The UAE has undergone a startling transformation over the past five decades. However, for Emirati photographer Hussain AlMoosawi, there is no better way to trace his country's journey than by documenting its architecture.
For more than a decade, AlMoosawi has taken hundreds of photos of buildings across the Emirates, from traditional homes to bleeding-edge high rises. While each tells a story of their own, it's in putting them together that it truly becomes fascinating for him, and when his own perspective on that evolution starts to emerge.
“Once you really become interested in the subject matter, the camera becomes just a tool. I know what I want from this medium," AlMoosawi tells The National. "And once you have that clarity, by default you'll end up producing something different. The work itself shows that you have a message. It could be anything really. In my case, it's about the build space, environment and everything urban."
These days, AlMoosawi primarily focuses on building facades. He hopes to capture enough of them to reach a final statement on the design principles and styles of UAE architecture. The project, to him, is not only about art, but is also a cultural research endeavour – one he plans to develop into something he can share with the world.
“The idea is to have all these pictures as part of an interactive archive where researchers can go and use it how they see fit," he adds. "The way they want to use the data is up to them. Perhaps architects can use it to study and inspire their own work.
"The plan is to have them all organised, so once the project is completed, I'm not only creating the pictures, I'm also adding the information that goes with them."
All this started a long time ago for AlMoosawi. He studied applied media at the Higher Colleges of Technology. There, he learnt plenty about the technology. Though he later realised he knew little of the theory to go with it. If the camera was a tool, he still needed a guiding principle to utilise it properly.
In 2004, AlMoosawi ventured to Australia, first to Brisbane and then to Melbourne to study design. That experience helped his understanding of art theory and history "mature”, he explains. After completing his studies, there was still one more element missing.
“The third component was the place," he says. "There needs to be a place that exists for us to document. So I brought my understanding of design and thought and applied it to Melbourne. That place made me curious about the nature of the urban space because the city is very vibrant. It's very colourful and I wanted to understand the many invisible elements of design."
When he returned to the UAE, he categorised the different elements of the urban landscape in a similar fashion. He broke the country's architecture into different series; some explored the construction barriers, others doors and finally a series on building facades. This, AlMoosawi explains, is called typology – the systematic categorisation of the different types of one thing based on common characteristics.
“Our architecture is quite heterogeneous. It's not like when you go to Muscat, where everything is the same," he adds. "In Muscat, there is no puzzle to understand. Everything is more or less designed to fit within a certain style or theme.
"When you go to London, the setting is complex because there's Victorian and Edwardian architecture. It's all categorised. They have Roman designs remaining. It's all out there, and has been labelled.”
Architects who shaped the UAE's landscape hailed from the Indian subcontinent, the Arab world and the West, AlMoosawi says, intertwined with the local heritage. Now he believes things have become more chaotic, with different styles and designs intermingling. This has only piqued his interest further.
What conclusions AlMoosawi will come to, once he's completed his project, remains to be seen. But when he's done, he's sure he will understand the country that raised him like never before.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
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The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
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Bib%20Gourmand%20restaurants
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Arsenal's pre-season fixtures
Thursday Beat Sydney 2-0 in Sydney
Saturday v Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney
Wednesday v Bayern Munich in Shanghai
July 22 v Chelsea in Beijing
July 29 v Benfica in London
July 30 v Sevilla in London
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Key facilities
- 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
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
