The Yas Viceroy Hotel in Abu Dhabi is built across the Formula 1 racetrack and features a futuristic design. It consists of two 12-story towers connected by a glass bridge passing over the track. Notable elements include a 217 meter long steel and glass grid shell canopy covering the towers and bridge, and an LED lighting system that displays videos on the building's exterior surface. The building was designed by Asymptote Architecture to embody influences from both motor racing and Islamic art traditions, and serve as a landmark celebrating Abu Dhabi's culture and technology.

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Yas Viceroy Hotel, Abu Dhabi

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Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel is built across the F1 Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. It is known as one
of the icons of Abu Dhabi and has a very futuristic design.
LOCATION: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
OPENING: November 1, 2009
TECHNICAL DETAILS
FLOOR AREA: 85,000 square meters
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
ARCHITECT: Asymptote Architecture
DEVELOPER: Aldar Properties
OTHER INFORMATION
NO. OF ROOMS: 499
NO. OF SUITES: 75
NO. OF RESTAURANTS: 6

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DESIGN
The hotel consists of two twelve stories towers, one set within the race circuit and the other in the Marina.
They are linked together by a glass and steel bridge that passes above the Formula 1 track. Along with the
Grid-Shell, the bridge connects and merges the whole ensemble. The building doesn’t serve only as a hotel
but also as a landmark for Abu Dhabi. The designers inspired from both local and global, contemporary
styles: the traditional Islamic arts and crafts combined with the forms derived from the F1 car design. The
exterior surface reflects the sky and the surroundings in daytime, whereas in the night is lit by an LED
system that transmits video feeds over the entire building, all of which are incorporated in the Grid-Shell.

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The Grid-Shell itself is a 217 meter covering of glass and steel. This part of the design stands out by being
the most important aspect of the entire project because it represents the building, it gives it meaning and
signification and, through its out of the ordinary design, lets the building to be seen from a long distance, a
key aspect of the idea that stands in the middle of the concept: the hotel being a landmark. The best part of
this project is the way that that its designers managed to create a structure that represents what they set out to
do. In other words, their concept is very clearly expressed by the hotel’s shape. The curved futuristic shape
along with the modern Grid-Shell express movement and speed, just like an F1 racing car.
DESCRIPTION FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
“The hotel embodies various key influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms
associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient
Islamic art and craft traditions, a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle.
The search here was inspired by what one could call the ‘art’ and poetics of motor racing, specifically
Formula 1, coupled with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological
tour de force.”

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The race track passes through the complex under a bridge linking the two towers of the hotel.
A canopy made of steel and diamond-shaped, LED
panels supported over the towers and bridge.

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CONSTRUCTION
The Yas Hotel is one of the main architectural features of the ambitious 36-billion-dollar Yas Marina
development and accompanying Formula 1 raceway circuit, also near completion. Asymptote's founders and
partners Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture envisioned an architectural landmark embodying various key
influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and
spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions.

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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 an 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.

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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. The architecture as a
whole “performs” as both an environmentally responsive solution as well as an architecture of spectacle and
event. The entire jewel-like composition of the project responds visually and tectonically to its environment
to create a distinct and powerful sense of place as well as a breathtaking backdrop to the Formula 1 and other
events that the building will celebrate. The Yas Hotel is designed to be a significant landmark destination on
Yas Island for Abu Dhabi and the UAE at large.

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Hani Rashid describes the building’s design and its architecture as:
“A perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle. The search here was
inspired by what one could call the 'art' and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled
with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de force.”
Asymptote: Hani Rashid + Lise Anne Couture
Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture are leading architectural practitioners of their generation whose
innovative work and academic contributions have received international acclaim. Since Asymptote’s
founding in 1989, the firm has been at the forefront of technological innovation in the field of architecture
and design and garnered praise for visionary building designs, large-scale master plans, innovative interiors,
art installations, virtual reality environments and object design.
Asymptote is currently working on a broad range of commissions at sites in the United States, Europe and
Asia including a 100,000-square-meter master plan in Bergamo, Italy; the World Business Center Solomon
Tower in Busan, South Korea, a skyscraper that will be among the tallest in Asia at 560m; a luxury
residential building in New York city that is near completion; two contemporary art pavilions commissioned
by The Guggenheim Foundation for the Cultural District of Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi; and a master plan
for the city of Baku in Azerbaijan. In 2000 Hani Rashid represented the United States at the Venice Biennale
of Architecture and in 2004 Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture were awarded the Frederick Kiesler Prize
for Architecture and the Arts given in recognition of exceptional contributions to the progress and merging
of the fields and disciplines of art and architecture.

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HOMESTHETICS CONCLUSION
The hotel impresses because of the bold idea of covering its entire curved surface with LED lighting. Even if
the effects are amazing, the construction process and the maintenance can be a bit tricky especially because
of the natural environment which is not suitable for large glass surfaces due to the imminent danger of sand
storms. The architects have overcome these setbacks anyway and created an architectural object with a
design worthy of representing the wealth of the Arabic country and the tradition of F1 racing.