Contributing to a Green Environment - ap.hunterdouglas....

Postcards from DubaiIn this issue, we are pleased to present the Dubai study trip reports of our winners from the NUS Department of Architecture –Hunter Douglas Award 2006 and Singapore Polytechnic – Hunter Douglas Award 2006 (Architecture Category).Looking at DubaiLiu Zhenghao – Winner of the BA (Arch)/BA (ID) CategoryWe have to makehistory and approachthe future with steadysteps, not wait for thefuture to come to us.“”- HH SheikhMohammed Bin RashidAl MaktoumMr. Liu and his mother, having agood time at a desert partyI began my stay in Dubai by exploring theCreek, Dubai’s main water channel, as wellas the surrounding areas of Deira (easternbank) and Bur Dubai (western bank). We tookan abra or water taxi, and plied the length ofthe river. The boat experience was a quaintand varied one, as the shoreline had littlevisual legibility and looked more like aBangkok waterway than an Arabian fantasyland - quite a different image of Dubai fromwhat I was expecting. Nevertheless theCreek’s vibrant souks, sprinkling ofpostmodern Arab-inspired buildings anddiverse people groups provided a humantouch and a hint of the rich mercantile historyof the area.On day 2, we hopped onto a sightseeing busto explore the new city.A major highlight was the Jumeirah Beachstretch, a highway of tourism running parallelto the Arabian Gulf. It was a truly aweinspiringexperience to see artificial wonderslike the World Islands, the Palm and as wellas the legendary Burj Al Arab one afteranother.The Burj itself had a rather tucked awayentrance and was located on a man-madeisland, accessible only via a narrow bridgeto enhance the feeling of exclusivity. Therewere many tourists taking pictures near theentrance to the bridge, as admission wasrestricted to only residents and those withmeal reservations there. When we finallymade a lunch reservation and visited the Burjmuch later, the building did not disappoint.The interiors done by KCA Internationalfeatured the 5 elements of water, air, fire,earth and wood in a kaleidoscopic, ultrasaturatedburst of colour, Arabic motifs andsheer opulence. The décor could seem toomuch for modernist-trained eyes, but I foundthe overtness to be appropriate for theoccasion - it could only happen at the Burj.Another highlight of the city tour was SheikhZayed Road, where Dubai’s business district lies.An armada of skyscrapers lines both sides ofthe road to create a strong visual axis; the scenelooked like a futuristic scene from Luc Besson’s“The Fifth Element”, perhaps inspiring the selfproclaimed slogan “City of the Future”.But do not be fooled into thinking this is allthere is: the majority of future Dubai is stilldesert land, and the city is set to grow by atleast 400% its original size by 2010 (andcounting). Already, an entire city is risingliterally from nothing further down the roadnear the Jebel Ali district. There are about250 skyscrapers being built currently in thearea alone, and 4000 buildings all underconstruction simultaneously in Dubai city.As a testament to this rapid ballooning, 24%or 30,000 of the world’s cranes are in Dubairight now. When most of this current batch ofconstruction is completed by 2010, Dubai willhave a new downtown complete with theworld’s tallest tower, Burj Dubai sitting in frontof the world’s largest man-made marina(carved right out of the desert), a new airportcity with 6 runways (Heathrow has 2), 3subsequently larger Palm Islands, the World,and a new Dubai Waterfront, the largest ofall the man-made island complexes. On thecards too are Dubailand and Bawadi, thelargest tourist and hospitality developmentson the planet. Bawadi alone will contain 31hotels and 29,200 rooms.14