These beautiful Palmwood® gates at the entrance of Masdar City help keep the hot desert winds at bay.
What should the gates to the world’s most talked about carbon-neutral city look like? For starters, they should be built out of a material that is sustainable, and they should blend in with Foster & Partner’s high-tech/ancient Arab vision. The gates, external cladding, and screens were all made from Pacific Green’s Palmwood® – a beautiful alternative to forest-depleting hardwood – and also contribute to the project’s commitment to passive design.
Window louvers channel cool air and fracture harsh sunlight.
First developed in the Fijan Islands as a Research & Development facility, Pacific Green has spent the last twenty years perfecting their Palmwood® proprietary processing technology. 
Plantation coconut palms that are typically discarded once they stop bearing fruit can be recycled to produce a sustainable alternative to rainforest hardwood.
At Masdar City, it was necessary to choose a product that would be not only sustainable, but also sufficiently durable to withstand the hard desert heat and winds.
Palmwood® turns out to be both ideal and aesthetically superior.
Eight gates at the various entrance points help to filter hot desert winds, while 4m tall screens channel cooling air currents in the internal corridors.
These also help to fracture sunlight and reduce the need for mechanical cooling systems. The external louvers provide shade to exposed classrooms and glazed areas.
The Pacific Green spokesperson calls their versatile product a “model for sustainable architecture” and notes the company’s excitement to be a part of such an “ambitious product.”
More On Masdar City:
Masdar City’s More Transparent Carbon Neutral Plan
Surprise! Grand Opening Of First Masdar City Building
NY Times: Masdar’s Just a Futuristic Playground For The Rich
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I think they’re lovely and exotic
They really are, and you can almost feel the breeze coming through.
These green gates to Masdar City are very easy on the eyes.