Tall Identity...Lost Sustainability Yasser Mahgoub and Anas Al-Omaim
The phenomenon of building tall and high rise buildings is sweeping all cities in the Middle East. They are all trying to build the “highest,” the “tallest,” and the “biggest” struc-
tures — recognized as such throughout the world. Dubai, for example, in addition to its numerous tall buildings along Zayed Road, is about to finish constructing the 800+ meter high Burj Dubai designed by SOM that will become the tallest building in the world when completed. This trend in Dubai initiated a temptation for other Gulf cities, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, to spread vertically as a sign of modernity and power. Kuwait is allowing the constructing of several tall buildings in its downtown reaching 100 floors. It has plans to build the 1001 meter-high tower in its proposed Silk City project, merely to compete for the tallest building in the world title. Cairo is constructing a 70-storey tower designed by Zaha Hadid overlooking the Nile. The con-
Yasser Mahgoub is Assistant Professor of Architecture, Department of Architecture, College of Engineering and Petroleum, Kuwait University.
struction of tall buildings is an attempt to attract the attention of the Figure 1: The future tallest towers in Gulf cities.
rapidly globalizing world.
Tall buildings present a challenge as a new building type that did not exist in traditional architecture of the region. While some attempt to wrap them with elements and features borrowed from traditional buildings, the majority of tall buildings constructed in Middle Eastern cities are comparable to skyscrapers found in other parts of the world utilizing the same materials
Anas Al-Omaim is an
and construction technologies. After
architect and urban de-
Dubai received world attention due to
signer. He has worked
its massive architecture, some raised
in Kuwait, London, and
the question whether this architecture
New York City.
is “healthy,” that is, whether it is environmentally sustainable. As Al Sallal puts it, “The active construction of
Figure 2: Kuwait’s urban environment, a mixture of old and new and tall and short buildings.
tall buildings in the UAE, as a result of the rapid growth of economy, goes in a fast pace and has not allowed enough time to study and realize the adverse impacts on the
The Middle East Institute Viewpoints: Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East • www.mideasti.org
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