Alserkal Avenue, Dubai's foremost arts and culture neighbourhood, has inaugurated Concrete, a new space for international arts and culture events, at the arts hub.

Concrete is the first project to be completed in the UAE by the Office for
Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), founded by Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Rem Koolhaas.

The venue opened with "Syria: Into the Light," the Atassi Foundation’s largest exhibition and its first in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region since its formation last year. The exhibition will be on view until April 3.

Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, patron and founder of Alserkal Avenue, said: “Over the last decade, Alserkal Avenue has grown and evolved organically with the arts and culture scene of the United Arab Emirates. The introduction of Concrete marks a new milestone as part of the cultural advancement of the region.”

At the crossroads of modular design and modern architecture, Concrete is a collection of warehouses that have been conserved and re-imagined, offering the dimensions and volumes of industrial spaces for a variety of projects.

Marking the first instance of such flexible, adaptive architecture in the UAE, Concrete is set to have a
lasting impact on the cultural sector in the region, said Alserkal.

Concrete was led by Iyad Alsaka, OMA partner, who said: “The Gulf is an important
region for OMA, and we are happy to have been able to collaborate with an organisation
like Alserkal Avenue, whose vision is so similar to our own. With this project, we wanted to
keep the interior as neutral and flexible as possible, while transforming the existing exterior
so that it would stand out from the surrounding buildings.”

Vilma Jurkute, director of Alserkal Avenue, said: “The OMA team has brought their
unique aesthetic and thoughtful approach to urban architecture to the Avenue, and, in
doing so, they have created a space that has started a dialogue for architectural evolution
in the UAE.”

With multiple configurations, the 600-sq-m Concrete has double-height ceilings, movable walls, and a translucent facade that can be positioned to create seamless indoor/outdoor experiences. Concrete is a responsive, multi-disciplinary space that was created with the capacity to host large-scale art exhibitions, symposia, conferences, conceptual fashion presentations, film screenings, and corporate events, as well as private functions. - TradeArabia News Service