On June 25, 2026, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) announced Dar Al Funoon Abu Dhabi, Arabic for "house of the arts," a major new performing arts venue designed by the late architect Frank Gehry. The venue is set to open on Saadiyat Island in 2030 (source).

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, attended the launch and reviewed the project's plans, development phases, construction progress and technical capabilities. The announcement adds another major institution to a cultural district that has rapidly transformed Abu Dhabi's standing on the global arts map.

A Dedicated Home for Live Performance

Most of Saadiyat Island's recent landmarks have been museums: the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Natural History Museum, the Zayed National Museum. Dar Al Funoon takes a different direction, with a dedicated performing arts complex designed to host opera, ballet, orchestral concerts, musicals, jazz, theatre and awards shows.

The centerpiece is a multipurpose performance hall with more than 2,000 seats and an orchestra pit large enough for up to 120 musicians, built for major international opera and ballet productions. The complex will also include a 3,500-seat open-air amphitheatre for large-scale festivals and events, a 400-seat studio theatre for experimental and community work, and a 250-seat jazz venue for smaller, genre-focused performances.

Around these four performance spaces, the project includes roughly 5,000 square metres of dining and retail space, along with a rooftop terrace for special events.

Designed by Frank Gehry

Dar Al Funoon is one of Frank Gehry's final projects. According to DCT Abu Dhabi, the building's form draws on the rhythms of the local landscape and the movement of wind and water, with a billowing, fabric-like exterior cascading over the site. Its façade is transparent, intended to give the public a view into the artistic process happening inside.

Gehry also designed the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, expected to open later this year on the same island. His broader portfolio includes the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Dar Al Funoon now joins that body of work as one of his last major commissions.

A Permanent Home for Artists

Dar Al Funoon is positioned as a permanent home for performance, bringing together artists, companies and creative talent from the UAE, the region and across the world. The venue is planned to run year-round programming and support artistic residencies, international touring partnerships and co-productions with performing arts institutions around the world.

The project strengthens Abu Dhabi's position as a center for the performing arts and builds permanent infrastructure for the emirate's wider cultural ambitions. Abu Dhabi has held UNESCO Creative City of Music status since 2021, and already runs initiatives including the Abu Dhabi Festival, the Berklee Abu Dhabi performing arts education center and the Bait Al Oud music academy. Dar Al Funoon adds a flagship venue for large-scale live performance to that existing ecosystem.

Part of a Larger Cultural Buildout

The announcement lands at a moment when Saadiyat Island's cultural district is filling out quickly. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has been open since 2017. Over the past year, the island has also seen the openings of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum and the immersive teamLab Phenomena gallery. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, also designed by Gehry, is expected to welcome its first visitors later in 2026.

With Dar Al Funoon now on the roadmap for 2030, Saadiyat Island is building toward a cultural ecosystem that spans visual art, natural history, national heritage and live performance, all within walking distance of one another.

For now, Dar Al Funoon exists as a design and a construction timeline, with construction underway ahead of its 2030 opening. It is positioned to become one of the defining performance venues of the next decade.

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