ADNEC New Expansion

Client: ASPER

The expansion of the ADNEC in Abu Dhabi is conceived as a strategic response to the client’s ambition to strengthen the nation’s leading exhibition venue and reinforce its role as a global platform for economic, cultural, and technological exchange. As the capital’s flagship expo destination, ADNEC requires a significant increase in capacity and functionality. Our proposal — a comprehensive masterplan totalling approximately 128,000 sq m of built program — delivers this through an expanded exhibition complex of 78,450 sq m, 10 new halls, 10,000 additional parking spaces, a new 200-room hotel (c. 29,000 sq m), 15,400 sq m of waterfront-facing offices for 1,200 people, and 5,000 sq m of retail galleries.

A primary challenge is the sensitive insertion of a large new complex into the structured environment that includes the existing expo center and a mixed-use tower. The design needs to strengthen ADNEC’s identity while ensuring architectural continuity and efficient connections between old and new. To achieve this, we introduce a new concourse and an elevated gallery that join the existing and future halls into a unified promenade, maintaining the intuitive visitor flow characteristic of leading global expo destinations. Accommodating a dramatic increase in parking capacity without compromising the public realm is another core challenge. We resolve this by distributing 10,000 spaces across integrated systems: a multi-level garage directly connected to the exhibition complex, two 2,500-space waterfront garages, and a hybrid solution embedding part of the parking within the expo building. The waterfront-facing garage façade is activated with 15,400 sq m of offices and 5,000 sq m of retail, transforming necessary infrastructure into an energised urban edge. The architectural narrative draws on UAE cultural heritage. The expanded exhibition complex reinterprets desert tents — shelters that offered shade and gathering space — into a contemporary language: a dynamic three-dimensional façade of metal pipes, fluid surfaces, and RGB illumination adaptable to each event’s theme. The façade functions as a protective, light-filtering skin that reduces solar gain while serving as a programmable public interface. Interior design follows the same principles of fluidity and adaptability. The main glass atrium, visible through the elevated façade shell, functions as a shaded, naturally lit civic heart. Exhibition halls are flexible, column-free volumes for rapid reconfiguration; pre-function areas and service corridors form a continuous operational loop to support efficient logistics and high visitor throughput. Urban-scale mobility is rethought: streets are repositioned, new ramps and loops introduced, and circulation for cars, buses, delegates, and logistics carefully structured to ensure seamless access for large-scale events. The ADNEC New Expansion is an integrated cultural, infrastructural, and architectural evolution preparing one of the region’s foremost public venues for the future.