This building is a physical embodiment of the Institute’s mission: to promote cross-cultural understanding and information exchange. Stylistically, it unites themes of western and Arab design. The building’s entry is accessed through a long, narrow corridor, creating a focus on interiors that characteristically Arab.
Overlaying grids of aluminum panels...
...geometric patterns.
On façade walls, the use of overlaying grids and their function of filtering light also allude to Arab design. Along the southern wall, and visible across a large courtyard, is the building’s most dramatic feature: an array of 113 aluminum panels, pierced with geometric patterns that have photo-electrically operated diaphragms which continually constrict and expand to regulate the admittance of daylight.
