EAGON's window and door systems have been installed in the National Museum of Qatar—a recently opened landmark nicknamed the 'Desert Rose'—demonstrating world-class technical capabilities.
EAGON Windows Co., Ltd., Korea's leading system window and door company, carried out approximately KRW 15 billion worth of manufacturing and installation work for the construction of the National Museum of Qatar, which held its opening ceremony in late March. This included EAGON's AWS window and door system and ADS door series, as well as louvers, automatic doors, fire doors, partitions, and glass.
The National Museum of Qatar, which drew attention from the design stage for the daring vision of Jean Nouvel, one of France's most representative architects, was designed with the 'desert rose' (a rose-shaped crystalline formation of desert sand found in the Middle East) as its motif. The building is characterized by the curved, geometric forms that define its entire structure. In particular, it is a large-scale project that took more than eight years to build, starting in 2011, with a commissioned cost of USD 434 million (approximately KRW 470 billion).
EAGON explained, "As this was a monumental project in the history of world architecture, the difficulty of construction was extremely high. That the window and door installation could nonetheless proceed without problems was thanks to EAGON's technical strength, backed by the experience and accumulated know-how to respond to a wide variety of spaces and designs."
The most challenging aspect of this installation was that the National Museum of Qatar was not a typical rectilinear building, but rather an irregular design in which disc-shaped steel structures overlap in multiple layers. To secure structural performance and install windows on the curved walls, windows and glass of different sizes and shapes were designed and manufactured individually, and the doors were also made not at right angles but in acute and obtuse shapes.
Above all, EAGON invested about four years in preparatory work alone in order to complete this project to the highest standard. It took about two years to produce prototypes to first verify constructability and durability. Performance testing—applying materials to be used at the actual site to a mock-up building one-third the size of the actual structure—also took about one year and eight months.
Despite the thorough advance verification, the actual construction process was far from easy. Glass panels weighing an average of 550 kg and up to 900 kg had to be inserted horizontally from the exterior of the building during installation, and if any were damaged during installation, it would take three months to manufacture the finished product and transport it again.
EAGON's AWS series, applied to the National Museum of Qatar, offers high thermal insulation performance and energy savings, making it well-suited to blocking the intense external heat of the desert. In addition, it features a special T-cleat that allows installation at various angles, and its dimensions can be enlarged depending on the situation, enabling a broader range of design choices. Various other products, including EAGON's ADS doors, were also applied.
An EAGON official said, "This National Museum of Qatar project was a highly demanding one, to the extent that the building has been called 'utopian,' and it carries great significance as a case of overcoming technical difficulties and achieving success," adding, "We will continue to provide high-performance, high-quality products and installation services to customers at home and abroad."
Meanwhile, EAGON continues to lead the premium window and door market by providing the technical capabilities to support the upscaling of buildings at home and abroad—from the Jang Bogo Antarctic Research Station in 2014 to Incheon International Airport, the Ananti Hotel in Busan, the new Amorepacific headquarters in Yongsan, and Telus Sky, a super-high-rise building in Canada.