The Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre is an integral part of the Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort, located in the United Arab Emirates. This center serves as a venue to convey the natural and cultural history of deserts.

The building with its extraordinary appearance was designed to reduce life cycle costs and environmental impact.

The project was developed and implemented mainly by Austrian Companies (Chalabi Architekten & Partner, STRABA AG, SOLID, ertex solar GmbH, Bartenbach GmbH, iC consulenten ZT GmbH, Bollinger, Grohman & Schneider ZT GmbH).

SOLID and iC Consultants, Austrian pioneers in the field of renewable energy, were charged to design & engineer a sustainable energy supply for this building and furthermore SOLID has been awarded the contract for the installation of the solar thermal cooling system.

SOLID designed and installed the solar cooling system which covers a considerable demand of the overall cooling load. The solar thermal driven cooling supplies the concrete core activation for cooling at a set point of 16°C.

The solar thermal collecors have been ground mounted next to the building. The specific requirements and challenges in the desert climate were special.

To meet the re-cooling requirements of the compression and absorption chillers, six closed-circuit cooling towers with adiabatic pre-cooling are installed. These cooling towers are designed to minimize water consumption while still having the ability to cool below the ambient dry-bulb temperature.

The installed system delivers comfortable indoor climate. Together with the PV System, the solar thermal driven cooling system reduces life cycle impact both on an ecological and economic level. Due to the ideal irradiation conditions, the efficiency of the system is outstanding.