The home for the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations has just completed in New York. Designed by leading architecture studio SOM, the building is the first such ground-up headquarters to be launched in a decade, with the UAE Mission to the UN joining the Turtle Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan, which boasts classics such as the modernist arcitecture icon that is the United Nations (UN) Headquarters, completed in 1950 to a design by Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier.
The new structure for the UAE Mission to the UN was purpose-built for its diplomatic mandate. Occupying a tight urban plot, it is ten storeys high, in keeping with the area's volumes and wider cityscape. ‘Its architecture is designed to embrace the city – to harmonise with New York’s architectural past, while also reflecting the identity of the UAE and the traditions of Middle Eastern hospitality,' explain the architects.
A dramatic verticality defines the overall design, with a pattern of long, slim fins out of Indiana limestone highlighting this on the front façade cladding. A 75ft-long frieze carved into the limestone on the ground level depicts a series of palm leaves, matching the abstract nature of the fins above. This sense of verticality, drama and an uplifting spirit are mirrored inside too, as visitors step into the main lobby and are greeted by a powerful, double-height space, featuring a dark, cascading staircase.
Beyond that, creating a space that is elegant and modern, but also welcoming, comfortable and warm was crucial, reflecting the Middle Eastern traditions of hospitality to all. Apart from the striking ground floor lobby and the event spaces on the first three floors, the building includes offices for staff and executives above. Principles drawn from the UAE region's architecture, such as the use of courtyards, are reintepreted here in a contemporary way. SOM collaborated with Lebanese designer Nada Debs on furniture and furnishings throughout.
A sustainable approach and a design that puts the employees' wellbeing at its heart played a key role in the development of the building, while its use of natural materials and its green roof terrace, alongside other environmentally friendly measures, meant the UAE Mission to the UN now hopes to achieve a LEED Gold certification.
‘There is a timelessness in its materiality, as a well as a durability,' the architects conclude. ‘The permanence of the material will make the new building of the UAE Mission to the UN a lasting work of architecture that will serve the UAE for decades to come.'
INFORMATION
-
Wallpaper* Gift Guides: What beauty editor Mary Cleary has on her wishlistWallpaper* contributing beauty editor Mary Cleary shares the items she is hoping to unwrap this holiday season – from transporting fragrances to a must-have skincare device
-
A Dutch visitor centre echoes the ‘rising and turning’ of the Wadden SeaThe second instalment in Dorte Mandrup’s Wadden Sea trilogy, this visitor centre and scientific hub draws inspiration from the endless cycle of the tide
-
Hyundai is the latest car company to get into robotics: meet the Mobile Eccentric DroidThe MobED is a new product from Hyundai’s Robotics LAB, pitched at last-mile delivery and industrial applications
-
Own an early John Lautner, perched in LA’s Echo Park hillsThe restored and updated Jules Salkin Residence by John Lautner is a unique piece of Californian design heritage, an early private house by the Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte that points to his future iconic status
-
The Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s houses of the monthFrom wineries-turned-music studios to fire-resistant holiday homes, these are the properties that have most impressed the Wallpaper* editors this month
-
The Stahl House – an icon of mid-century modernism – is for sale in Los AngelesAfter 65 years in the hands of the same family, the home, also known as Case Study House #22, has been listed for $25 million
-
Houston's Ismaili Centre is the most dazzling new building in America. Here's a look insideLondon-based architect Farshid Moussavi designed a new building open to all – and in the process, has created a gleaming new monument
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fountainhead will be opened to the public for the first timeThe home, a defining example of the architect’s vision for American design, has been acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art, which will open it to the public, giving visitors the chance to experience Frank Lloyd Wright’s genius firsthand
-
Clad in terracotta, these new Williamsburg homes blend loft living and an organic feelThe Williamsburg homes inside 103 Grand Street, designed by Brooklyn-based architects Of Possible, bring together elegant interiors and dramatic outdoor space in a slick, stacked volume
-
This ethereal Miami residence sprouted out of a wild, jungle-like gardenA Miami couple tapped local firm Brillhart Architecture to design them a house that merged Florida vernacular, Paul Rudolph and 'too many plants to count’
-
Tour Cano House, a Los Angeles home like no other, full of colour and quirkCano House is a case study for tranquil city living, cantilevering cleverly over a steep site in LA’s Mount Washington and fusing California modernism with contemporary flair
