Margin CFAD

In the plaza of the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, a daily route runs from the underground parking to the building, and it must not be cut. The pavilion therefore splits into two faceted volumes on either side: the coffee bar to the west, the lounge to the east, and between them a courtyard that is the route itself.

Outside, mirror-like reflective aluminium covers the walls and the roof, reflecting the fort wall, the palms, the towers and the sky, so the volumes disappear into the place. Inside, saturated orange fabric lines every surface beneath an opening to the sky: a warm room the colour of coffee inside a cool mirror.

On the plaza's existing straight benches, faceted pieces of hard cork wrapped in white leather are fitted, one per bench, each turned toward Qasr Al Hosn, the lake, or the Cultural Foundation, so the views and the seating vary. The café extends across the plaza without anything new being built on it.

The pavilion steps aside for the route and for the fort alike, and remains in the plaza long after the café has gone. It yields to the route by splitting and to the fort by mirroring, and it stays because the café is its first use, not its last.