The real Dubai architecture

WORDS & PHOTOS Malibongwe Tyilo

Often glibly described as an architectural theme park of sorts, Dubai has attracted some of the world’s most high profile starchitects in the creation of its skyline. On the ground, experiencing the city for real as part of the Downtown Design festival, VISI’s intrepid editor-at-large Malibongwe Tyilo reports.

Much of what fascinates tourists when visiting a foreign city has to do with its architecture – its beauty and the history carried forth by each brick. Often, and especially so with European cities with history that goes back a few centuries, the architecture invites you to imagine a different era.

Not so with Dubai. Even though care has been taken to reproduce heritage-style buildings in the brand new Downtown Dubai precinct, the architecture is reflective of our lifetime. So much of it is new and shiny, and come dusk when the lights come on, it looks as though it could be any city anywhere in the world – whether that’s a good or bad thing is really up to you.

Some, this writer included, do enjoy crossing the road on shiny new tiles where there should be tar. Due to the number of skyscrapers in different parts of this large city, Dubai does look like a collection of city centres, each with its own towering skyscrapers. With the new Mohammed bin Rashid City being built, to potentially house another 500 000 people, this city centre within a city trend will continue.

Although the earliest recorded settlement in the region dates back some two centuries ago, when it comes to modern architecture, Dubai came into its own during the 1980s boom, accelerated in the 1990s, and pretty much overtook everybody else at a super rapid pace in the 2000s. Dubai now boasts the highest skyscrapers of any city, including the world’s tallest manmade structure, the Burj Khalifa measuring 829.8 metres with over 160 floors of offices, restaurants and residential units, including the famous Armani Hotel.

It is probably by now the city’s most famous landmark, and most certainly Downtown Dubai’s most famous, alongside the Dubai Mall (the world’s largest mall) and Dubai Fountain, both of which sit at its feet. However while it is no doubt the ultimate symbol of the city’s determination and architectural prowess, it also benefits from its context of years of development and many other buildings before it.

Completed in 2000, the Emirates Towers previously stood as testament to Dubai’s ultra modern design aesthetic, and in its heyday was known to house the rich and famous. Not to say it’s become shabby, but the Dubai of today has so many options, with new ones coming up all the time. As for twin towers, there is also not a shortage of those, in addition to the aforementioned Emirates Towers, there’s also the Al Kazim Towers, the Deira Towers, the Park Towers, and there is probably another set popping up as I type.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating achievements of Dubai is the Palm Islands. Completely manmade and just metres from the famous skyscraper-filled marina coastline, the property on the islands sold out in 74 hours, long before a single brick had been laid. According to Richard Wagner, an architect with Nakheel (the company that build the homes on the islands), people at the front of the queue put down the DH100 000 (approximately ZAR280 000) deposit and immediately flipped the property to others behind them in the queue. Richard credits Dubai with turning property into a product you can sell easily without having to build it first.

At the very tip of the very first Palm Island ever built, lies the Atlantis Hotel and theme park, an eyesore to some and a place of happiness for many families looking for that time-out in a dream destination. However one chooses to view it, there is no denying that like much of Dubai architecture it stands boldly, demanding its place and just plain out refusing to blend in, even for the sake of good taste.

Aside from all that is new and shiny in Dubai – and there is so very much of it that entirely new chunks of city pop up every couple of years – some of the most uniquely Dubai-looking buildings are in the old town, in Dubai Creek, an area that is largely occupied by traders from countries close by, mostly Indian. A closer look at the sand-coloured buildings, the patterns and the decorations, reveals the inspiration behind the architecture of the hotels and residential areas in new Downtown Dubai.

The affluent Emirati have long left the area, and it certainly does not maintain the same level of shine as newer Dubai. However, being home to the Dubai museum and the Bastakiya, Dubai’s oldest residential area, it is perhaps the one area of the city that pulls you into an idea of the city’s past, giving better comprehension of its glittering present.

Read VISI’s report back from Downtown Dubai here. 

Read more of Malibongwe’s articles here.