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Bahrain World Trade Center, Manama, Bahrain
Client: Confidential
Building Type: Office, Retail
Date of completion: April 2008
Total Area: 1,291,669 sq. ft. (120,000 sq.m)
Total Height / Floors: 787 ft. (240 m) / 50
Architect: WS Atkins & Partners
Structural Engineer: WS Atkins & Partners
Contractor: Nass, Murray & Roberts (JV)
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The Bahrain World Trade Center is the world’s first building to integrate large-scale wind turbines; and together with numerous energy reducing and recovery systems, this development shows an unequivocal commitment to raising global awareness for sustainable design. This building is pioneering a new direction for designers and owners acting as a technological precedent. The BWTC has shown that commercial developments can be created with a strong environmental agenda and addresses the needs of our future generations. The BWTC encapsulates the essence of a sustainable philosophy engaging all of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the project. As well as making significant strides in environmentally balanced architecture, the building is now considered a source of national pride for Bahrain residents, and is attributed with generating economic prosperity within the capital of Manama.
The BWTC forms the focal point of a master plan to rejuvenate the 30-year-old existing hotel and shopping mall on the site. The planning of the site became constrained by the existing buildings and the road network around the site. By extending the main axis of the existing shopping mall towards the sea and creating a secondary axis from the Hotel, “Retail Streets” were established. The twin towers’ natural location was therefore positioned on the main axis, facing the Arabian Gulf and creating the entrance for the development.
The inspiration for the 42-story twin towers originated from regional “Wind Towers” and their ability to funnel wind, and the vast sails of the traditional Arabian Dhow as they harness the breeze in driving them forward. After careful Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling and extensive wind tunnel testing, the towers’ shape was literally carved out by the wind to create optimum airflow around the buildings. The elliptical plan forms act as aerofoils (see plans on page 91), funneling the onshore breeze between them, creating a negative pressure behind, thus accelerating wind velocity between the two towers. Vertically, the sculpting of the towers is also a function of airflow dynamics.
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For more information on the Bahrain World Trade Center please visit the building website.