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Dubai: Developments and News

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mrnyc

mrnyc

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its crazy man!

 

Dubai: Boomtown U.A.E.

Thursday, October 13, 2005, by Jeremy

 

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2005-10/19938633.jpg

 

The New Yorker's Art & Architecture Issue ships out this week to the new elite global hot spot, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, to take a gander at the "architectural weirdness" that's turning the place into the most expensive oasis imaginable, with attractions like new islands dredged from the water to look like palm trees. Turn to the magazine for the full effect. Meanwhile, the LA Times joined the caravan today with its own big feature - full text available for Web denizens. You think NY listings are filled with hyperbole? Listen to developer Salem Moosa's pitch:

 

@

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/10/13/dubai_boomtown_uae.php

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mrnyc
mrnyc

do do do dooby do ---   so now they want to build the tallest residential building ---   100 floors of "inspired by jewelry" gaudy with height tba.       Dubai

mrnyc
mrnyc

^ thats a great view of dubai and that was pretty funny about the bw3.   that bw3 remineded me, i dk if cafe bene is in ohio, its a big mediocre knockoff starbucks coffeeshop chain, but i was poki

E Rocc
E Rocc

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Brewmaster

Brewmaster

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Wasn't one of those island vacation home deals they were going to build be a map of the world and customers could buy certain spots of the globe? Wild.

Yep!

 

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/world_islands.php

 

image:

http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com/developments/dubai/images/the_world.jpg

 

I've seen pictures of the barges pumping sand to create the islands.  Crazy stuff.  Part of me can't believe that this is only costing $1.8 billion.  I would have guessed more.

 

What happens when your foundation sinks back into the ocean though?  Maintenance on that $6 million island is going to be huge.

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UCplanner

UCplanner

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Amazing Building....I have a friend one of my classes that believes that Dubai is going to be a truly amazing city within the next few years...after some research i can't say that i disagree....this skyscraper is only a small part of the master plan for the city....which includes dozens of office towers as well as the largest man-made island, which will more or less be a city in and of itself...this place is going to be/IS amazing!!! :clap: :clap:....can't wait to travel there when i get out of college...in 20 years..haha

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UncleRando

UncleRando

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Tourism smorism......Dubai is a fad and will soon pass.  I have said it before and I'll say it again.  It is easy to create a cool project or product when you have an almost unlimited money source....you do not have to budget your money at all.

 

NATI RULES!!!! :whip:

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KJP

KJP

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They can afford to, using money we oil-addicted Americans paid (and continue to pay) to them.

“What is the meaning of this city? Do you huddle close together because you love each other?”
Or “We all dwell together to make money from each other”? -- TS Eliot’s The Rock

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David

David

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Tourism smorism......Dubai is a fad and will soon pass.  I have said it before and I'll say it again.  It is easy to create a cool project or product when you have an almost unlimited money source....you do not have to budget your money at all.

 

NATI RULES!!!! :whip:

What makes you so sure Dubai will soon pass as a fad? Vegas has been going strong for a long time. Dubai gets tourism from all over the world so their success doesn't just depend on the economy of one nation.

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PRidgeFlyer

PRidgeFlyer

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Tourism smorism......Dubai is a fad and will soon pass. 

 

I thought that too at first (skyscrapers, man-made islands, but no substance), but I'm not so sure now.  In the US you really only hear about Dubai when they make a splash with one of their mega projects.  What you are not seeing here is the full impact of the Dubai marketing machine in overdrive.  When I was in Asia last year you didn't pick up a newspaper that wasn't filled with ads promoting Dubai as a place to live, to work, to invest, and to play.  I think they realize that Americans are leary of travel to the middle east so they aren't wasting the money on us, but in Asia, where the majority of the world's population is located, Dubai casts a pretty big shadow.  As more western business and jobs flow from the west to the east there is an emerging middle class; particularly in India & China.  With disposable income comes travel and in Asia I think more and more people will be heading to Dubai. 

