DUBAI - The Opus building, the only structure in Dubai by the late British-Iraqi architect Dame Zaha Hadid, will officially open on January 15.The building, made up of two glass towers connected by a ground-floor podium and a glass and steel bridge, is developed by Omniyat Properties, and includes over 56,000 square feet of office space, a club, several restaurants and a hotel, ME Dubai.
The design of the 93-metre structure removes the need for columns and is designed to maximise views and the absorption of natural light. The hidden base is meant to make the building appear as if it floating off the ground.
“The idea was to create curves and openings with a view to the city and landmark buildings that are adjacent,” Hadid said in a 2014 interview. “I wanted to it to be a very large window to the city - this is where the idea of the void became a critical factor.”
Additionally, the building’s pixelated reflective façade allows the building to be fully visible during daylight hours, but is designed to make the structure appear to slowly disappear from view as night falls.
Hadid, who died of a heart attack in Miami in 2016, was the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Other notable works of hers include Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Bridge, the Guangzhou Opera House in China, the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, the London Olympics Aquatic Centre, and Michigan State University’s Broad Art Museum.
