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Helix Hotel ...1

Helix Hotel

Abu Dhabi is giving Dubai a run for its money as the avant-garde design capital of the Middle East. A recent competition for a new hotel project saw New York based Leeser Architecture, an internationally recognized design firm, walking off with the honours.

Their take on a five-star luxury hotel is a monument to ingenuity and reworking a traditional form into the unexpected. Called the Helix Hotel, the structure defies the norm and represents a fluid interpretation of what is normally a static space. Gone are the blocks that usually form rigid hallways and atria. In their place is a floor which constantly shifts in width and pitch as it rises to the top floor, keeping public spaces always in flux. …/2

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As the helix winds upward, programmatic elements change from lounges and res¬taurants on the bay, to meeting rooms and conference facilities, to lounges and cafes, to the luxury indoor-outdoor health spa on the fifth floor, to, finally, the upper pool deck on the roof. The run¬ning track on the fifth floor represents the only moment when the ramping ceases and a flat surface prevails - a sleight of hand on the architect’s part - and an unexpected luxury that fit vacationers can enjoy in the cooler months.

The floor suggests the curves a winding street would take through a bustling town, and many elements are open to views from across the central void. Though the void seems to offer unmitigated visibility, there are enclaves for private meetings and guest privacy. It is designed so that one activity feeds into the next rather than affecting sharp separations between each activity. In this way it develops a feeling of being free to whimsically experience all aspects of the hotel without having to decide on an agenda in advance. …/3

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From the outset, it is as much a showplace for the abundance of opulent life as it is a fully incorporated urban experience. For example, the building has a functional reverse fountain, which drops water from the ceiling down through the void to the lower lobby. At the entry, valets drive clients’ cars into the car park, which, rather than being predictably aboveground or underneath the hotel, is situated instead under the bay. Cars are literally driven into the water.

As guests make their way up to their suites, remarkable views out onto the Zayed Bay become even more dramatic on the upper floors. At the top of the Helix, the rooftop pool deck features a full sized swim¬ming pool with a glass bottom, with the water and swimmers visible from eight floors below at ground level. In the restaurant below the lobby, the bay’s waves are so near to the floor plate that they lap up onto the edge of the restaurant inside of the glass curtain wall. The wall retracts, revealing a sweep¬ing breeze. …/4

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While focusing on unique design, Leeser Architecture is also committed to sound sustainability prac¬tices and worked with consultant Atelier Ten to determine the best possible conditions and materials for heat and energy conservation. The indoor waterfall allows for the accumulation of heat inside the hotel to be minimal by filtering cool water back up into the system as it falls through the void. In the sub-lobby, a dynamic glass wall is built from the base of the second floor down into the water. The wall acts as a curtain would, opening when the weather is cool enough and closing when it is too hot for exposure to the desert air.

Leeser Architecture is a deserved winner. The design is a radical departure from the staid and expected, offering the right mix of style, luxury and playfulness one seeks when on a luxury holiday. We look forward to the opening.