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UAE: The Latest Architecture and News

Dramatic Fire Breaks Out Near Burj Khalifa the World's Tallest Building

A fire has broken out at a construction site near the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates. At around 6:30 am (02:30 GMT), flames broke out in the lower levels of the Address Residences Fountain Views towers, a complex of three towers, each 60 floors in height, being built by Dubai developer Emaar Properties.

Dubai Frame Approaches Completion Amid Allegations of Stolen Intellectual Property

Dubai’s newest mega-attraction, a 150-meter-high, 93-meter-wide picture frame structure dubbed the “Dubai Frame” is approaching completion after a nearly two-year delay, and is set for opening in the second half of this year. At a cost of $43.60 million, the new building will stand as a symbol of the city’s rapid rise from modest settlement to gleaming metropolis, giving visitors a panoramic view of the boundary-pushing skyscrapers from the coast of the Persian Gulf.

It also may stand as a symbol of something far less idyllic: intellectual property theft.

Calatrava, Foster + Zaha Hadid Architects to Open Offices at Dubai Design District

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Dubai Design District. Image Courtesy of Dubai Design District

Dubai Design District (d3) has announced the opening of offices by 4 of the world’s leading architecture firms – Zaha Hadid Architects, Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers, Foster + Partners and Benoy – marking another step towards the city’s goal of becoming a global design hub.

Since first launching in April 2013, d3 has become the region’s preeminent destination for artists, designers and creative types of all kinds to work and collaborate. So far, d3 has welcomed in over 30 architecture firms of medium to large size, including SSH and Viktor Udzenija, RMJM and Wanders Wagner.

BIG and Hyperloop One Unveil Designs for Unprecedented Autonomous Transportation System

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Hyperloop One have unveiled joint designs for an autonomous transportation system and the world’s first Hyperloop pods and portals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The designs are being presented as Hyperloop One signs a deal with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), bringing the project one step closer to reality.

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World's Tallest Tower: Santiago Calatrava's Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour Breaks Ground

Santiago Calatrava’s Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour has broken ground, and in just a few short years, will be breaking records, too.

At the ground breaking ceremony this week, officials including His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Excellency Mohammad Al Gergawi, Chairman of Dubai Holding, and Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, and Micael Calatrava, CEO of Calatrava International announced that upon its completion in 2020, the landmark observation tower will measure in at a height slightly taller than Dubai’s own Burj Khalifa, making it the tallest tower in the world.

“The design and architectural features of The Tower demand unique engineering approaches that are currently being implemented on site. Extensive studies were undertaken in preparation for the groundbreaking, and the learning that we have gained from the experience will add to the knowledge base of mankind,” said Santiago Calatrava.

Watch How the World's Largest LED Screen Was Installed at the Burj Khalifa

In this video, members of the engineering team behind the the world’s largest LED screen explain the process behind its installation on the facade of the Burj Khalifa last year. The massive screen required 72 kilometers of cabling and 10,000 connectors to cover a total area of 33,000 square meters.

“We faced sandstorms, we faced rain, we faced heavy wind, so quite often we had to wait until we had a good slot in terms of wind to go out and do the installation,” says Senior Project Manager Kris Vloemans.

The screen has been utilized for a range of different shows since it was first used to ring in the New Year in 2015. Earlier this year, the Burj Khalifa sent out an open call to artists to submit their own dynamic designs to be displayed on the building facade.

Also check out some videos of the screen in action, below.

Benoy Releases Plans for Large Sustainable Community Park in Abu Dhabi

Benoy’s UAE studios best known for their work in the MENA region have released the plans for Abu Dhabi’s upcoming Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Park. In a redefinition of the former Khalidya Ladies Park, the renovation—as a portion of the AED94 million renovation—was commissioned by The Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport at Abu Dhabi City Municipality to “fuel discovery and support the core tenets of the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.”

The open-air project centers on the concepts of sustainability, economic diversification and growth, improved social and community facilities, the promotion of Arab and Emirati culture, and a focus on contemporary living.

"Transformations: The Emirati National House": Inside UAE's Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale

As part of ArchDaily's coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.

In response to Alejandro Aravena’s Biennale theme “Reporting from the Front” the UAE National Pavilion, commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and supported by the UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, has chosen as its main theme the transformation of the UAE National house, also known as Sha’abi, or People’s house – a housing program that was introduced in the UAE in the early 1970s to house what was then a fairly transient population.

Workshop by Ken Yeang at Ajman University of Science & Technology, UAE

The department of Architectural Engineering at the College of Engineering in Ajman University of Science and Technology will be holding a workshop from 28th February – 1st March 2016. The workshop is entitled “EcoArchitecture: Green Buildings for UAE” delivered by internationally renowned architect Ken Yeang.

Yasser Elsheshtawy Reveals Theme for UAE Pavilion at 2016 Venice Biennale

As announced in October 2015, UAEU professor Yasser Elsheshtawy has been selected to curate the United Arab Emirates pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale. Following the Biennale’s theme of Reporting from the Front, Elsheshtawy—who runs the blog Dubaization, a term he coined in 2004 to depict the influence of Dubai on the urban discourse—has chosen to highlight the country’s social housing program, known as Sha’abi housing, which began in the 1970s and continues on to today.

