The Yas Hotel

 It's impressive how even when you think there’s no other way to do something, there’s always someone who stirs the pot. This person completely boggles your mind with an alternative point of view. Here, I'm going to be referring to Asymptote Architecture, a firm that is responsible for the creation and development of the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Which I believe is a great example and demonstrator of the importance and the distinct roles of the materials used in any building. 

As we all can assume if you don’t know, Abu Dhabi is  basically in a constant state of heat, it being in the desert obviously.  This means that all buildings situated there have to be extremely heat resistant and have an inhumane ventilation system. In the Yas Hotel, this is done by the ever so precise angling of 5,800 windows. All of these, having to be at different angles depending on the sun and the ventilation system. This demonstration shows the importance of an architect to consider its environment, and how knowing the atmosphere and its culture is  an essential part of design.

Another fundamental part of a building is its base and support structure. In the Yas Hotel, a peculiar element is its support. Usually, you'd have horizontal supports, directly leading and connecting to the base. In this groundbreaking  structure, the supports are diagonal, in a “V” formation. This Is because it saves time, which is important because at the time of its construction, it was on a time crunch. Regardless of the reason, this is what I was referring to when I mentioned the alternate point of view. 

The “world” of architecture is seemingly always changing, always innovating. The interesting thing about this though, is that it changes depending on its culture. Example is how different the structure from Alaska has to be from one in Abu Dhabi, not only because of the extreme temperatures, but because of the differing cultures. Architecture is supposed to evolve and change, there's always someone that has to be throwing in new perspectives, because if not, there would just be one generic way of making things, which yes its possible and logical, but it has no artistic perspective on it, that again, is why balance is important, the material vs. the spatial structure, this material or that material, and The beauty of a structure vs. the Function of a structure.