Perhaps the most interesting and fascinating phenomena which we are witnessing in the Middle East is the emergence of the high-rise as a predominant building type within the existing urban fabric.  Skylines which were once laced with silhouettes of minarets and water towers are being overshadowed by massive skyscrapers arising from the desert.

In Kuwait, a few key areas of downtown Kuwait City are being redeveloped with a host of new high-rise buildings.  One of the most important and busiest streets of the city is Fahed Al Salem Street. 
On this street alone, KEO has designed several new high rise building projects which are currently under construction.  These new towers will dramatically revitalise this important downtown avenue.
 
Rakan Office Tower
Perhaps the most challenging of these projects was the design of the Rakan Office Tower for Bader Al-Salem, who had an elbow-shaped site of 650 sq m and wanted to build a 30-storey office building catering mainly to the legal and law business sector in Kuwait. 
Raj Patel, the principal designer states that KEO's design 'attempts to create a world-class office building by addressing and resolving issues of geometry, envelope, and programme.'

The site is located between two neighbouring plots which have different and opposing urban geometric grids.  In a bid to harmonise and blend the building's mass with the surrounding urban environment, the design respected and extended the geometry of both neighbouring buildings into the site to create the core elements on either end of the site. The design then established a third grid derived as the medium between these two neighbouring grids which give form to the typical office floor plate. 

The grid of Fahed Al Salem Street to the east of the site helps generate the horizontal movement at ground level along a metal and glass canopy, while the grid of Suhada Street (Hillali Street) to the west helps generate the vertical movement along the elevator core of the tower.  This elevator core faces the intersection of the two main streets and will be clad in a glass curtain-wall to provide excellent views of the city from the two panoramic elevators and lift lobbies from every floor level.  A roofless four-storey glass tower extends from this vertical elevator core and is lit at night, like a beacon which will be seen by the ships that come in and out of Kuwait's harbour. 

The most dramatic and inspiring element of the building is the exterior envelope. Each of the four facades has been carefully designed and treated to reflect not only the different functional aspect of the spaces, but also to respond to views and the impact of the moving sun.  For example, the cores of the building are located on the east and west side of the tower and house all the services as well as act as the main structural sheer walls for the tower.  These sides, therefore, are clad in stone with small punched window openings to minimise the exposure to the sun. 

The main office tower faces south and north and offers spectacular column-free views of the city and sea, respectively.  The design of the main facades was inspired by the shifting sand dunes and landscape of the desert, depicting an ever-changing play of light and shadows on a bed of sand. 
Thus, the narrow but tall glass curtain-wall incorporates several different glass colours and shades to create a pattern which the eye will register as a diagonal movement across the facade, as opposed to an entirely vertical or horizontal movement. 
The ever-changing dynamic colour of the patterned glass curtain-wall based on the sun's movement throughout the day is a subtle gesture to mimic the pattern of the desert landscape which is a dominating part of life in Kuwait.

Three planning objectives were used to design and resolve the programme of the tower.  First, the office plan is derived from a simple rectangular column-free office plate measuring 18 m long by 12 m deep, which allows maximum flexibility of office layout planning.  Next, the entire service component which serves the office area, such as toilets, emergency stairs, and mechanical air handling units as well as the structural sheer walls are located in cores on either side of this rectangular office space area so as to completely and cleanly separate the service space from the work space.  The third is to create an interesting elevator lobby which is naturally lit from the glass curtain-wall elevator core.  This lobby will offer excellent views of the city and of the constant dynamic motion of panoramic lifts moving up and down the tower, while occupants wait for their lifts. 

These three planning guidelines have converged gracefully to create a unique plan, which is both functionally and aesthetically pleasing to create a landmark building and promote a high standard of office space. 
Construction work on the project commenced in August this year and is scheduled for completion by September 2005. Al Ahlia Contracting Group has the $15 million main contract for the project.

