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

The Dubai Museum Wind TowerAl Fahidi Fort, built last century, wasrenovated in the 1970s to become amuseum housing archeological finds of4000 years old.The architecture of old Dubai wasinfluenced by the environment, theteachings of Islam and by social culture.There are four categories of architecture,namely, residential (house, tents), religious(mosques), defence (towers, forts) andcommercial (markets). The design of theDubai Museum strongly reflects on theirstrong belief of Islam and the influence oftheir traditional culture.Dubai City in all its vivid transformation,never loses touch with its cultural andreligious roots, bringing forth a new-ageworld-class dynamic city that is differentfrom the rest.Burj Al Arab – Dubai’s rulers wanted alandmark to rival the Eiffel Tower orSydney Opera House, and the Burj AlArab (Arabian Tower) is like no otherbuilding. Completed in 1999, it is set on anartificial island about 300m from the shore,near the southern end of Jumeirah Roadin Umm Sequim. The architect, Tom Wrightof WS Atkins aimed to build a “state-of-theart”which is influenced by the profile ofan Arabian sailing ship.Completing the extraordinary trinityof Jumeirah International resorts, theMadinat Jumeirah is located adjacent tothe Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah BeachHotel. The resort itself is set among 3kmof winding waterways; the Mina A’Salamis right on the water and features attractiveArabic-style rooms facing the Burj (towers)or the lake. The sand-coloured buildings aretopped with legions of wind towers and theinterior is palatial. Mina has a distinctlyvillage feel to it which reflects on theharmony of Muslim community.Dubai is changing so rapidly that it may soonbe unrecognisable even to regular visitors.It is set to break a series of world recordswhich would redefine global architecturaland engineering standards. With this inmind for the future, we can certainly expectmore exciting architectural development forthis city.19