005_history is rising

This is the Burj Dubai, a tower planned to be the tallest in the world when finish. (do not get confused with Burj Al Arab, which is a hotel) Drive pass the construction site and you will see a billboard saying, “History is rising at __ storeys”. The number in the blank space changes every time the construction hits a new floor level. By the time this photo was taken it was at the 83rd floor. That was only about half way to the final height. Compare with neighbouring towers to see how monstrous it is growing to be. By the way, I’ve been told that in the next 10 years, more than half of top 10 tallest buildings in the world will be in Dubai. Madness… These people are filthy rich, aren’t they?

004_building the nation

There are a lot of constructions happening in Dubai. Ask any architect, there are two places to go for gold digging at the moment, either China or the Middle East. The evidence is obvious, half of the total numbers of vehicles on highways are trucks, all kinds and sizes of truck transporting all sorts of building material.

003_revolving doors

Do you think revolving doors are invented for cold countries? Well, think again. These doors not only prevent the outside cold air for coming into the building but can also work the other way around, to trap the air-con from leaking out and hot-desert air from coming in.

002_the grandstand

Sometimes necessity takes over aesthetics in a design process, especially when practicality is related to safety. As I told you before that it is very sandy and dusty in desert weather, things need regular cleaning. This includes all traffic signs. Take a look at the detail. Every street signs come with a suspended catwalk for maintenance purpose. Then it’s inevitable that the columns will get bigger to support extra weight of cleaners. The one-legged type on the background of the picture has even bigger column.

001_the sand

Dubai, U.A.E. is located in desert area. It is pretty much like Las Vegas, a human’s struggle to conquer an uninhabitable land and a moneymaking machine in a tabula rasa. There are three things you can easily discover here; oil (I’ve been told that it’s cheaper than beer), money and, of course, sand, hell a lot of sand everywhere. When you design a building here, make sure its detail doesn’t trap sand on the façade.