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David

David

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Yeah I agree, it sure would be nice to have an indoor skiing resort or man made islands that look like the world. Vegas is kinda limited on what they can do, since it's in a desert. There's no large body of water. It would be cool if our government stepped in and tried to compete for tourism like that.

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kevmr25

kevmr25

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I am not jealous of Dubai. i am happy and one day when tourism is booming there, Americans will travel there too. I believe once asians begin to flock to this city, Americans will feel more comfortable with traveling there. Dubai is investing alot of money and it is already a major world destination. Dubia is not a  fad, but force to behold. I wish we had some of this development, but hey, we had our time, we have developed our cities,let some one else have a turn. The east has develpopmed and had its time to create modern marvels. we dont have much of a need to create office buldings of this magnitude anymore. we have to be at the front of innovation and think of new things to do, we have to be the modern example of how cities work, not just build buildings, as much as I love them.

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Guest jmecklenborg

Guest jmecklenborg

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>point taken....i guess i am just a little bitter that some of the cooler projects and extreme growth is not happening in the US.

 

Extreme growth is happening and has been happening in the US for over 50 years, however it is dispersed between 40-50 major cities and an enormous land mass.  One of the best things about the US is that the government doesn't care about trophy projects, indeed the closest thing to a trophy project the US is engaged in is the space program.  No stupid tall builidngs, big monuments, or any of that crap.  The federal government doesn't give a damn about the Olympics or hosting other quote-unquote international events.  In Europe the governments throw all kinds of money at silly projects and events in order to compensate for their shrinking population and fading importance.

 

What you never hear about Dubai and the rest of the Gulf States is that they're all intensely hot, all the time.  It's almost always over 90F and 110F and even 120F quite frequently.  Almost everything in Dubai is automobile-oriented because it's way too hot to walk.   These construction workers are out in that heat all the time, and the Arab world is notorious for its at-best indifferent if not cruel treatment of workers from India, Thailand, and elsewhere.

 

Sure, this place will be interesting to visit, but really it's just a big stunt.  The Arab monarchies didn't do anything to earn the money they've made and their own people didn't even build these places.     

 

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kevmr25

kevmr25

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We know that there is allot of controversy behind the construction of Dubai's buildings, and its ok to be a little jealous, because who isn't right now anyway. What can we do but sit back and watch the show. Know one knows right now when this will end, so lets just sit back and watch. The workers did protest once didn't they?

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Guest jmecklenborg

Guest jmecklenborg

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^Jealous of what?  A huge, decadent waste of money, material, and manpower?  Why the hell would I want to visit there, to shop at Chanel? If Bill Gates had decided to build the equivalent of Dubai out in the middle of the desert here it would have been the object of massive protests. 

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David

David

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How is it a waste of money if it is a world wide tourist attraction? They're working on diversifying their economy and if that's the case then Dubai will be more than just a fad. It's not like that commercial space won't be put to use. So what if it's hot there? The weather doesn't seem to be much of an issue to people that are making money. Look how many people live in Miami, Phoenix, Vegas, California, etc. If they rely on cars, then that's definitely nothing new. How many people in America actually walk to the grocery store, or to their jobs, to school, etc? Not very many.

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PRidgeFlyer

PRidgeFlyer

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Alright...I'll stir the pot since it's late friday and I can't do any more work:

 

What you never hear about Dubai and the rest of the Gulf States is that they're all intensely hot, all the time.  It's almost always over 90F and 110F and even 120F quite frequently.  Almost everything in Dubai is automobile-oriented because it's way too hot to walk.   

 

The gulf states are very hot by our standards, but your temps are a little off:  Dec - Mar the average high temp of the UAE is 80 or under and the rest of the year Apr - Nov the average highs run 86 -103.  Definately hot, but not extreme compared with South/SE Asia or the Gulf States.     http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/AEXX0004?from=search

 

These construction workers are out in that heat all the time, and the Arab world is notorious for its at-best indifferent if not cruel treatment of workers from India, Thailand, and elsewhere. 

