It's hard to refute that the UAE is a country of iconic buildings - and by iconic, I mean buildings that really make you take a step back and wonder. The Burj Khalifa is an epic edifice and dwarfs everything; the Capital Gate tower leans so far it looks like it could tip over. The next big eye-catcher could be the new Abu Dhabi Investment Council Headquarters on Saada Street, near the Eastern Ring Road.

The twin, 25-storey buildings are well out of the ground, as you can see from The National's latest photograph (Thanks to Ravindranath K., staff photographer). They are suprisingly narrow towers, but the part that could really stand out is the high-tech surface of these buildings.

"A solar responsive dynamic shading screen in the form of a 'Mashrabiya' acts as a secondary skin and controls solar glare whilst optimising the use of natural light internally. Project Engineers, Arup, estimate that the 'Mashrabiya' has the potential to reduce the cooling load by over 20 percent, with commensurate savings on energy consumption and carbon emissions", according to the website of the architect Aedas.

I've been lobbying for a site tour of this one, so hopefully we will have some more details for you soon. Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds are working on interesting building projects in the area.