From Writing about It, to Finally Stepping into It

By Ward Pincus

Living in the United Arab Emirates, you get used to seeing buildings, city blocks and even entire developments springing up from empty patches of sand. First, you read (or write) about the project; then, several years later, there it stands, confounding you to remember what that patch of sand used to look like.

That’s why it was something altogether special for me – on assignment for Primafila to interview the Head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – to see and then enter the organization’s headquarters building in Abu Dhabi’s low-carbon Masdar City.

I’d first written about Masdar City and this building back in 2009. At the time, the writing focused on the futuristic design and advanced sustainability features. After the global financial crisis hit, I wrote about the building’s redesign that nevertheless maintained key aspects of sustainability, including the rooftop solar panels, rooftop solar water heaters and 42 percent lower electricity demand.

As a result, this building – which is really three separate buildings wrapped together in one high-performance façade with a shared roof – and the broader Masdar City development had taken on a sort of mythical quality in my mind.

At the same time, I find that when I write about something a lot, I begin to feel a certain affection and ownership – even though I obviously never have anything to do with building it.

So it was with a bit of awe and excitement that I first walked into the IRENA building and entered its enormous atrium. Rising the full seven floors of the building, the interior space is fully enclosed and has a certain natural earthiness to it, no doubt due to the large number of plants and heavy use of natural materials. It felt a little bit like a huge indoor botanical garden.

I also was struck by how empty it was. It appeared as if IRENA was the only occupant of this large office building, while lots of interior design and fit-out work was still ongoing in preparation for the arrival of other tenants.

To say that walking into the building was like stepping onto the set of a movie you’ve watched for years is probably overstating things, but nevertheless, it was pretty cool!