THE Louvre Abu Dhabi has marked a new milestone with the first segment of its iconic dome having been assembled and placed into position on site, according to the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), the master developer of major tourism, cultural and residential destinations in Abu Dhabi.

The dome, which has a 180-m diameter and includes 10,800 square steel tubes, will feature 85 segments which will be assembled on the museum’s construction site prior to being lifted into place atop of 120 temporary support towers by a specially-commissioned crane.

A 600-tonne-capacity crane will be used to construct the sections of the dome closest to the outside edge. However, once construction on the centre of the dome starts, a 1,600-tonne-plus-capacity crane will be used to allow efficient assembly of the pieces.

The dome, which is the museum’s defining feature, is expected to be completed by the year-end.

Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) and TDIC, stated: “This is a major milestone in the museum’s development and a significant step towards realising Abu Dhabi’s promise to develop iconic museums in Saadiyat Cultural District.”

The segments that will form the dome range between 30 to 70 tonnes a piece and are each built from over 100 square steel tubes, 5 to 7 m in length that are joined together in a repetitive horizontal, vertical and diagonal pattern. Once the dome is completed, the 120 temporary support towers will be disassembled and removed.

The construction of the museum is a sophisticated process which involves a lot of work and precision, where steel segments will be lifted and assembled one by one while work on the galleries and building takes place at the same time.

The construction of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s dome will continue in a counter-clockwise direction, closely following the completion of the museum’s buildings and the installation of their mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services, along with interior finishes. Over the past six months, Louvre Abu Dhabi has achieved several milestones, including the pouring of over 70,000 cu m of concrete across the museum’s build-up area and the ongoing installation of a double-layer waterproofing membrane below the foundation slab areas of the museum, an area of 64,000 sq m, which was expected to be completed by the end of last month.

Construction work of the museum is taking place on the museum’s temporary platform, which was built to allow all works to take place in a dry environment. Once completed, the 14-m-deep concrete walls currently built in the sand will be removed to allow seawater to flow in gradually. The museum, which will then be surrounded with water, will give visitors the illusion that it is gently floating in the sea.

Designed by Pritzker-prize winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Louvre Abu Dhabi will encompass 9,200 sq m of art galleries. The 6,681-sq-m Permanent Gallery will house the museum’s permanent collection while the Temporary Gallery will be a dedicated space of 2,364 sq m presenting temporary exhibitions of international standards.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, scheduled for completion in 2015, will be one of the premier cultural institutions located in the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District. These include Zayed National Museum, which will open in 2016, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which will open in 2017 – both also designed by world-renowned Pritzker-prize winning architects.