ArchDaily was given the opportunity to speak to Elsheshtawy about the history of the United Arab Emirates’ Sha’abi housing, and what role it might play in informing the urban future of a country that has become renowned for a very different type of architecture. Continue reading for our exclusive interview with Elsheshtawy on this year’s UAE pavilion.

Yasser Elsheshtawy to Curate UAE Pavilion at 2016 Venice Biennale

UAEU professor Yasser Elsheshtawy has been appointed to curate the United Arab Emirates' participation at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Elsheshtawy plans to work with a group of selected interns on an exhibition that will reflect the UAE's contribution to the advancement of architecture and culture. A theme for the exhibition has yet to be announced.

X-Architects Win Competition to Design New Masterplan for Mecca

X-Architects has won a competition to re-masterplan Mecca. As designMENA reports, the UAE-based practice has proposed a number of safe and streamlined pedestrian routes to "enhance the movement during the 'Nafrah,' the ritual of moving from Mina to Haram and vice versa" during the religious Hajj. The plan also includes a proposed mixed-use development adjacent to Hima Al Masheir (the holy ritual territories) that would provide service and facilities to those taking part in the pilgrimage.

Dubai’s Museum of the Future to be Partially 3-D Printed

“See the future, create the future,” this is the motto of Dubai’s newly unveiled “Museum of the Future.” The metallic oblong-structure, planned for a corner lot in Dubai’s central financial district next to the Emirates Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road, is said to become “an incubator for ideas and real designs, a driver for innovation and a global destination for inventors and entrepreneurs.”

"The world is entering a new era of accelerated knowledge and great technological revolutions,” tweeted United Arab Emirates prime minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. "We aim to lead in that era, not to follow and lag behind. The Museum of the Future is the first step of many to come, marking the beginning of great achievements."

Holograms, robotics and 3-D printing will play a crucial role in the structure’s realization. Learn more and watch a video fly-through the building after the break.

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Frank Gehry Tells the Story Behind Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

In just three short years, Frank Gehry’s 450,000-square-foot Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open. More than 12 times the size of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim New York, the expansive $800 million museum will showcase 1960s art from around the world within an asymmetrical mountain of plaster blocks and self-cooling translucent cones. Anticipating its completion, the New York Times sat down with Gehry to hear the story behind the building’s design. Watch the full interview with Gehry, here.

Inside Masdar City

The Middle East has historically been known for many things — sustainability not being one of them. The clash of Western values with the harshness of the local climate can often wedge sustainability between a lot of sand and a hard place. Though there is a broad critique of the unsustainable attributes of the region’s development path, for years there has been a shining exception: Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, seventeen kilometers east-south-east from the city of Abu Dhabi. 

Masdar City exists as an urban development project run by the renewable energy company Masdar, who has committed $15 billion to making Masdar City the planet’s most sustainable new city. Unlike Abu Dhabi, a city which unthinkingly follows antiquated models and Western building principles, Masdar City has a wealth of potential to offer the world of green urban planning - something the world sorely needs.

But Masdar City is certainly not without its share of critics. On first approach, the concentrated development, located in the center of six square kilometers of empty space, does little to awe, especially in comparison to the sprawling wave that is Abu Dhabi. Thanks largely to the global financial recession, buildings currently comprise less than 10% of the area committed to the urban experiment. Even today there is a group of onlookers that suggest Masdar City may just be a mirage after all.

However, this broader view is not necessarily synonymous with the bigger picture.

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"Lest We Forget" - UAE's Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2014

From the Curators. Responding to the theme ‘Absorbing Modernity: 1914-2014’ set by the curator of the 14th International Architecture Exhibition, Rem Koolhaas, ‘Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the United Arab Emirates,’ presents the seminal findings of a larger initiative to archive the history of architectural and urban development in the UAE over the past century. With a concentrated emphasis on the 1970s-1980s, the exhibition examines how public and residential architecture, built within a rapidly expanding urban context, shaped the newly established federation and prepared the foundation for its emergence on a global stage.

Venice Biennale 2014: UAE Unearths “Structures of Memory”

Within the rapidly changing landscape of the United Arab Emirates, much of the nation’s vernacular and modern architecture is being quickly replaced by “iconic” contemporary structures. Despite this, many of the UAE’s previous landscape remains a vivid memory within the minds and mementos of its people.

Thus, for the UAE’s 2014 participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the United Arab Emirates will bring to light seminal projects of the last century that expose the transmission of architectural traditions in a way that addresses the nation’s current cultural identity.

Preservation of pre-oil vernacular architecture and a special focus on 1970s and 80s modern architecture will both serve as highlights of the exhibition. 

The UAE’s full curatorial statement, after the break...

World's Tallest Buildings of 2013 Dominated by Asia

World's Tallest Buildings of 2013 Dominated by Asia - Featured Image
Courtesy of Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats

According to the latest Tall Trends Report, 73 buildings in excess of 200 meters were completed in 2013 worldwide, the second highest total only behind 2011 with 81 completions. The increase of completions from 2012 to 2013 continues a significant upward trend that, since 2000, has seen an astounding 318 percent increase in tall buildings.