This Zaha Hadid design has tested our engineers’ skills unlike any other.
In the constant search for original designs that truly push the limits, many building projects in the Middle East are in fact driving innovation in engineering design.
The appearance of the Opus derives from the architect, world famous Zaha Hadid, sinking a hot poker into a cube of ice to create an irregular, curved void in the middle. The design of the Opus was performed in close cooperation between the architect and our façades, building services, fire & safety and structural engineers.
Due to its shape, the Opus proved to be a challenging project for our façade team. Massive façades of darkened curved glass face each other across the void in the middle of the building, appearing as a continuous, fluid surface. In reality, the surface is a combination of glass with varying thickness, bent in different ways and fitted by using several techniques seamed together invisibly.
Moreover, due to extreme climate conditions, we needed to use glass processing technology from the automotive industry to provide solutions for the spherical double curved glass used – something that had never been done in this region before.