• DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

  • DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

  • DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

  • DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

  • DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

  • DCT - Abu Dhabi

    DCT - Abu Dhabi

of

Awards Icon
Adaptive Reuse

2020 WAN Awards entry: Qasr Al Hosn - Department of Culture and Tourism, DCT - Abu Dhabi

Qasr Al Hosn by Department of Culture and Tourism, DCT - Abu Dhabi is an entry in the Adaptive Reuse Category of the 2020 WAN Awards

by Copy taken from 2020 entry 24 June 2020 2020

Qasr Al Hosn is the oldest and most significant heritage building in Abu Dhabi, being the first structure on the island, which then developed into the ancestral home of the Ruling Family.

The works, completed in late 2018, which conserved the building into a Museum. The concept design for Qasr Al Hosn strove to carefully conserve each element of the building’s historical ensemble, to its era of origin.

This approach, of making the 250-year evolution of the building highly legible, relied heavily on physical investigations into the building fabric, archival research and the re-establishment of artisanal skills for the conservation works to be authentic. This then enabled the restoration works to illustrate the intelligence of traditional building techniques, which created an imposing dwelling in an arid coastal desert environment.

The concept also aimed to reinstate the historic context in which the building was established. Thus providing an immediate appreciation of Qasr Al Hosn’s vernacular architecture.

The historic walls are constructed from coral and sea stone, bedded together and rendered with a mix of lime, sand and crushed seashells. The seashell ingredient would sparkle in the sunlight, leading Qasr Al Hosn to be known colloquially as the White Fort.

The ceilings and floors were originally constructed using Chandel poles and layers of woven matted palm fronds. These were conserved Insitu with preservatives gravitationally injected into the hardwood beams.
Qasr Al Hosn, Videos on YouTube, Includes Al Musallah Area
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62xfhGuMxc
https://cebraarchitecture.dk/project/qasr-al-hosn/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snGhq7kUX_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apuX-fec9fE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cANo3usqE10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPIkqQvS25w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnb4ISIT5BQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQpltg4krGw

All the information about how to enter the 2020 WAN Awards is here.  

We are very happy to offer support so please don’t hesitate to email Georgia, WAN Awards Event Coordinator with any questions at [email protected].  

Last year more than 40 countries took part in the WAN Awards with strong showings from Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. And we saw some truly outstanding projects, take a look at the winners from last year here.


Want to submit your project to World Architecture News?

Contact The Team