The Wave
The Wave serves as a canvas where the language of design facilitates a conversation between the past and the future.
CLIENT : AWA (ALSAGER WERTEL ARCHITECTS), CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT
LOCATION : KUWAIT
SITE : CONFIDENTIAL
YEAR : 2023
TYPE : LARGE FORMAT COMMERCIAL
SCOPE : CANOPY DESIGN, DOCUMENTATION & COORDINATION
The Wave is a collaborative venture between Al Sager Wertel Architects, Differential, Mühlich + Partner Architekten, str.ucture, and TAEP who have came together to transform the landscape of Kuwait's industrial district in Shuwaikh.
Differential, as the project's computational designer, played a pivotal role in crafting the distinctive undulating roof canopy that crowns the shopping modules.
Drawing inspiration from Kuwait's rich heritage, particularly the historic souq, the canopy mirrors the rhythmic undulations of rolling sand dunes and the captivating waves of the ocean.
This new iconic structure in the port side district of Shuwaikh is a homage to the past infused with a modern shopping experience.
Light flitering through the roof canopy's louvers emulates the dappled light qualities found in the historic Kuwaiti souq (markets).
Source: William Facey
Built-in water features and landscaped seating areas across multiple levels celebrate the bespoke canopy structure while providing moments of respite.
Each louver blade is computationally "tuned" to achieve the most optimised lighting levels and thermal comfort throught the year reducing energy consumption.
The gridshell canopy was developed in close collaboration with German engineering studio str.ucture to achieve the wide spanning valuts that gently touch-down on top of the shopping modules to create the iconic floating wave.
There are over 900 unique "nodes" within the gridshell canopy - each has been designed to exacting tolerances and specifications - yet our advanced BIM workflows allow for easy configuration and updates even during the late stages of the project.
Project team
Project + Design lead : AlSager Wertel Architects
Computational Design : Differential
Architecture Coordination + Design support : Mühlich + Partner Architekten
Structural Engineering : str.ucture
Local Engineering & Coordination : TAEP
Lighting Design : FPOV
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