At a height of 525 feet, the Strata Tower will be the tallest building in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dana precinct in Al Raha Beach.

New York-based Asymptote Architecture has broken ground on a 40-story luxury residential tower in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The latest addition to the region’s desert skyline, the Strata Tower has a projected height of 525 feet and will be the tallest building in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dana precinct in the Al Raha Beach development. Completion is scheduled for 2011.

The tower’s form was created using parametric modeling tools and techniques resulting in an abstract form that draws from both local cultural landscapes and motifs. Computer modeling was also used to produce the building’s louver system, held in place by a dramatic cantilevered exoskeleton structure. The exoskeleton drapes the entire tower in shimmering curvilinear form designed to contrast with the United Arab Emirates desert and sea landscape.

The building is the brainchild of Asymptote principals Hani Rashid and Lisa Anne Couture, who founded the firm in 1989. In 2004, Rashid and Couture were awarded the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts for their contributions to the merging of art and architecture.