Four-Points Sheraton Hotel
The new Four-Points Sheraton Hotel, located near the heart of Kuwait City will provide a new and unique facility for the travelling business person.  The building's transparent, towering 20-storey crystalline form complements the existing luxury collection of the Sheraton Hotel complex and rejuvenates the Jahra Square, an important public open space in downtown Kuwait.  

With 170 guest rooms, a health club, all-day dining, meeting rooms and modernistic reception lobby and tea lounge, it is a state-of-the-art, prestigious businessman's hotel providing 10,300 sq m of space.  The guest rooms offer views of either the Arabian Gulf or onto the landscaped Jahra Square.  Each room is conceived as a private business centre, offering structured cabling for fast internet connections, dual-use TV/computer access system, fax machine and ergonomically designed desk and chair.

KEO provided a single source service to the Oriental Hotels Company by performing all the design services including master planning, architecture, engineering, landscape and interior design and post-design services of construction management and supervision.  
The building structure comprises cast-in-place concrete, with an exterior fa‡ade of insulated bronze, fritted glass and champagne-coloured aluminium curtain-wall, placed within an off-white limestone clad base and service shaft.  As a prow of a ship, the central egress stairs ' in horizontal glass panels ' rises sculpturally from a reflecting pool of light granite, culminating in the shimmering crown of the building that is highlighted by the Four Points Hotel logo.
Work on the project which started in April 2003 is due for completion this month (December). Al Ghanim International of Kuwait is the main contractor of the project.

Special Training Centre
The new Special Training Centre (STC) at the PAAET campus ' originally masterplanned by KEO  '  is designed to serve as an information technology icon building dedicated to the education of students in navigation and telecommunications.
On a 15-hectare site at the southern campus gateway, a population of nearly 3,000 female and 2,000 male students with more than 400 faculty and staff will be accommodated in an 87,000-sq m structure based upon 'sustainable design' principles.  The parking garage is placed at the south and behind the building.

Nader Ardalan, the principal designer states that 'the key organisational element of the design is the central 'learning street', a suq-like linear circulation space that traverses the site in an east/west axis.' 
In this gender-separated facility, female students enter the 'street' from the west gate and male students from east gate.  The learning street will be a lively place, where the 'STC Community Spirit' will be felt, as it will be landscaped with trees and greenery, while containing a food court, bookshops, exhibits, student lounges, prayer halls and vertical transportation systems.  These include escalators, elevators and stairs to the adjacent four-storey classroom/laboratory wings situated to the south and the two-storey administration/faculty wings to the north, below which are placed the faculty parking areas that also serve as public shelters.

Centrally placed and separating the two learning streets is 'the commons'. The 'commons' house timeshared spaces that include a technological centre with an outreach programme, a multi-media 500-seat auditorium, a digital library, network operations centre and seminar rooms, a gymnasium and areas for other recreational sporting activities.  The building has a modular design with a cast-in-place concrete structure, precast concrete fa‡ades of varied panellised designs, enlivened with vivid colour accents.

The learning street will be covered by a simple north-facing tilted plane, perforated by skylights based upon a random geometric pattern derived from a dynamic algorithm of the square.  These designs will be realised through prefabricated modules of aluminum and glass panels.  The interesting shadow patterns cast upon the floor will give the impression of being inside a giant 'mashrabiya'  ' thus providing at the heart of this contemporary building, a fusion with the traditions of Islamic architecture. 
KEO is currently working on the design of the project and preparation of tender documents, which should be completed by June 2004.  Tenders are expected to be announced in September 2004 with construction scheduled to commence in late 2004. The construction period will be 523 days.

KEO
KEO International Consultants is a regionally-based international one-stop consulting firm providing reliable total project solutions. It combines creative design and planning, and leading-edge engineering with management systems and professional talent.

KEO has offices in Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the UAE, Qatar and Washington DC in the US.
Its deep skill set and fundamental understanding of all aspects of project development allows it to offer innovative services and solutions to its clients, meeting their project and business objectives. The firm prides itself on a strong commitment to excellence in project delivery ' on time, on budget.