No doubt you are right, but this is hardly something that is isolated to the Arab world.  How as Americans can we point fingers at the mistreatment of foreign labor in other countries while we very little to control it here?  Mexicans and South/Central Americans in this country are probably treated marginally better, but they are doing the work that US citizens will not do for significantly less money and in poor conditions.  While it does not justify the mistreatment of foriegn workers anywhere, the extreme poverty and high unemployment rates in these people's home countries are the reason that they migrate to take this work.  I've seen construction sites in India that make me believe Indians working on sites in Dubai can not possibly be any worse off. 

 

Sure, this place will be interesting to visit, but really it's just a big stunt.

 

Kind of like Vegas or Disneyworld and they seem to do ok.   

 

 

The Arab monarchies didn't do anything to earn the money they've made and their own people didn't even build these places.     

 

The bottom line in all of this is investment and tourism.  Tourists don't care how the arab monarchies earned their petrodollar or who did the built the buildings.  Americans today don't care that the early "Captains of Industry" were robber barons, that the mob built Vegas, or that mistreated chinese & irish immigrants built our railrways.  I'm not saying that your socially conscious point of view is wrong because I share some of your feelings, but to say that an thriving international city isn't legit because you don't agree with their politcs is to ignore the reality.  I understand why you personally don't like Dubai, but that does not mean it is not becoming a player on the international scene. 

 

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Guest jmecklenborg

Guest jmecklenborg

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Sorry I do not have time for a detailed response.  However I do recommend picking up this book:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400030412/sr=8-1/qid=1145654230/ref=sr_1_1/102-8679859-2040130?%5Fencoding=UTF8

 

A new edition appears to have been published in 2002 so I can't vounch for the new version.  I have the original edition published in 1987, this is an excellent and truly unbiased account by a reporter who lived in various parts of the region for over a decade.  The 1987 version of course was written before the end of the Iran-Iraq war, before Iraq invaded Kuwait, and all the nonsense that has happened since.  The UAE is barely mentioned because there wasn't CRAP going on there even in the late 80's, but there are some interesting descriptions of it, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, and all those places before the Middle East was the focus of world attention like it is now.  If you read this book you will be WAY more informed about what's going on now than virtually anyone in government, the news media, college professors, or the military.     

 

 

 

 

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bizbiz

bizbiz

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Dubai in UAE is one of the future greatest cities in the world. There's between 200-300 buildings underway right now, and many are taller than the tallest buildings in USA. The city is becoming a future metropolis and is already home to many of the world's wealthiest. Many of the richest Americans either own property there now or soon will. It won't succeed in the same ways big American cities succeed (or fail). Tourism and resorts/timeshare/summerhouse/etc. for the wealthy are the two big factors right now.

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Guest jmecklenborg

Guest jmecklenborg

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Well, the United States is by far the wealthiest nation in the world, while Dubai might grow to be a large city and a sort of special tax and law and banking zone like Switzerland or any of the former colonial city-states like Singapore or Hong Kong it still will only be one of those kind of places.  The United States has enormous resources, in the 1960's it built the world's largest network of expressways, built hundreds of thousands of public housing apartments, fought an overseas war, sent men to the moon, stockpiled thousands of nuclear missiles, and had huge standing armies in Germany, Korea, and elsewhere around the world simultaneously.  The size of the US economy has almost QUADRUPLED since then.   Even if Dubai's economy were the size of New York City's, it would still be only a blip compared to the US national economy.  Tall buildings don't mean anything.         

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LincolnKennedy

LincolnKennedy

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I can't say that I agree with bizbiz when he says that Dubai is on it's way to being one of the greatest cities in the world.  The total population of the UAE is around 1 million, so it's less than the Cincinnati metro area.

