Da Vinci in the Desert

The Louvre Abu Dhabi sits on one corner of an island called Saadiyat, a large triangle of desert joined to the capital of the United Arab Emirates by a causeway. Scattered in the sand on Saadiyat Island are a handful of other upscale developments: a golf course, a Park Hyatt and a St. Regis, scores of suburban-style villas, and a campus of New York University. Soon to come is an outpost of the Guggenheim, whose Frank Gehry–designed building—10 times the size of the Frank Lloyd Wright building in Manhattan—is currently just a hole in the earth. The architects Tadao Ando and the late Zaha Hadid have also designed a museum and arts center for the site, respectively, that have yet to break ground but will buttress the Louvre in a new Cultural District.

Source: http://lslink.info/?c=27FD