gehry partners’ billowing performing arts center to neighbor guggenheim abu dhabi

Дата публикации: 26-06-2026 14:31:39

planned for 2030, more than 6,000 seats will gather within the rippling, fabric-like venue by gehry partners.
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gehry partners returns to abu dhabi’s cultural district

On Saadiyat Island, where Abu Dhabi’s cultural district is gathering museums along the water, Gehry Partners is adding another large cultural building to the horizon. Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, or House of the Arts, will rise near the architect’s long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (see here), though this time the focus shifts from galleries to live performance.

The new venue has been launched by the UAE‘s Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and is planned to open in 2030. It will bring opera, theater, ballet, concerts, jazz, and outdoor performances into a single complex, adding a stage-based institution to a district already shaped by Louvre Abu Dhabi, the forthcoming Zayed National Museum, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, and Gehry’s own Guggenheim.

images courtesy the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi

a building drawn around performance

The proposal by Gehry Partners appears in the first visualizations as a cluster of pale, billowing forms, pulled together like fabric around the main halls. The architecture has the familiar movement of the studio‘s work, with surfaces that lift, crease, and turn back on themselves, but the image here is closer to a curtain caught in motion than a museum wrapped in metal.

A transparent facade will open parts of the building to the city, giving passersby glimpses into the activity inside. Rehearsal, gathering, arrival, and the mechanics of performance are expected to become part of the building’s public face. That detail gives the project some life beyond the big architectural gesture. It suggests a place where the backstage can press gently into view.

Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi will rise near Gehry Partners’ forthcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

halls, stages, and an outdoor amphitheater

At the center of Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi will be a multipurpose hall with more than 2,000 seats and an orchestra pit designed for 120 musicians. The scale gives the venue room for opera, ballet, large concerts, and touring productions, while smaller spaces will support more focused programs.

The plan also includes a 3,500-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 400-seat studio theatre, and a 250-seat jazz venue. Across the complex, more than 6,000 seats will be supported by restaurants, retail areas, event spaces, and a rooftop terrace. The building is planned as a year-round institution, with performances, residencies, workshops, and co-productions feeding into its wider program.

the design gathers the venue beneath pale forms that read like fabric in motion

beyond the museum map

Dar al Funoon expands Saadiyat Island’s cultural map in a different direction. The district has often been discussed through museums and collections, but this project adds the time-based energy of performance, where the building changes with each production, audience, and hour of use.

For Gehry Partners, the commission also creates a pairing in Abu Dhabi. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will bring the late architect‘s sculptural language into the world of contemporary art, while Dar al Funoon gives that same language a more acoustic and theatrical purpose. One building will hold objects, while the other will hold voices, instruments, and performers.

the main hall will seat more than 2,000 people with space for a 120-piece orchestra

project info:

name: Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi

architect: Gehry Partners

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