Design & Lifestyle Blog

Now synonymous with the Ferrari race track, there’s nothing quiet about Yas. This 6,000-acre island right off the coast of Abu Dhabi buzzes with a 143-berth marina and yacht club, a 3.4-mile Formula One racetrack, and now the new nine-story, nearly one-million-square-foot Yas Hotel, which opened in November, just in time for the first-annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. To keep pace with the island’s vibe, the hotel’s designers positioned its two buildings half on land, half on water, with the racetrack cutting through. Here, a look at the details, inside and out with plenty of photos.

Guest Rooms

London design firm Jestico + Whiles mixed mod materials and textures: floor-to-ceiling glass panels throughout, and white quartz and leather-embossed porcelain tiles in the bathrooms.

Bridge Bar

The bi-level bridge connecting the hotel’s two buildings holds Rush, a vast lounge managed by George V, of Buddha Bar fame. Offering prime racetrack views, the bar specializes in creative spins on classic julep cocktails.

Pool and Spa

Heidar Sadeki of Richardson Sadeki architects used marble, walnut wood, and bronze glass to create the two-level, 16,000-square-foot Espa, featuring a traditional hammam and ten treatment rooms. Sadeki also designed the two rooftops, each with an outdoor pool that’s partially shaded by the LED gridshell.

 

 

 

Dining Spots

Among the seven restaurants is Nautilus, where executive chef Daniel Nuss presides over a raw bar and creates dishes like this crispy sea bass with crab cannelloni. Vine is a rooftop terrace restaurant with floor-to-ceiling wine racks and a private tasting room.

LED Gridshell

Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of New York City’s Asymptote Architecture designed the 180,000-square-foot glass-and-steel grid that covers both the hotel’s wings. Dotted with 4,000-plus LED lights, this net-like canopy—which Rashid calls “an interplay of elegance and spectacle”—changes hues and produces a variety of moving color patterns at night. It won’t cause guests to lose sleep, however. Its 5,800 individually shaped glass panels pivot to reflect away from the hotel. From inside the buildings, only 20 percent of the lights are visible. Source

 

The curvilinear form of the Yas Hotel has been designed, and appears as, an icon of the event, one which in legacy is sure to encourage Formula 1 success in the UAE capital. Its curvilinear grid-shell which is covered with over 5,300 diamond-shaped steel panels, containing nearly 5000 LED fixtures is being announced as the world’s largest LED project controlled through RDM . It is the first hotel ever to span a Grand Prix race track, its bridge allowing an unparalleled view of the action to lucky guests.Of architectural and engineering significance is the main feature of the project’s design, a 217-meter expanse of sweeping, curvilinear forms constructed of steel and 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. This Grid-Shell component affords the building architecture comprised of an atmospheric-like veil that contains two hotel towers and a link bridge constructed as a monocoque sculpted steel object passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the building complex. The Grid-Shell visually connects and fuses the entire complex together while producing optical effects and spectral reflections that play against the surrounding sky, sea and desert landscape. ARCH DAILY AWARDS THE YAS HOTEL WITH THE 2009 HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS BUILDING OF THE YEAR. The Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi opened on November 3 to the general public after a pre-opening coinciding with the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. The Yas Hotel is a 500-room, 85,000-square-meter complex designed by Asymptote and constructed by Aldar Properties PJSC. The commission to design the buildings and environs from a closed competition was awarded in 2007. Project completion was achieved in under two years from design initiation to completed building.

About Asymptote: Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture are New York based award winning architectural practitioners of international acclaim. Since Asymptote’s founding in 1989, the firm has been at the forefront of innovation and technological advances in the fields of architecture and design and garnered praise for visionary building designs, master plans, innovative interiors and art installations, virtual reality environments and object design.

The Yas Hotel
The Yas Hotel, operated by Aldar Hotels & Hospitality, offers 500 luxuriously appointed guest rooms, international cuisine in 8 restaurants and pioneering design and architecture. The Yas Hotel will host several illustrious events in its first year, ranging from fashion to sports on a global scale. Located on Yas Island, The Yas Hotel is 10 minutes drive from Abu Dhabi airport, 15 minutes from Abu Dhabi’s National Exhibition Centre and 50 minutes from Dubai Marina.

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