A new video showing a fly-through for Zaha Hadid Architects’ proposal for the sand-dune-inspired corporate HQ of a waste management company in the Middle East has been unveiled.

The plans, first unveiled in December, cover 7,000sq m (75,347sq ft) and will occupy an area near Bee’ah’s waste management centre, just outside of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The new HQ will house public and corporate facilities, with the main public building – a domed structure – offering an entrance lobby, auditorium, education centre, exhibition gallery and management offices. A second domed structure will be occupied by departmental offices and a staff café.

The new footage, created for Zaha Hadid Architects by MIR, shows the structure, shimmering in the desert sun. The building has been cladded with special materials selected for their ability to reflect the intense sun rays, in-turn helping to maintain and control temperature inside the building.



Developed in conjunction with engineers Atelier Ten, energy-saving initiatives include adjustable openings in the facade for natural ventilation when the weather is cool enough. Waste heat produced from air conditioning is also used to help provide hot water to the building.

The curves of the building have been designed to look like sand dunes and to withstand the extreme weather conditions on-site, including not only intense heat, but also strong desert winds.

"The building's structure has been developed in conjunction with Buro Happold to minimise material consumption through architectural and structural integration," said Zaha Hadid, who imagined the design for the HQ with Patrik Schumacher.

"Individual elements of the building's structure and skin are of standard orthogonal dimensions, enabling significant portions to be constructed from materials recovered from the local construction and demolition waste streams managed by Bee'ah, minimising demand for new materials.

"Bee'ah, as an organisation, is converting waste from being something that is a consumptive by- product of society to something that can be core to society's future.”