Sprawling, soulless Dubai is an architectural flop

[dubaiflo]

Sprawling, soulless Dubai is an architectural flop
By Richard Hywel Evans
Published: May 28 2006 17:28 | Last updated: May 28 2006 17:28


The captivating new slogan being used to promote Las Vegas is “Escape Reality. Temporarily”. But given Dubai’s Napoleonic quest to become a global services and leisure hub, future generations may most instinctively associate those words with this rising behemoth.





Dubai, probably best known for the Burj Al Arab Hotel, where the top suite costs $15,000 a night, is engaged in a construction boom of biblical proportions – to be explored tomorrow night in Dan Cruickshank’s Marvels of the Modern World on BBC2 – that has attracted huge international interest from both the mainstream and architectural press. German TV personality Sabine Christiansen is to produce one of her worldwide talk shows on CNBC TV in Dubai, with the show expected to reach more than 340m households in 101 countries.

Architectural industry praise and official awards have been prolific. Last year, the Chicago Athenaeum gave one of its awards to Dubai Sun Tower, describing it as a “modernist icon”. The Burj Al Arab Hotel bagged three World Travel Awards the same year, including that of world’s leading hotel.

The Sunday Times noted: “You feel that history is being made here.” I hope it was not referring to architectural history. While home to plenty of buildings to marvel at, as a collective unit Dubai is dull, awkward, utterly remote from its surroundings and lacking in a sense of seamless architectural coherence. I fully appreciate the architectural brilliance of many individual developments, such as Burj Dubai, which, when completed in 2008, will restore the title of world’s tallest structure to the Middle East. There is the luxury Palm Jumeirah island, allotments of which have been sold to the likes of David Beckham, the English footballer. And there are the dedicated business cities, such as Media City, not to mention the construction of the world’s biggest airport. Furthermore, I understand why building vast fantasy playgrounds such as Dubailand – which will be twice the size of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida – is intimately wrapped up in ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s plans to transform Dubai into a fusion of western and Middle Eastern values.

As an architect whose work tends to be at the bolder end of innovative construction, I was expecting to spend a few days marvelling in the exciting architectural advances taking place in this Las Vegas of the east. After all, 100,000 Brits live here and a growing number are making it a holiday destination. Maybe I am missing something, but it is so awkward and fragmented. Iconic skyscrapers look lonely and adrift as they sit in unsplendid sandy isolation; the city’s buildings are far too removed from the essential infrastructure that makes any city work. Its relentless colonisation of the desert has led to “LA syndrome” – there is so much urban sprawl the city lacks a metropolitan heart. Moving around, you get a feeling of soullessness: one minute you are next to a towering skyscraper feeling enclosed among the opulence of a top-end hotel; the next you are moving through patches of barren desert past trudging columns of foreign workers. There is only one dual carriageway, no true coast road, and taxi drivers – always a great indicator of societal dynamism – seem rare.

There is a palpable fast-buck mentality that only grows as more concrete, investors and poorly paid, exploited Asian workers enter the city every day. Since Sheikh Mohammed decreed that foreigners could buy freehold property in nominated areas in 2002, the property market has boomed. Large areas are half built; you feel as though the entire city should have a warning sticker attached to it – “work in progress”. There is a real chance of a property crash with all the speculation going on and British investors already face losing millions in a failed investment scheme, the first big property scandal to hit the country.

I am not advocating the sort of city- wide planning that French King Louis Philippe forced on Paris in the 19th century, but Dubai is turmoil and it does not work. Jerry Robinson, the visionary behind the fictional metropolis of Gotham City, said he hoped his creation would be the ultimate expression of a lack of planning or control. That is Dubai, but without the density, style or consistency of Batman’s home.

Dubai’s fans often shout down these criticisms, crying: “It isn’t finished yet.” They claim that all big cities go through a period of architectural incoherence before they become models for other aspiring cities. But do not be fooled. Cities that do not work do not last long and the hype surrounding Dubai is simply another case of the architectural emperor’s new clothes. Perhaps a better soundbite would be: “Escape reality. Enter chaos.”

The writer runs Richard Hywel Evans Architecture & Design Ltd. He has won 15 major architectural awards, including the American Institute of Architects/Business Week Good Design is Good Business award

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this comment alone shows he does not really have an idea.

what a moron.

sorry, i accept any criticism on Dubai, but this article is rather poor.

[Nasrawi]

As an architect whose work tends to be at the bolder end of innovative construction

not only is he not giving constructive crticism but hes also praising himself....

and its true dubai IS still not finished so he cant say a building is isolated as though nothing will change after new projects are finished with landscaping, metro etc

and what is that stupid thing abt taxi drivers "indicator of societal dynamism" hhhhhhh

[DUBAI]

He does make some good points.

'sprawling' in the title is wrong.

but it is one of the first articles to highlight the extreme incompetence in planning dubai.

crticism is never nice, but i think we need some more articles like this to get the infrustructure right.

for example roundabouts instead of flyovers on E44 to save money is perhaps the dumbest traffic project enacted this century.

if articles like this discourage that, then i say bring them on.

