NEXUS TOWERDUBAI / 2024
Zurich · London · Dubai
KRAUSS ARCHITECTURE
Buildings that outlast the architects who conceived them.
Begin the Collaboration47Projects
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Featured · Plate I
Nexus Tower
- Project Name
- Nexus Tower
- Year
- 2024
- Location
- Dubai · Business Bay
- Gross Floor Area
- 187,400 sqm
- Typology
- Mixed-use residential, commercial, civic
- Structural System
- Composite concrete-and-steel core, post-tensioned floor plates
- Climate Target
- LEED Platinum · WELL Gold
- Photography
- Iwan Baan · Krauss Studio archive, 2024
For architectsStructural documentation →
Structural System
Composite concrete-and-steel circulation core. Post-tensioned floor plates (350 mm) on a 9.0 × 9.0 m structural grid. Perimeter columns slip-formed in situ; outrigger trusses at levels 18 and 36 transfer wind load to the core. Foundation is a 4.2 m piled raft on Dubai marine clay, eight 1.5 m bored piles per column. Specifier: AKT II (London). Reviewer: Werner Sobek (Stuttgart).
Material Schedule
Facade: Ulster fair-faced concrete pre-cast (Carlow, IE) with bronze-anodised aluminum mullions (Schüco FW 60+ HI). Glazing: triple low-iron solar-control (Saint-Gobain SGG Cool-Lite SKN 165 II). Interior cladding: Portuguese Estremoz marble for lobbies, English oak for residential. Lead times confirmed at design-development; no critical-path material substituted during construction.
Climate Model
LEED Platinum (87 points) and WELL Gold. Heating & cooling: ground-coupled VRF with seawater pre-cooling (Persian Gulf), seasonal COP 4.8. Embodied carbon: 380 kg CO₂e/m² (A1–A5), ~38% below the RIBA 2030 climate challenge benchmark. Operational energy: 78 kWh/m²/y (Part L 2021 equivalent), validated by dynamic simulation (IES VE) against twelve months of metered data.
Build Cost Framework
Cost methodology disclosed under NDA only. Open-book against a target of ~AED 18,000/m² (envelope + structure + MEP, ex. fit-out and FF&E). Procurement model: two-stage construction-management with a guaranteed maximum price locked at RIBA Stage 4. Quantity surveyor: AECOM (Dubai).
Project Credits
Lead architect: Krauss Architecture (London). Structural: AKT II. MEP: Buro Happold. Facade: FMDC. Lighting: Speirs Major. Landscape: Vogt (Zurich). Wayfinding: Cartlidge Levene. Acoustics: Arup. Contractor: Besix (Dubai). Photography: Iwan Baan (Krauss Studio archive, 2024).
SELECTED WORK
BUILT FOR RECORD
MERIDIAN CULTURAL CENTERAMSTERDAM / 2024
MARINA PROMENADEMIAMI / 2023
THE COLLECTIONLONDON / 2023
The Practice
Every elevation we draw carries the weight of permanence.
Permanence Over Novelty
We reject the ephemeral. Every material chosen, every joint detailed, every elevation composed to outlast the cultural moment that conceived it.
Structure as Language
The building speaks before the occupant enters. We author that first sentence with the precision of a constitutional draftsman.
Scale as Responsibility
At civilizational scale, aesthetic decisions become civic ones. We take that weight seriously — and carry it forward into every line we draw.
0Completed Projects
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1Purpose
The Method
We don't iterate. We decide.
01
RESEARCH
Site archaeology, material ecology, and the social geometry of the place. We read the ground before we mark it.
02
CONCEPT
A single governing idea that all subsequent decisions serve. Not a mood board — a mandate.
03
DOCUMENTATION
Construction documents of absolute precision. Ambiguity is the enemy of permanence. We leave none.
04
EXECUTION
On-site authorship. Our architects remain through completion. The drawing and the building are the same act.
WHAT THEY SAY
“Krauss doesn't design buildings — they design the conversations those buildings start.”
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