Al Nehem (2022)

Client: Fab.Pub
Designer: Fab.Pub
Location: Lusail, Qatar

Date: 2022-11-20 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
Tags: Steel, Digital Design, Parametric Design, Geometry, Sculpture

Al Nehem

Al Nehem is a 30m long icon of a Whale Shark. Suspended between the four Lusail Towers it was created as a tribute to these incredible creatures.

With production by Balich Wonder Studios, Fab.Pub were commissioned to design, fabricate and install the woven sculptural skin of the installation. Format delivered the structural engineering element of this work alongside the designers from Fab.Pub, who we have worked with on many prior projects.

The icon was completed in a record time frame with only 4 months from concept to final delivery in time for the opening of the World Cup.

The 400m2 skin was broken down into 66 panels that were fabricated over seven weeks using a custom fabrication methodology that merged traditional jig-making alongside digital fabrication and mixed-reality rebar-bending and assembly.

The sculpture’s skin is made of a bespoke structurally-optimised rebar mesh, clad in marine grade stainless steel strips. The recycled content of rebar steel is close to 100% and the sculpture is almost entirely recyclable at the end of its life.

Format developed the overall structural design of the skin, working on the scheme design with the full design team to develop the material approach then on the detailed design phase to work up the connection details and coordinate this with Stage One (who engineered and fabricated the internal supporting truss), Cundall (who designed the suspension system) and the Fab.Pub fabrication model.

Project Team

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