[Nasrawi]

he didnt talk abt anything specific like rounadbout on E44

he said general things abt patches of sand and not pedestrian friendly..etc i think hes only commenting on SZR and that rd isnt "downtown dxb" yet its still not finished and wont be the place for people to walk around

marina and jumeira lakes and business bay dosnt even have infrastructure finished

he says in his article dubai is failure even if they finish their projects based on his visit at time when not even 20% of new dubai is built

[TGSwimFly]

While this article is rather harsh, I must say that whenever I see the plans for Dubai, I wonder about the disconnected nature of it as well. Keep in mind I've never been there (and really have little desire to do so), but when I see the plans for each of these mega-developments, they are so individual and try so hard to out perform other developments, there is no sense of city dynamics or of a large-scale community. How can the city act as a whole when each part of it is so separated in its own development? Each section seems to try to "show up" the other. I've never seen one decent picture of a streetwall in Dubai, but maybe there's a multi-billion dollar plan to build some. I wouldn't be surprised.

[malec]

DUBAI's right, he does make some good points. Lots of projects are well planned themselves but often they don't fuse together very well. I think this is the result of building everything in megaprojects. This means that there are clear boundaries everywhere, unlike in other places where the change from suburb to say downtown style skyscrapers is gradual. Take business bay for example, it's well planned and all but there will still be a massive drop from ultra-tall tower to desert. You can go from super-dense to nothing by just crossing a road. This will be the same for the marina. There's a fair bit of crappy things being done aswell, like the big ben tower, the soviet style road on the palm jumeirah trunk, masses of dead-end type sprawlburbs like the jumeirah village, etc.

I wouldn't call it an architectural flop though and I do think that "it's not built yet" is a fair comment. Come back in 10 years time and judge. Loads of projects will have been, changed, redesigned, etc.

[Nasrawi]

Originally Posted by TGSwimFly

I've never seen one decent picture of a streetwall in Dubai

visit here if your in dxb u might find something:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satwa%2C_dubai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Karama

u dont find lot of streetart in most arabic countries but u find msgs in graffiti

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i think its better if there are several communities it reduces traffic.... not everyone is going to same place, but Business Bay/Burj Dubai/DIFC area will be central business district of the city......... that makes it "a whole"... they complement each other

[Naz UK]

Probably a bitter architect because he failed to gain a single contract in an otherwise booming city hungry for American architects...perhaps?

[dubaiflo]

malec, take the marina, it won't be dead end.

u have the arabian gulf on one side, Emirates Living on the other, the power station (well ok, that is the industrial part then), media city next to it, and JLT behind it.
it is not like tower - desert.

[malec]

I actually like a bit of chaos. For example, when I was in Amsterdam last April I actually thought it was too perfect. Everything there is planned perfectly, everyone uses bikes instead of cars. Of course it looks beautiful and all, but I got bored of the perfection pretty quickly. There needs to be a bit of noise and chaos to keep things interesting I think.

BTW, I was only there for half a day though.

[Naz UK]

love that last comment malec! Classic!!

The guy who wrote that article seems like a deluded jealous prick......erm..but i only read half the article though!

[DUBAI]

Originally Posted by Naz UK

Probably a bitter architect because he failed to gain a single contract in an otherwise booming city hungry for American architects...perhaps?

If you look at his website, he does small, one of very individual homes, not realy the style in dubai where everything is 'masterplanned'.

this might be why he doesnt like it.

maybe something like the opera house is in his area.

[AltinD]

This guy has not been in town more then a couple of days, and of course hasn't been around those two days.

This comment, is the clear example of that: "... There is only one dual carriageway, no true coast road, and taxi drivers – always a great indicator of societal dynamism – seem rare ..."

True Dubai seams fragmented, but you who are praising his points, have never been to the city, and someone even has no will to visit while he's more then willing to bash the city and his plans.

As DUBAI has in his signature: "..Don't criticize what you can't understand ..."

[Nasrawi]

maybe he didnt see jumeira rd as "true coast rd" because its under renovation and was a mess

there is some "jumble" if you drive szr from emirates towers towards jebel ali.. after the buildings suddenly you see sand and showrooms like you're on your way out of the city, then again you see buildings..... but its part of surprise

in n america they have center core of talls, in europe they have donut of tall bcos their core is old, in asia they have the whole city tall..... in dubai its clustered patches here and there...... combining best of all

[yusef]

I just hope they do a good job of making the place green, of coarse this will only be implemented after the constuction is finished, but the place looks so barren right now like one big construction site...I guess that is what it is right now. I can't wait untill these projects are completed and all the beautiful grass and flowers along the walkways are planeted....it will look amazing.

[malec]

I think Americans in particular are skeptical because Dubai seems to be doing things that never worked in America.

[koukla]

Taxis? Rare? Interesting. Must be just me who gets lucky enough to have them all on my arse.

Originally Posted by TGSwimFly

While this article is rather harsh, I must say that whenever I see the plans for Dubai, I wonder about the disconnected nature of it as well. Keep in mind I've never been there (and really have little desire to do so), but when I see the plans for each of these mega-developments, they are so individual and try so hard to out perform other developments, there is no sense of city dynamics or of a large-scale community. How can the city act as a whole when each part of it is so separated in its own development? Each section seems to try to "show up" the other. I've never seen one decent picture of a streetwall in Dubai, but maybe there's a multi-billion dollar plan to build some. I wouldn't be surprised.

Really quite agree with this post. End of the day, Dubai doesn't look like it was all thoroughly and metodically planned from the start. At the same time, being only a 35 years old country, it is really hard to blame them. I happily challenge someone to manage better in this same time frame.

Although, comparing Dubai to Gotham? Far too many comic books for you, my dear.

[Qatar4Ever]

Interesting article.

[Pish-REZ-pash]

I think the guy has a point

[*UofT*]

Dubai is a new city, you can't expect a distinct feeling and a "soul" as of yet.
I think you would have to wait untill 2015 to 2020 for Dubai to have coherence and a distinctive feel and "soul" to itself.