The O-14 office building, rising over Dubai, is an ongoing project by architecture duo Reiser + Umemoto. The building has a perforated structural exoskeleton that doubles as a giant sunshade for the building. So column-free office space and desert sun shading all in one iconic skin.

In the photo gallery the lozenge-shaped foam form working for the perforations can be seen, as well as the almost fabric-like weaving of the reinforcement bar that gets encased in concrete.

The following text is from the architects:

//Fifteen Levels of O-14 Now Visible on the Dubai Skyline
December, 2008
‘As of December 2008, the first fifteen floors and exterior shell of O-14 have been cast, showing the perforated concrete shell exoskeleton which, when finished, will surround the building in a lace-like veil. O-14, a twenty-two storey tall commercial tower perched on a two-storey podium in the heart of Dubai’s Business Bay, comprises 300,000 square feet and is located along the extension of Dubai Creek, occupying a prominent location on the waterfront esplanade. The project is generating extraordinary international interest in the architectural press as it is among the very first innovative designs to be constructed among a sea of generic office towers that have come to be the standard in Dubai’s current building boom. The design of O-14 fundamentally shifts away from the architectural norm in current Dubai towers by eliminating the now obligatory curtain wall solutions and above ground parking, in favor of a shade-producing, concrete load-bearing shell and an open public space at the tower base achieved through below ground parking. The building will be completed in the Fall of 2009.

//O-14 Breaks Ground
February, 2007
O-14, Reiser + Umemoto’s twenty-two storey tall commercial tower has broken ground in Dubai’s Business Bay. The building comprises 300,000 square feet and will be located along the extension of Dubai Creek, occupying a prominent location on the waterfront esplanade. The design for O-14 is for a tower sheathed in a forty centimeter-thick concrete shell perforated by over 1,000 openings that create a lace-like effect on the building’s façade.

//Project Description

Construction 2007
Size: 31,400 sq. m
Type: Office
Structure: Concrete Shell, steel, glass
O-14 stands at the heart of business bay. The tower’s concrete shell not only is the structure of the building but also creates a lace-like façade open to light, air, and views. 21 stories of custom-designed office floors are carried without the barriers of conventional columns and walls. At ground level, exclusive shops link this site to Business Bay’s waterfront esplanade combining high-end shopping eminent culture and popular entertainment. Below grade, four levels of parking provide capacity for over 400 cars.

The openings on the shell are modulated depending on structural requirements, views, sun exposure, and luminosity. A space nearly one meter deep between the shell and the main enclosure creates a so-called ‘chimney effect,’ a phenomenon whereby hot air has room to rise and effectively cools the surface of the glass windows behind the perforated shell. This passive solar technique essentially contributes to a natural component to the cooling system for O-14, thus reducing energy consumption and costs, just one of many innovative aspects of the building’s design.’

For further information visit the project’s website: www.o14.ae.

More pictures: www.reiser-umemoto.com.