(1991) ADMA-OPCO Staff Accommodation

client : ADMA-OPCO
typology : Residential
services : Architecture
where : Das Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Retrospective 1991-2000 video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPyTSojDdNX/

Das Island is the storage tank for most of the UAE oil that is extracted from all the surrounding marine wells. It is accessible by air and sea, and restricted only to people working for ADMA – OPCO, the Abu Dhabi Oil company. The staff compound of 88 rooms is in a form of a hotel with just the necessary facilities. It is designed in a plan shaped like an “H” with only 2 floors on one side and three on the other. The complex has access from all sides leading to its various parts. It has two main entrances located one on each side of the large blocks. The interior halls and corridors are well illuminated with natural daylight through the glass opening in form of large windows and curved skylights. The rooms have minimum openings to minimize heat gain as the weather is very hot throughout of the year.

All outside surfaces in the complex have white ceramic cladding. This helps reflect the strong rays of the sun and reduce heat gain by the walls. Due to the lack of greenery in the island, two semi private gardens were developed to create planed areas for the residences. This helps animate the complex and add life to it. In addition to that, the color red was introduced throughout the building on all the aluminium framing and the balustrades to insert a sense of energy and movement. It is also used on the entrance porticos to mark their presence.