Edgetech innovation the backbone of world’s most complex building

Written by Chris Alderson

What is a complex building?

A complex building is one where the architecture, engineering and construction methods push far beyond standard practice — often involving irregular or free-form geometry, custom-engineered components, and materials or systems that have never been combined in that way before. By most engineering and architectural assessments, Dubai’s Museum of the Future is considered the most architecturally complex building in the world, thanks to its seamless eye-shaped structure and calligraphy-inscribed façade with no straight lines or right angles anywhere on the exterior.

Dubai’s Museum of the Future is widely considered the most architecturally complex building in the world – and 36,000 metres of Edgetech’s Super Spacer® have played an integral role in taking it from blueprint stage to reality.
It’s set to be ‘an incubator for ideas, a driver for innovation, and a destination for inventors and entrepreneurs from all around the world’, says its creator, UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
When it’s finished, the spectacular eye-shaped structure will house a permanent exhibition of the world’s most cutting-edge technology. It was only fitting that it took some of the world’s most cutting-edge technology to construct it, too.
A collaboration between architect Shaun Killa, engineers BuroHappold, BAM International and AFFAN Innovative Structures, the stunning building’s outer skin consists of 7,000 custom-made IGUs engineered into incredibly intricate calligraphy forms. This major design aspect features poetry from the prime minister about the future in Arabic.
And inside those units are more than 36,000 metres of Super Spacer® TriSeal™ Premium Plus.
“Even if you’ve planned curtain walling for decades, you always start from scratch on a project of this complexity,” comments Fernando Morante, AFFAN Technical Director.
“In the ten years since we first used Super Spacer to make free-form IGUs in Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Mosque, we’ve had no problems whatsoever. That meant that, when it came to this even more ambitious project, Super Spacer was the go-to product.
“Its flexibility and outstanding all-round performance have let us go to the very limits of what’s technologically feasible. With a rigid spacer, that would be virtually impossible.”
Designed to enhance the performance of IGUs, Super Spacer TriSeal’s triple-seal design includes desiccated silicone foam, acrylic adhesive and a multilayer vapour barrier to offer outstanding performance. It’s been used in some of the world’s most striking and ambitious buildings, from Abu Dhabi’s stunning The Opus to the newly-renovated Eiffel Tower.
For more information on Super Spacer TriSeal or for further projects from around the world visit www.edgetechig.co.uk or call 02476 639931.
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Frequently asked questions

What makes a building architecturally complex?

Complexity usually comes from geometry that can’t be manufactured using standard, repeatable components — free-form curves, non-uniform panel shapes, or facades where every unit is a different size and shape. The Museum of the Future’s 7,000 custom insulated glass units, each engineered into intricate calligraphy forms, is a good example of this at an extreme scale.

What is the most complex building in the world?

Dubai’s Museum of the Future is widely regarded as holding this title, due to the combination of its torus (ring-doughnut) shaped structure, the complete absence of straight lines, and a façade made up of thousands of uniquely shaped glazed units forming Arabic calligraphy.

What role does glazing play in complex architecture?

In free-form buildings like the Museum of the Future, every glass unit is a different shape, which puts far greater demands on the spacer bar holding each unit together. Flexible warm edge spacer technology, such as Super Spacer®, can be shaped to fit curved and irregular units in a way rigid spacer systems can’t — which is why it’s been specified on this and similarly ambitious projects worldwide.