FILE - In this Tuesday, April 16, 2013 file photo, a model of the future Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum by French architect Jean Nouvel is on display as part of a sample collection at the museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sunshine and starlight will dance over visitors to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum when it opens in November 2017, filtering through an airy dome with an earthly weight of 7,500 tons - 200 tons more than the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower. Designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum, which sits half in the water, half on terra firma and was built to resemble an Arab village. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
The Associated Press
PARIS (AP) - Sunshine and starlight will dance over visitors to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum when it opens in November, filtering through a huge dome that appears to hover over land and sea.
The aery dome, held aloft with four massive but invisible structures, weighs 7,500 tons - 200 tons more than the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower. It's a defining feature of the new museum on Saadiyat Island, a salty flood plain of the Persian Gulf, which sits half in the water, half on land.
Jean Nouvel, the renowned French architect behind the project, said he wanted to build the museum "in relation to the country it's in," using innovative techniques to capture the sands, the sea, the "enormous sky" and the culture of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008 file picture, French Architect Jean Nouvel poses in front of a model of the Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum at a cultural exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Sunshine and starlight will dance over visitors to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum when it opens in November 2017, filtering through an airy dome with an earthly weight of 7,500 tons - 200 tons more than the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower. Designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum, which sits half in the water, half on terra firma and was built to resemble an Arab village. (Philippe Wojazer/Pool Photo via AP, file)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Tuesday, April 29, 2014 file photo, French President Francois Hollande, center left, Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nathyan, Abu Dhabi authority president for tourism and culture, left, French architect Jean Nouvel, center right, and French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti, right, visit the exhibition 'Birth of a Museum', at the Louvre museum, in Paris. On foreground is a model of the future Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum. Sunshine and starlight will dance over visitors to the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum when it opens in November 2017, filtering through an airy dome with an earthly weight of 7,500 tons - 200 tons more than the iron structure of the Eiffel Tower. Designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel, the museum, which sits half in the water, half on terra firma and was built to resemble an Arab village. (Alain Jocard/Pool Photo via AP, file)
The Associated Press