FOUNDATION specialist Bauer Spezialtiefbau has successfully laid the foundations for two iconic museums in Abu Dhabi which aim to further strengthen the Gulf as a destination of choice for culture tourism.

Situated on the seafront in Saadiyat Island’s Cultural District, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi are being developed in highly imaginative 21st-century architecture designed by internationally renowned practices. Whilst the architect for the Louvre is Jean Nouvel of Paris, the design of the Guggenheim has been created by Frank Gery of Los Angeles. The construction of both museums is being managed by Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC).

The deep excavations and the entire foundation works for the projects were carried out by Germany’s Bauer, together with its UAE subsidiary Bauer International Abu Dhabi.

The two buildings are sited in close proximity to each other on a large reclaimed area of gravel fill in the tidal zone on the seaward side of Saadiyat Island. These enabling works made the construction of the two excavation pits possible. They were executed using the mixed-in-place (MIP) process, which uses the soil as construction material for the retaining walls.

The 24,000-sq-m Louvre, which consists of a circular structure topped by a 180-m-diameter shallow cupola, Bauer carried out all specialist foundation works.

Within a period of eight months 1,250 linear m of MIP wall and 170 linear m of secant pile retaining wall were constructed, together with 503,000 cu m of bulk excavation for the basement, vibrocompaction, soundings and dewatering. The drilling operations were carried out with various types of Bauer rotary drilling rigs.

The design of the Guggenheim, meanwhile, exudes considerably more dynamics than the tranquil, seemingly floating structure of the Louvre. For the foundation works, initially, measures were required to protect a coastal strip against the erosion of localised sandy deposits with shell inclusions at a depth of 7 m.

Between November 2009 and May 2010, a permanent slurry cut-off wall and a temporary cut-off wall with a combined length of around 2,000 m were constructed under the control of Bauer International Abu Dhabi together with joint venture partner Spie Batignolles.

A Bauer BC 40 trench cutter and a Bauer BG 28 rotary drilling rig, were deployed to carry out this work, together with numerous service cranes.

The Abu Dhabi Guggenheim will be the New York-based Guggenheim Foundation’s fifth museum worldwide, while the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be the the first-ever branch of the famous museum in Paris, France. Both museums are to open in 2013.