cities of the region.

For smaller scale developments and eco-villages, Masdar clearly demonstrates that traditional building practices can be highly effective when employed in a wise and considered way.