The UAE’s first comprehensive museum

The UAE’s first comprehensive museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, has officially opened to the public in Abu Dhabi on August 2018: his construction started in 2007. The government spent a billion euros purchasing the right to use the name of the Louvre for 30 years.

However this art palace was positioned as an independent institution. With the assistance of the Agence France- Muséums (AFM), the Louvre Abu Dhabi acquired its first cohort of about 300 precious art pieces from around the world and also leased about another 300 pieces from 13 top museums such as the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d’Orsay, offering an ultra-luxurious opening exhibit.

French architect Mr. Jean Nouvel is the designer of the museum. He has designed many renowned buildings including the Arab World Institute, Barcelona’s Agbar Tower and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

The challenge

The UAE experiences high temperatures throughout the year, with summer temperatures exceeding 50°C, very harsh situation for air conditioners that are sensitive to heat. In fact, the cooling effect decreases significantly when the ambient temperature exceeds 40°C.

In addition, sandstorms are common in the Middle East, which creates a harsh environment for air-conditioners.

Covering an area of 260,000 square feet, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is a vast building.

Its exhibition halls follow the traditional Arabic style which is extremely challenging for the preservation of exhibits and imposes strict requirements on temperature and humidity controls.

LOUVRE MUSEUM ABU DHABI air conditioning plant
The solution and the results

Taking into account the climatic characteristics of the Middle East and the abundant water resources afforded by the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s seaside location, the designer decided to use 4 Clivet water-cooled screw chillers SCREWLine3 to ensure efficient air conditioner operation to keep people cool in hot weather.

The cooling capacity of each of the four chillers is 820 kW and their coefficient of performance (COP) is 6.3 under standard operating conditions.

The high-performance water-cooling system is completely weatherproof and can easily provide round-the-clock protection for the 6,000-square-meter permanent exhibition hall and the 2,000-squaremeter temporary exhibition hall.