Ehrlich Architects wins the competition for the new U.A.E. parliament buildings

The project by the team composed of architectural studios Ehrlich Architects and Godwin Austen Johnson with landscape architects Valley Crest Design Group came first in the competition on invitation for construction of the new Parliament Buildings in the United Arab Emirates. The studios invited to participate in the competition included Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects and the Italian studio of Massimiliano Fuksas. The winning project attempts to locate a balance between modernity and tradition. Contemporary forms and innovative technological and environmental solutions are associated with the Arabic architectural style of the large domed structure. A gigantic “desert rose” measuring 100 m in diameter, in which the many engravings on the walls, traced on the basis of patterns deriving from the Arabian graphic tradition, help create a shady micro-climate for the functions enclosed.

by Agnese Bifulco

Design: Ehrlich Architects
Location: United Arab Emirates
Pictures: Ehrlich Architects

www.ehrlicharchitects.com