Al Ain Hospital

The construction of a new building for the Al Ain hospital, which began in Abu Dhabi in 2014, is coming to its logical conclusion. Reinforced concrete works have been completed, communications have been connected, and solar panels have been installed on the roof to generate electricity. Pilkington Glass also actively participated in the construction of the clinical center, installing 11,700 square meters of Pilkington glass on the site.

The Al Ain clinical center with a total area of 358,000 sq. m. promises to become the largest hospital in the UAE, working on the system of tertiary medicine. It is planned to create conditions for routine or emergency care using high-tech equipment and highly specialized medical procedures. For this purpose, the hospital is equipped with 17 x-ray rooms, 22 specialized rooms for endoscopy and diagnostics of the musculoskeletal system, as well as a Department of sports medicine. The hospital is designed for 719 beds, of which 484 will go to the surgical and maternity departments, 67 to intensive care, and 142 to rehabilitation. There are also 26 VIP rooms, a mosque and enough underground two-level Parking for 1,500 cars.

Construction of the hospital, at a total cost of us $ 1.2 billion, was commissioned by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) and Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada). In 2009, ICME Healthcare, along with the German company Faust Consult Architects & Engineers (architectural services) and Obermeyer Engineering Consulting (schematic design and design), developed the hospital project and is currently responsible for overseeing the site. 

 The clinical center consists of several different buildings connected by a multi-light atrium. It protects the hospital from the year-round scorching sun, which is the main climatic feature of the region.  The construction of the facility also took into account the need to comply with the standards for natural illumination of medical institutions and the desire of customers to reduce the cost of operating the facility.

Searching for a solution

The architects' main idea on the project was to apply the maximum possible amount of glass in the outer shell of the building. During the design process, various types of sun protection devices were considered, such as hinged visors that fly out 10-15 meters, external sun protection slats, and internal blinds. 

None of these options stood up to criticism in the process of approving the appearance and performing technical calculations of the building's energy balance.

Facility technical consultants who worked closely with facility architects, offered to consider the possibility of using highly selective glass as part of IG units. These products were IG unit front runners and form what the outside looks like.

Solution

Various glass manufacturers with a highly selective coating were considered. After the approval of full-scale samples, the customer settled on the tempered products of the Russian Pilkington glass plant. 

Pilkington Suncool^® 66/33 Pro T brand glass was chosen for facade glazing. It allows 66% of light through and no more than 30% of direct solar heat, which offers very high selectivity, over 2. An emission factor of 1% reduced the heat input from the red-hot sand by 99%. 

By using highly selective Pilkington Suncool^® 66/33 Pro T glass on-site, the project team protected the building from overheating, reducing the capacity of refrigeration units by three times compared to what was originally planned in the project.

Two other Pilkington Glass products were selected for the rooflights: for inclined areas – Pilkington Suncool^® 40/22 Pro T, for horizontal areas – Pilkington Suncool^® 30/16 Pro T.

Both products have a shading coefficient of at least 0.25, which meets the requirements of the Dubai Building Code. These requirements prescribe that the total heat input into the building through the glazing on a sunny day should not exceed 22%.
 
Another feature of the Suncool^® 40/22 Pro T и Suncool^® 30/16 Pro T products evaluated by the customer is the low reflection quality of the glass inside the room, especially for horizontally placed structures. People who will be in the recreational areas of Al Ain Hospital at night will be able to observe the starry sky of the Arabian Gulf, without confusing the starlight with the reflection of the building's lamps.

The total glass area of 11 700 sqm.