 

I've never been to Dubai, or the UAE, but I have spent time in the Middle East, including 4 days in Qatar, and some time in Kuwait.  Qatar might not be as flashy as Dubai, but all those Gulf States are organized the same way- the orginial, Arab, pre-wealth population and their decendents are the citizens of an absolute monarchy vastly outnumbered by guest workers, many of them who have now lived there for generations.  Each citizen of Qatar is allowed to "sponsor" so many of these guest workers who, in return for this sponsorship, pay their sponsor a percentage of their income.  In addition, non-citizens are not allowed to own property there.  I have a Indian-American friend, from Chicago, whose cousins live in Dubai.  They own 49% of their business, the rest of which is held by a citizen of Dubai who does nothing but own 51% of the business ("on paper", as he says).  Not the most stable situation for the investor, and not a good formula for attracting foreign investment and capital.

 

Qatar was literally the ugliest place I had ever seen on earth.  A rocky moonscape, it was also the hottest place I'd ever been.  Of course, I was there in June.  Then again, the coldest moment I'd ever spent was in Kuwait in January, standing in the desert in the wind and drizzling rain for nearly five hours waiting for a bus.  This while wearing a raincoat.  The Gulf is a god-forsaken environment, and while the emirate of Dubai might be successful in making their Vegas-on-the-Gulf, I don't see that place ever having the importance that Baghdad has and will have, with its five million residents.

 

That being said, it is a good looking building.  Check out Slate.com for their architectural slide shows, if you want to see more great skyscrapers being built around the world.  Judging from what I can tell, I have to say that currently, large government sponsored building projects tend to embrace more interesting designs than their private equivalents do.

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mrnyc

mrnyc

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it's from som. eh, not much of a twist.:

 

 

World’s tallest tower to feature a 90 degree twist

Infinity Tower, designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), will stand 80 stories high at 330 meters and will be the world’s tallest tower to feature a 90 degree twist. Infinity Tower will house luxury residential apartments, pools, a state of the art gymnasium, a nursery, conference room facilities, tennis courts and a luxury spa. The innovative design affords apartments on all sides staggering views. Open-space design has been implemented to ensure a minimum of pillars and Floor to ceiling windows providing a true sense of space and light. A reinforced concrete column will rotate with the twisting shape to create a helix. In addition each floor will accommodate a 1.2 degree twist to achieve the full unique 90 degree spiral.

 

 

2006_6_infinity.jpg

 

 

Don't worry, it—like all of these gargantuan building oddities—is in Dubai. Sez a tipster: "So SOM hasn't given up on their first freedom tower design – now in Dubai. Actually if the freedom tower had looked liked this NY would have been the winner." So be it, but doesn't the "Infinity" look like it should be called "Flirtatious Over-The-Shoulder Glance," or is it just us?

· Work starts on Dubai landmark [World Architecture News]

 

Reader Comments (19 extant)

 

 

1.

Um...if the freedom tower looked like this, NY would surely have the weakest skyline restoration possible.

 

By realist at June 2, 2006 01:59 PM2.

I think its an amazing design.

 

No small irony that after 9/11 the world's tallest building and the most innovative skyscapers are now being built not in New York, but in the Arab World. Meanwhile, New York cannot even afford to start construction of its weak hole in the ground memorial.

 

America may no longer build great things, but at least we still can blow them up.

 

By GrandPa at June 2, 2006 02:10 PM3.

What a piece of architectural shite.

Why do we have to have huge buildings, GrandPa? Can't we just have a nice city with parks and sidewalks and sunlight?

 

By nolte at June 2, 2006 02:14 PM4.

At least the boats are nice...

 

By ay at June 2, 2006 02:27 PM5.

Looks similar to that Calatrava "turning torso" apt building in Norway....or somewhere in Scandanavia.....but not as good. This one is just blah.

 

By kelly at June 2, 2006 02:37 PM6.

Uh, Santiago Calatrava just said "been there, done that" in Catalan.

http://www.turningtorso.com/

 

 

By ttorrison at June 2, 2006 02:39 PM7.

