Today, the areas on either side of the Creek are known as Old Dubai. Residents and tourists can be found there exploring the alleyways in the shadow of old merchant homes and wind towers.
In the 1960s, this was Downtown Dubai. But the city was about to experience a building boom that tilted it away from the Creek. And while these new developments were not made of coral or palm fronds, and while they didn't have wind towers, they did have a story to tell.
These new hotels, hospitals and schools represented Dubai's take on the modernist architectural movement that thrived in the US and Europe in the early 20th century and is known for its clean lines devoid of ornamentation.
“Some people think history stopped with the wind tower,” Maryam Ahli tells The National. “But that’s not true. It continues to be written in these modernist structures.”
Ahli, an Emirati architect and architectural historian, will speak at NYU Abu Dhabi Institute on Wednesday. Her talk — The Arrival of Late Modernism in Dubai — aims to reflect on how architects tweaked characteristics of the movement to suit the needs of Dubai in terms of style and practicalities, such as ventilation and privacy. It will also look at what these buildings mean to the city and how they can be preserved.
“A lot of people think it never came to this part of world,” says Ahli. “But it came to Dubai in the 1960s and 1970s. This is why I call it late. Then came a series of firsts: the first bank; the first hospital; the first hotel; and all have a clear distinctive stylistic approach that has not been practiced in the region.
“But it doesn’t 100 per cent follow the international movement. It responded to regional needs.”
Some of these buildings include Dubai World Trade Centre; Zabeel School for Girls; the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Deira; and the now-demolished Al Amal Psychiatric Hospital on Al Wasl Road.
The hospital, for example, was built in the early 1980s near where City Walk is today. Ahli says it was designed by British architect John Harris — the man behind the famous Dubai World Trade Centre — as a one-storey building constructed around courtyards.
“It resembled a traditional house and was very sensitive to the region,” says Ahli. Photographs taken before it was demolished several years ago show a low-rise building sympathetic to the environment with palm trees providing greenery and shade in the peaceful open-air areas.
These buildings, according to Ahli, should be considered as much a part of Dubai’s modern heritage as older coral stone buildings and wind towers. As well as architectural significance, they also act as a bridge between the different generations in Dubai and provide a sense of what is local in a globalised world.
“Those buildings have memories,” she says. “Older people saw them being built and contributed to their construction whether through investment or other ways. Then our generation used them. I went ice skating at the Hyatt Regency. Now the new generation sees them, but they don’t know what they are. So this architecture bridges the gap.”
There has been a sharp increase in interest over the past few years in the country’s older buildings. Restoration projects such as the Heart of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi’s Qasr Al Hosn, Sharjah Art Foundation’s rejuvenation of the Flying Saucer and the current project to restore Dubai’s Al Fahidi Fort have all helped to raise awareness about the country’s rich architectural heritage.
In Abu Dhabi, the Modern Heritage initiative aims to safeguard its architectural history, and in 2018, Dubai Municipality launched one of its own. Books such as Building Sharjah, edited by Sultan Al Qassemi and Todd Reisz have also helped.
Ahli also believes in not only preserving buildings, but adapting them for today's world. She points to the restoration of Union House in Dubai — where the documents to form the UAE were signed in 1971 — as a good example of how an old building can be adapted for today’s world. And as projects manager at Dubai Culture, one of her current priorities is rehabilitating the Zabeel School for Girls building. It closed in 2010 and articles and a documentary about its history helped to save it.
Questions will always be asked about the fate of older buildings, but for Ahli, many of these modernist buildings were later demolished because people didn’t understand how important they were in telling the urban history of the city.
“I feel it is my responsibility as an Emirati to preserve rather than build; and to find new uses rather than construct new buildings. We need to make a conscious decision before building new things.
“I’m not against building new things, but we need to look at what worked in the past. Architecture doesn’t fail people, but people can sometimes fail architecture.”
The Arrival of Late Modernism in Dubai takes place at NYUAD Institute on Wednesday at 6.30pm. The talk is open to the public. More information is at www.nyuad.nyu.edu
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
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Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
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6.30pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
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When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
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Live: BeIN Sports HD
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Fatima Al Darmaki is an Emirati widow with three children
She has received 46 certificates of appreciation and excellence throughout her career
She won the 'ideal mother' category at the Minister of Interior Awards for Excellence
Her favourite food is Harees, a slow-cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled wheat berries mixed with chicken
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• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
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• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
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WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
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Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
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46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
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The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
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The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
