The highly anticipated Zayed National Museum has officially opened on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, marking the completion of a nearly two-decade-long project by British architectural firm Foster + Partners. The striking 88,870-square-meter museum features five towering steel structures designed to resemble falcon wings, serving as both architectural landmarks and functional ventilation systems that rise up to 123 meters into the desert sky.
The museum serves as the centerpiece of Saadiyat Island's prestigious cultural district, joining the already established Louvre Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel and the upcoming Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry. Dedicated to UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the institution celebrates the rich history, culture, and landscape of the Emirates through seven comprehensive galleries housing over 3,000 artifacts spanning 300,000 years of regional heritage.
"Zayed National Museum is located at the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District, which includes a constellation of new cultural buildings along its coastline," studio founder Norman Foster explained. "Our site is located further inland, with a direct pedestrian route through the Al Masar Garden that connects the museum to the coast. The project's civic spaces will complement retail and residential areas around the edges of the site, contributing to the creation of a new cultural neighborhood for Abu Dhabi – a miniature city within the city."
The building's most distinctive features are its five giant steel towers, which Foster describes as "thermal chimneys" designed to naturally cool the interior spaces. Each tower has a unique size and shape, with the tallest reaching 123 meters, and they are strategically positioned to prevent overshadowing while allowing natural light to filter through their glazed exteriors. The wing-like structures pay homage to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's passion for falconry, a traditional Emirati practice.
"The wings draw out hot air from the building's atrium by taking advantage of the negative pressure on the leeside of their profiles," Foster detailed. "The tips of the wings heat up to create thermal currents of rising air. This combines to pull air, which is cooled naturally deep beneath the desert floor, into the building to regulate the temperature of the interior spaces." This innovative cooling system reflects the firm's commitment to sustainable design in the harsh desert climate.
The museum's exterior is enveloped by a faceted mound designed to evoke the natural desert topography, incorporating public spaces such as shaded pathways and viewing platforms. The building employs a deliberately pared-back material palette dominated by white concrete made with locally sourced crushed marble, intended to mirror the pristine sand of Saadiyat Island. This concrete is complemented by patinated bronze detailing visible on gallery entrances and wayfinding elements, along with painted steel and aluminum on the towers.
Inside, the museum is organized around honed-concrete drum walls with a distinctive layered appearance created by pouring concrete in situ. This architectural feature is most prominent in the cavernous lobby called Al Liwan, which houses a shop and auditorium. Two permanent galleries are accessible directly from the lobby, while four additional galleries are suspended from the drum walls on the first floor in what Foster describes as "pods."
These suspended gallery pods, clad in glass-reinforced concrete panels, create strategic gaps that allow natural light from the towers to illuminate the lobby below. The pods vary in size depending on their content, creating what Foster calls a "deliberate shift in scale" as visitors move through the space. "Pod-like galleries are suspended under four of the building's five wings. They appear to float within the space and vary in size to support the range of artifacts on display," Foster noted. "The experience is incredibly uplifting – with daylight bouncing off the pods and the walls of the lobby."
The museum's collection tells the comprehensive story of Abu Dhabi and the UAE through carefully curated displays. Notable highlights include a recreation of a Bronze Age boat positioned in the museum's central atrium and a detailed scale model of the Hili Grand Tomb, an ancient Bronze Age burial site located in Al Ain. These artifacts and displays provide visitors with an immersive journey through the region's archaeological and cultural heritage.
Completing the architectural vision is the impressive 600-meter-long Al Masar Garden, which is thoughtfully divided into four distinct thematic zones and culminates at a grand entrance plaza featuring a spectacular fountain. The garden showcases more than 900 different species of plants and trees native to the region, along with animal sculptures and an innovative irrigation system modeled after a falaj – an ancient water-harvesting technique traditionally used in the Arabian Peninsula.
The project's journey began in 2007 when Foster + Partners won an international competition to design the museum, with construction officially commencing in 2008. During a recent tour of the completed building, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, praised Foster's design for its authentic celebration of local culture and heritage. "Norman Foster really did that very well here compared to the other architects, and that's why his design was chosen," Al Mubarak told reporters.
The opening of the Zayed National Museum represents the latest addition to Abu Dhabi's rapidly expanding cultural landscape, following the 2023 openings of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Dutch firm Mecanoo, which features a blocky form inspired by regional rock formations, and the Abrahamic Family House designed by Adjaye Associates. These developments collectively position Saadiyat Island as a major international destination for art, culture, and architectural tourism in the Middle East.