I like it. But it is interesting how this variable spacing of window spandrels has become such a huge trend. Everybody's doin it...

 

By KB at June 2, 2006 02:43 PM8.

Bullshit, Nolte. New York was built on large monumental buildings. Why don't you move back to Olympia, Washington if you want a syline-free city?

 

By Ray at June 2, 2006 02:52 PM9.

Bullshit, Nolte. New York was built on large monumental buildings. Why don't you move back to Olympia, Washington if you want a skyline-free city?

 

By Ray at June 2, 2006 02:52 PM10.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=182168

 

Dubai is an architecture mega-hit right now... but this building @ 2300ft def takes the cake.

 

In America -- Chicago is our nations top city for progressive building design. But Dubai -- wow -- phenominal.

 

By AngryAtManhattanApts at June 2, 2006 03:11 PM11.

what is progressive about dubai's architecture? it is just like shanghai only bigger. it is a desert, nothing they are designing or building is even remotely sustainable, and it denies any connection to the city it occupies (let alone the climate of that city). sounds more like 1950s and 1960s corbusier than progress. and what happens when the oil money disappears? hmm.

 

By mortonstreeter at June 2, 2006 03:19 PM12.

High rises are generally more environmentally sustainable than sprawling developments. I am not sure how buildings have a connection to climate other than providing air conditioning and being built so as to be energy efficient. I will take these high rises over what Americans build in their desert environments, visit Phoenix some time.

 

As for oil dependency, while I do not hold Dubai up as a model society, they are using their oil revenues to actually diversify their economy, so while oil revenues are the source for construction financing, they are building to diversify their economy. They certainly are not doing any worse than the United States is in planning to deal with the post-oil economy.

 

By GrandPa at June 2, 2006 03:32 PM13.

thanks grandpa, ive been to phoenix and im not suggesting that the us is doing better, but our climate as a whole is not nearly as severe. if you had all that money wouldnt you design buildings that saved you money in the long run? and how exactly is dubai diversifying its economy? tourism, oil, and ... ?

 

By mortonstreeter at June 2, 2006 04:14 PM14.

blah blah high rise blah blah dubai architecture blah blah blah blah. someone decided to twist an ugly box skyscraper into an even uglier twisted box skyscraper. shut up.

 

By meat curtain at June 2, 2006 04:14 PM15.

yes, nolte...do us all a favor and move to a "small" and "scaled" jerkwater of your choosing. NY is for those who aspire to more than you.

 

By realist at June 2, 2006 04:28 PM16.

I'm more interested in the fact that, if you look really cloesly, the base of the building looks exactly like the luxury condos that SOM designed for lower Manhattan...you know, the ones that kinda knock off the luxury condos designed by SHoP....seriously...it's like they took that project, stretched one part of it, and declared it new and brilliant. But, that does seem to be the SOM m.o.

 

By wigetz at June 2, 2006 04:50 PM17.

Tourism and banking. Kind of like, I don't know, New York.

 

Also, a Dubai company was going to run New York ports if you recall, a job Americans can no longer manage.

 

 

By GrandPa at June 2, 2006 05:28 PM18.

looks dated already.

 

By anon at June 2, 2006 08:06 PM19.

Its like if Calatravas tower and Moneos Ayuntamiento de Murcia got together and had a baby. Only the baby is retarted.

 

When I think of SOM i think of xerox; they make good copies.

 

Here is the Moneo: http://megias.com/arquitectura/moneo/ayuntamiento/index.html

 

By nicolai at June 2, 2006 08:18 PM

 

link:

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2006/06/02/freaky_architectural_photo_of_the_day.php

 

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David

David

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Dubai NEVER STOPS!!! That's amazing...I wish I could live in something like that. Cincinnati can't even develop The Banks without it taking 20 years or even fix up Main street...meanwhile Dubai has over 200 skyscrapers under construction

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