Rabih’s Blog
Rabih El Hawarni · Founder & General Manager
Personal insights, project stories and technical perspectives, drawn from over two decades in structural acrylic engineering and luxury architecture across the Gulf.
Latest highlights
The Right Way to Calculate Structural Acrylic: Polymer-Specific Analysis, Not Borrowed Reference Values
Structural acrylic is calculated correctly only with polymer-specific analysis and real cell-cast PMMA data, never with glass or steel reference values.
Why Rigid-Material Software Fails on Structural Acrylic: The Polymer Problem in Pool Wall Calculation
Structural acrylic cannot be calculated with software built for steel and concrete. A polymer behaves differently, and the wrong assumptions start at the first input.
Structural Acrylic Thickness: The FEA Calculation That Matches a Panel to Its Real Loads
Structural acrylic thickness is not guesswork. It comes from an FEA calculation that simulates every load a panel faces, then matches thickness to the application.
Structural Laminated Acrylic: What It Is, and When a Project Needs It
Structural laminated acrylic bonds monolithic pieces by polymerization to build thickness up to 800mm for large aquariums and oceanographic windows.
Acrylic Pool Wall Thickness: Where the Field Formula Stops and Structural Calculation Begins
Acrylic pool wall thickness needs full structural calculation, not the field formula, for high-floor walls, pool floors, underwater windows, and cantilevers.
Acrylic Pool Wall Thickness: The Field Formula for Villa and Podium Pools Under 7 Meters SLUG
Acrylic pool wall thickness has a fast field formula for villa, podium, and ground-floor pools under 7 meters where wind load is not a factor.
Structural Acrylic (Monolithic, One Cast)
Structural acrylic in monolithic form is a single block of PMMA produced in one casting cycle. Here is what one cast means structurally and optically, and where its limits begin.
New Exclusive Featured in GCC Business News for Structural Acrylic Work
GCC Business News has featured New Exclusive for its structural acrylic work across luxury residential and hospitality projects in the UAE and GCC.
Structural Acrylic Thickness: The Three Loads That Decide Every Panel
Structural acrylic thickness is decided by three loads: hydrostatic pressure, wind, and the panel's own weight. Here is how each one enters the calculation.
Choosing the Right Structural Acrylic Thickness: Why the Number on the Drawing Is Not the Answer
Structural acrylic thickness is calculated from a project's load conditions, never simply read off the original drawing.
Structural Acrylic Failure Analysis: What the Public Record Shows About the Berlin AquaDom
Structural acrylic failure analysis of the Berlin AquaDom, drawn entirely from the published investigation, with a closing specialist note on how acrylic behaves.
Structural Acrylic Specialist Rabih El Hawarni Featured in ICONIC ALPHAAS Power Profile 2026
Structural acrylic specialist Rabih El Hawarni is the cover feature of the ICONIC ALPHAAS Power Profile Edition 2026, a global luxury and design audience.
Structural Acrylic vs Glass Clarity: Why Optical Performance Holds for 30 Years
Structural acrylic holds clarity that glass cannot match over decades, and on a luxury pool wall that optical performance is the project itself.
Structural Acrylic vs Glass Failure: Why One Shatters and the Other Warns You First
Structural acrylic and glass fail in opposite ways. One shatters with no warning. The other deflects and gives the project time to respond.
Chemical Bonding for Structural Acrylic: Joining Panels Into One Continuous Wall , The method that gives a structural acrylic wall its length and width without giving up strength at the seam
Chemical bonding for structural acrylic joins panels into one continuous wall. The two bonding methods, what each is for, and why the seam can be the strongest point.
Structural Acrylic vs Glass Weight: Why Half the Dead Load Means a Higher Safety Margin
Structural acrylic weighs roughly half what glass weighs at the same thickness, which lowers dead load on the structure and raises the long-term safety margin.
Why the Market Specifies Glass for Luxury Pool Walls When Acrylic Is the Right Choice
Structural acrylic is the right material for luxury pool walls and underwater windows, even though the market defaults to glass out of habit, not load behavior.
Structural Acrylic Annealing: The Stress Relief Step After Casting
Structural acrylic annealing relieves the internal stress locked into a cast block, the step that decides whether it survives under load.
Premium vs Commercial Grade Acrylic: The Three Differences That Decide a 30-Year Pool Wall
Premium and commercial structural acrylic look identical on delivery day. Three differences, MMA purity, casting discipline, and verification, decide which lasts.
