Masdar City Square

Masdar City Square (MC2) will be Abu Dhabi’s first net-zero energy office building when completed in 2024. Abu Dhabi is propelling its sustainable initiatives with MC2, which is expected to contribute towards the UAE’s Net-Zero 2050 Strategy. It is also the only façade design that reaches LOD 400, allowing for accurate modeling of the equipment, collisions, and clearance requirements.

Appointed by Technical Glass & Aluminium, Ramboll worked alongside Woods Bagot and Faithful+Gould, to complete the 29,000 square meter MC2 development.

Ramboll has designed the different curtain wall system (stick façade system and Unitised curtain wall system) with sawtooth façade, which is most critical part of the curtain walling system. Tekla Structure offers the best flexibility to model any kind of shape with proper material properties and realistic production approach.

Ramboll also carried out all engineering services, including system and design documentations and all technical requirements such as shop drawings, structural and thermal calculations and detailed scheduling of the overall stages of the project development.

MC2 will be located adjacent to Masdar City’s existing development around the Mohammed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), incorporating the existing International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Headquarters and will include courtyards, a day-care centre, an amphitheatre plaza, shaded pedestrian boulevards, a fitness centre and a meditation room.

With an area of 29,000 square metres and Gross Floor Area of 50,000 square metres, work on this development is expected to complete in 2024.

MC2 will include seven single-multi tenant office buildings and a parking facility, with six of the buildings expected to be built to the highest green construction specifications.

The MC2 headquarters building will be Abu Dhabi’s first net-zero energy office building, by integrating energy efficiency-focused design and systems and renewable energy technologies. The building will also be immediately identifiable by its innovative solar photovoltaic panel canopy.

The contribution to net-zero is of great importance to the UAE, which in 2021 became the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to commit to achieving net-zero emissions through its UAE Net-Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.

Six of the MC2 buildings will be 4-Pearl Estidama, LEED Platinum, and WELL Gold certified.

2023 Tekla BIM Awards – Small Projects category