Glass and steel give tower a distinct class.

(From Gulf Construction)

The Dar Al Awadi is not just another 34-storey tower with a mall covered with curtain walls - it has a class, quality and style of its own, which made it a highly challenging project, says a spokesman for Alico, the curtain-walling contractor for the project

"The project presented several challenges in engineering design as well as in terms of the logistics in executing it due to its unique features," says Osama Alwazir, senior project manager. "The task of installing the curtain-walling the structure required a facade company with extensive experience, a strong design team, a company that has a large pool of production facilities and site experience. Alico fit this bill perfectly and did accomplish a quality installation." High-quality glass and stainless steel components are utilised extensively throughout the mall and the tower, he points out

Tower The 34-storey tower is dressed in a special blue-tinted double glass curtain wall and featuring horizontal stainless steel cover caps or stainless steel sunshades. The curtain-walling curves outwards at the top three executive floor levels and is lined with vertically curved stainless steel fins spanning 12 m high and connected to the curtain wall. Another distinctive curtain wall with special steel-frame back-up supports has been installed at a height of 120 m in front of the panoramic lift

Some elements of the curtain-walling were cantilevered by 6 m outside the concrete mainframe of the tower at a height 120 m, Alwazir points out

"Although the tower is mainly pentagon in plan, the contours of the tower presented more than 20 different elevations that had to be covered with curtain walls," he says. "The tower features portal columns up to mid-height, which entailed that the work had to be phased, "All these design intricacies meant that access to install the curtain walls could only be obtained by using more than 34 cradles and special cantilevered scaffoldings." The tower features extensive use of stainless steel components such as sandwich panels cladding, curved cladding, mashrabiyas, motifs and sunshades. "In fact, a stainless steel ring cladding with a diameter of 1,600 mm encircles the top of the tower which has a circumference of around 80 m," Alwazir points out

Internally, the tower features specially-designed glass doors with custom-made handles and glass patterns; curved glass and stainless steel balustrades with glass risers and steps that connect the executive floors; glass walls in front of the lift lobbies; frameless skylights; and hidden louvres behind the curtain-wall glass