Sports complexes that build identity - Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH

» In Practice
Shiny racing track
Grand Prix racing has gained another attraction
in the form of the Yas Marina track in the
emirate of Abu Dhabi. New York architects
Asymptote contributed a landmark to the
newly created complex on the Yas Peninsula:
the Yas Marina Hotel.
By Lasse Ole Hempel
The images that went around the world in November
2009 could easily have been from a dream: The finesttuned
racing cars hurtle in the dark of night through a
brightly lit, sparkling, glittering landscape. They pass
through a tunnel, skim the periphery of a chic port complex
before – driving the visual fascination to the limit –
disappearing under a bridge that unites two unusually
curving building wings glittering seductively in the colors
red and blue. With the first Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
on Yas Island the United Arab Emirates have joined the
Formula 1 business. The track designed by the German
Hermann Tilke is definitely more spectacular that that in
neighboring Bahrain, which proved back in 2003 that
Grand Prix races can be held in the desert. Given the high
temperatures special heat-resistant asphalt was needed
in Abu Dhabi and the races cannot start before early
evening. This means the final section of the race is during
the night. It is not so much the floodlighting that makes
the race such an exciting visual experience but more the
buildings such as the five-star hotel Yas Island that
opened its doors on the Yas Peninsula two days before the
debut race.
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