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With a built-up area of approximately 490,000 m2, the new Central Market designed by world-renowned architects Foster & Partners is a fully integrated mix of retail, business, residential and leisure facilities, with parking spaces for over 5,000 cars.
Combining tradition with modern design, Central Market is a city landmark crowned with three shining towers serving accommodation, business and leisure needs. It is set to become as synonymous with Abu Dhabi as the Champs Elysées is with Paris or 5th Avenue is with New York.
The Central Market area holds a special place in the history of Abu Dhabi. In the early 1960s, when the capital began to flourish and grow, the city centre became home to a large commercial souk. For over 40 years, it has been a focal point for both citizens and tourists, and the hub of trade where merchants from the UAE and beyond would gather to bargain for wares from across the Gulf.
Easily accessible, Central Market is located at the intersection of Khalifa Street, Hamdan Street and Airport Road.
We developed several custom renders with Foster + Partners that are both rough and stylish. They had to have the roughness and authenticity of the old local renders, and the stylishness of a very high-end retail area.
Among many tests, the selected products are 2 colours of brown/dark gray, with 3 different textures. The darker product (ADS023) goes just above the wall's skirting, until about 1 meter high. Above this, is a lighter colour product (N4329), and above 3 meters high the product (ADS02) is the same colour than in the center portion, but with a rougher texture to catch the light coming from the ceiling's openings.
We also developed an simplified version of the N4329, the GLP4881 that does not have any sand and crystal. It does not have the same roughness and stylish look as the N4329, but it has the same colour and is used in the stairwells.
All those products are applied in a single coat, directly on the cement blocks. Inside, the coat is 15mm thick, and outside, the coat is 25mm thick.
For the ceilings, we developed a thin coat version of the ADS02 : the FS02. The FS02 can be applied directly on a plasterboard ceiling, in a 3mm coat.
Here are some pictures of the first on-site small size sample :
The chosen products can be applied both inside and outside. They are spray machine compatible, and are applied in a single coat, directly on the cement blocks or on the plaster boards.
The application process is the following :
The application is then complete.
The product was applied on about 24,000 m2 inside, and 4,000 m2 outside.
The project was open to the public in the summer 2010.
Client : Aldar
Architect : Foster + Partners
Applicator : Narrod Contracting LLC