zayed national museum by foster + partners spreads its steel wings over abu dhabi

Zayed National Museum opens to the public in abu dhabi

Zayed National Museum, UAE’s long-awaited institution in the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District, Abu Dhabi, opens today, on December 3rd, 2025, designed by Foster + Partners. The project (find designboom’s previous coverage here) combines architecture, environmental engineering, and cultural storytelling in a building where five lightweight steel wings function as solar thermal chimneys. Working like a wind tower in reverse, the system draws cool air up from ducts buried deep underground and exhales hot air through the towers, using negative pressure and the thermal stack effect to regulate the interior climate.

‘Zayed National Museum tells the story of Sheikh Zayed’s creation of the Emirates and the many facets of his legacy, including his vision of greening the desert. The building itself is an expression of sustainability, with five aerodynamic wings that are an integral part of the environmental system, acting as thermal chimneys and drawing cool air through the public spaces. They are also symbolic of Sheikh Zayed’s love of the traditional sport of falconry and have become markers on the city skyline,’ notes Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners.

images courtesy of Foster + Partners, unless stated otherwise

a Foster + Partners-designed institution embedded in landscape

Set along the coastline between Louvre Abu Dhabi and the recently opened Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum forms a new cultural anchor for Saadiyat Island. The building sits within Al Masar Garden, a 600-meter landscaped route that introduces visitors to the UAE’s desert, oasis, and urban ecologies through native plantings, a working falaj irrigation system, multisensory installations, and a timeline charting the life of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. 

From the outside, the museum, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster, reads as a sculpted mound, its faceted panels abstracting the topography of Jebel Hafeet, pierced by the five soaring wings. The mound itself doubles as environmental infrastructure, insulating the interior from solar gain and creating a shaded, thermally stable enclosure. The warm-white exterior materials echo the specific color of Saadiyat Island’s sand, continuing a regional tradition of architecture tuned to local geology.

UAE’s long-awaited institution opens in the Saadiyat Cultural District | image courtesy of Zayed National Museum

environmental engineering as architectural expression

The environmental strategy of the museum becomes a spatial experience. Cool air, channelled through buried pipes, enters at a low level and rises naturally into the full-height atrium, while the wings’ vents open to draw warm air upward. Their triple-laminated glazing limits heat while channeling daylight into the spaces below, and each wing can be individually tuned depending on the sun path. Together, the mound, wings, and ventilation system act as a contemporary interpretation of passive desert cooling.

Visitors enter through Al Liwan, a light-filled lobby designed as a civic living room. The atrium hosts performances of traditional dance and poetry throughout the day, positioning live culture at the center of the visitor experience. Suspended above are four pod-shaped galleries—clad with dense mesh interlayers and topped with electrochromic rooflights that adjust to external light levels to protect delicate artifacts. The pods form anchor points for the museum’s thematic narrative, while circulation between them remains open-ended, allowing visitors to navigate the collection at their own rhythm.

combining environmental engineering, and cultural storytelling | image courtesy of Zayed National Museum

tracing 300,000 years of history

The permanent exhibition of the museum brings together more than 3,000 objects, with 1,500 on display across six galleries. The journey begins in Our Beginning, dedicated to the life and leadership of Sheikh Zayed, presented through archival film, photographs, personal items, letters, and recordings of his voice. The gallery examines the social and political formation of the UAE and the forces that shaped the nation’s early years.

Through Our Nature takes visitors into the mountains, oases, desert, and sea, examining how geography informed life and culture over millennia. To Our Ancestors expands the timeline to 300,000 years of continuous habitation, showcasing archaeological finds ranging from one of the world’s oldest pearls to a reconstruction of the Hili Grand Tomb.

The narrative widens again in Through Our Connections, charting new technologies, materials, and beliefs from the Iron Age through the 1100s CE, including the development of the Arabic language and the emergence of Islam. The maritime gallery, By Our Coasts, focuses on the last five centuries of navigation, trade, and pearling, while To Our Roots explores inland customs, crafts, and daily life, threading Emirati identity from past to present.

the wings are glazed to channel natural light into the galleries below, and each one is individually tunable

markers on the city skyline

a building where five lightweight steel wings function as solar thermal chimneys

the building’s form addresses the challenge of sustaining life in a desert environment

the system draws cool air up from ducts buried deep underground | image courtesy of Zayed National Museum

visitors enter through Al Liwan, a light-filled lobby designed as a civic living room

a meeting and orientation space

the mound, wings, and ventilation system act as a contemporary interpretation of passive desert cooling

suspended above are four pod-shaped galleries

circulation remains open-ended

the permanent exhibition of the museum brings together more than 3,000 objects

threading Emirati identity from past to present

visitors can choose their own route through the different galleries

the environmental strategy of the museum becomes a spatial experience

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the towers’ triple-laminated glazing moderates the amount of daylight entering the internal spaces

the permanent exhibition of the museum brings together more than 3,000 objects

Our Beginning is dedicated to the life and leadership of Sheikh Zayed

the gallery examines the social and political formation of the UAE

through Our Nature takes visitors into the mountains, oases, desert, and sea

examining how geography informed life and culture over millennia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info:

name: Zayed National Museum | @znmuae

architect: Foster + Partners | @fosterandpartners

location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

height: 123 m (above National Abu Dhabi Datum, NADD)

gross area: 56,687 m²

built-up area: 88,870 m²

site area: 86,876 m²