Ceramic innovation meets high-rise design

Wasl Tower, designed by Tenderstream member UNStudio in partnership with lead engineering consultant Werner Sobek, has been completed in downtown Dubai. The 302m high-rise structure is the region’s tallest building to feature a ceramic facade, a robust material chosen for its cultural significance and durability. Thousands of ceramic fins provide shading, reduce heat radiation and capture high winds, adapting to the desert climate while reducing cooling loads by approximately 10% compared to older towers in the city. Ceramic, a traditional material in the region, was reimagined by UNS for high-rise application, with this reinvention at scale signalling a continuity between material heritage and modern innovation.

UNStudios’s design concept reflects the building’s connection to its unique location which enjoys access to the metro, pedestrian walkways, and major roadways. The design adopts a ‘contrapposto’ movement, allowing the mixed-used tower to face in multiple directions and offer a constantly changing profile across the city. The tower houses a diverse mixed-use programme that includes the Mandarin Oriental Downtown hotel, residential units, offices, and amenity spaces such as the hotel’s multi-story health and wellness centre and a convention hall, creating a vertical community that caters to a variety of user groups. The design also incorporates elevated public areas, offering spaces for socialising, dining, and chance encounters high above the city.

Health, comfort, and operational performance were embedded into the project through a ‘Good for the People, Good for the Environment’ framework, developed by Werner Sobek Green Technologies, with the intention to support daily life and contribute to the ongoing transformation of Dubai’s ground-level urban experience. Ben van Berkel, founder and principal architect of UNStudio, stated: “The aim was to make a visit to Wasl Tower as attractive and contemporary as possible. As such a dedicated concept of health, comfort and wellbeing throughout was developed for the building.”

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

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