New Exclusive Achieves ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Certification
New Exclusive is now ISO 45001:2018 certified, the international standard for occupational health and safety management, independently assessed by QRO.
New Exclusive Achieves ISO 9001:2015 Certification for Quality Management
New Exclusive Decoration Design & Fit-Out LLC has been independently certified to ISO 9001:2015, the international standard for Quality Management Systems, by QRO Certification under EGAC accreditation.
How Structural Acrylic Is Cast: The Slow Curing Process Behind 30-Year Pool Walls
How Structural Acrylic Is Cast | The Acrylic Code Ep. 11 Structural acrylic is cast by pouring liquid MMA between two glass plates and letting it polymerize slowly over several days. The slow cure is the entire point.
Structural Analysis of a 15m Acrylic Pool Wall Failure: Calculation Method and Rebate Geometry Case Study
Engineering case study of a 15m × 1.2m rooftop acrylic pool wall originally specified at 120mm thickness and later replaced at 150mm, where deflection led to silicone delamination at the panel corners and water leakage. Root cause traced to calculation software and material property inputs, compounded by inadequate rebate depth and width on both the original and replacement panel.
What Is Structural Acrylic? Cell-Cast PMMA Explained — The Acrylic Code Episode 10
Structural acrylic is cell-cast PMMA produced for load-bearing applications. Episode 10 of The Acrylic Code by Rabih El Hawarni.
Welcome to The Acrylic Code | Episode 9: Structural Acrylic—The Grade Built for Water Pressure | نيو إكسكلوزيف
Decorative acrylic will fail under hydrostatic load. Episode 9 introduces Structural Acrylic—the load-bearing engineering grade required for clear pool walls, underwater windows, and cantilevered structures across the UAE and GCC.
What Is Structural Acrylic, and Why the Right Grade Decides the Life of a Luxury Pool"
Featured contributor article published in Gulf Press, the first piece in a continuing series introducing the structural acrylic field to the GCC luxury construction market. The article covers the technical foundation of cell-cast PMMA, the casting and annealing process, and the four verification questions every project should ask before approving an acrylic installation."
WHY STRUCTURAL CALCULATION BEHIND ACRYLIC THICKNESS DECIDES WHETHER THE SPECIFICATION IS VALID By Rabih El Hawarni Structural Acrylic Specialist | Founder, New Exclusive Decoration Design & Fit-Out LLC | Dubai
The software, material properties, and load case behind a structural acrylic calculation decide whether the thickness specification is structurally valid.
Entrepreneur Gulf Spotlight: Rabih El Hawarni on the Mastery of Structural Acrylic Engineering
Entrepreneur Gulf features Rabih El Hawarni, Founder of New Exclusive, as a global trendsetter and artisan in structural acrylic engineering.
الدليل الهندسي لمشاريع الأكريليك الإنشائي والمسابح الشفافة
Discover the engineering standards for structural acrylic pools. Learn about thickness calculation, chemical bonding, and why cheap contractors fail.
How to Specify the Right Thickness for Structural Acrylic Applications By Rabih El Hawarni Structural Acrylic Specialist, Founder of New Exclusive Decoration Design & Fit-Out LLC, Dubai
Thickness is the X factor in structural acrylic. A specialist in Dubai walks through the loads, the field formula, and the proper calculation behind it. A structural acrylic specialist in Dubai explains how to define the right thickness for pool walls, underwater windows, pool floors, and aquariums.
Monolithic vs Laminated Acrylic Pool Walls, How to Specify the Right One
Monolithic or laminated for an acrylic pool wall? A structural acrylic specialist in Dubai explains when to specify each and why the market gets it wrong.
What Is Structural Acrylic? The Foundation Every Architect and Developer Should Understand
During my years working with structural acrylic across the Gulf, I've learned that most clients have never heard the technical name of the material holding back the water in their luxury pool. This article explains what structural acrylic actually is, how it's made, and why the technology behind it determines whether your installation lasts 30 years or fails in 3!
Why Luxury Pools Use Acrylic Instead of Glass
Most people assume the transparent walls in luxury pools are made from glass. They are not. In virtually every premium installation across the Gulf and internationally, the material holding back the water is structural cell-cast PMMA. Here is why acrylic wins on every metric that matters.
Acrylic Pool Construction Beyond The Blueprint(Full Episode)
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