One of the people reshaping the UAE's skyline believes in simplicity, the concept of architecture impressing but not overwhelming.
Towering vision: How Norman foster has changed the UAE skyline
Sheikh Zayed National Museum, Saadiyat Island Foster + Partners won an international competition to design the museum. The soaring "wings" of the falcon-inspired design allow cool air into the museum.
Masdar City, Abu Dhabi Foster + Partners developed the master plan for the groundbreaking centre for environmental studies and sustainability. The plan also uses concepts and styles rooted in ancient Arab culture.
The Index, Dubai Foster + Partners' first project in Dubai is an 80-storey tower in the Dubai International Financial Centre. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats recently named it the best tall building in the Middle East this year.
Central Market, Abu Dhabi Building a modern market on the site of Abu Dhabi's old souk was Lord Foster's first commission in the capital. The result is a wooden-built shopping space with wide outdoor decks that seems far removed from the usual loud, glass-and-tiles shopping malls.
Abu Dhabi World Trade Centre, Abu Dhabi The centrepiece of the master plan for Al Raha Beach is Foster + Partners' undulating building, which will house offices, shops and apartments. A soaring central atrium is the most dynamic feature.
"Architecture is a marriage of the functional and the spiritual," Norman Foster said recently of his philosophy.
Lord Foster, or Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 76, is now at the point of his career when pundits are debating his legacy and style, and his lasting impact on design.
He has been called the "leading urban stylist of our age". His game-changers include the Swiss Re Building, universally known as the Gherkin, in London; and Frankfurt's Commerzbank Tower.
In the UAE, Lord Foster's firm, Foster + Partners, is the designer behind Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's Central Market and the Sheikh Zayed National Museum planned for Saadiyat Island.
But Lord Foster has drawn criticism for some of his cold, glass and steel structures - and his role in sparking a trend dominated by large firms snatching the world's most glamorous projects. He is now a brand - a business more than a revolution, critics charge.
Lord Foster doesn't run from the accusation. There's nothing wrong with design adding value, he insists.
"Good design is quantifiable - aesthetically and economically," he told a Hong Kong magazine last year.
One of a group of post-war architects who reshaped Europe, Lord Foster is something of a self-styled renaissance man - a pilot who flies jets and helicopters, a collector of classic sports cars, and a member of high society who entertains some of the world's great thinkers at his Swiss chateau.
To relax he cross-country skies and pilots gliders.
"I need the silence - not to escape, but to reflect, think through solutions," he once said.
Lord Foster took an unusual route to his royal standing. He was born in Manchester, in poor surroundings, the son of a shop manager.
After a stint in the RAF, he earned a fellowship to Yale University, in the US, where he met his future professional partner Richard Rogers, who now heads Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, a rival global firm.
Lord Foster, his wife Wendy Cheeseman, and Mr Rogers and his wife Su Brumwell, formed Team 4 in London in 1963 at a time when cities around the world started to encourage and commission new architecture.
Lord Foster's breakthrough work was a headquarters building in Ipswich in 1974 for Willis Faber & Dumas, an insurance company. His design brought in open "democratic" spaces, a roof garden and swimming pool for employees.
Buckminster Fuller, the American futurist, philosopher and the inventor of the geodesic dome, was a friend, mentor and collaborator, giving Lord Foster's early work a distinctive style.
"I think we came together as kindred spirits with a passion for environmental issues which, at that time in the early 1970s, was not a fashionable topic," Lord Foster said this year.
Many modernist designs of the period were essentially glass boxes. But Lord Foster brought in geometeric shapes and flowing open spaces. One of his first big successes was the HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong, which featured an open-air pavilion on the ground floor.
"It was quite a revolution when it was introduced," says Yasser Elsheshtawy, an associate professor of architecture at UAE University.
The Sheikh Zayed National Museum captures the combination of local sensibility and environmental creativity found in many of Lord Foster's projects. The design's most distinctive feature will be a set of soaring glass facades inspired by falcon wings, which will add natural light to display rooms and help cool the structure by redirecting sea breezes.
"He has a very interesting take on modernism," Mr Elsheshtawy says. "He tries to take the simplicity of the structure and integrate it with high-tech components."
Lord Foster is often cited - with both respect and derision - for launching a new era in glass and steel designs with exposed structural elements. But he also developed as one of the industry's true environmentalists, researching new ways for buildings to work more efficiently.
In the HSBC building in Hong Kong, seawater is used as a coolant for the air-conditioning system and the design allows the entire building to be infused with natural light. In London, the bulbous Gherkin's elaborate diamond-pattern skin works to ventilate and cool the building.
He has often talked about the importance of human interaction and meeting spaces in buildings, incorporating the idea in ways often ignored by other modernists.
"There are links between the ecology of a building, which is measurable, and the more poetic dimensions," Lord Foster said last year. "The importance of views, friendliness or the pleasure we feel in a hot climate when moving into the shade - are more difficult to quantify."
Lord Foster set himself apart from his contemporaries by working on both modern, high-tech buildings and historical renovations. He has won competitions to work on the New York Public Library and the courtyard for the British Museum, displaying a knack for pushing the envelope while still maintaining reverence for the original.
Over the years Foster + Partners has become an architecture factory, working on everything from bridges to the design of the first private spaceport in New Mexico. Its best known work includes airport terminals in Hong Kong, Beijing and Stansted, just outside London, eschewing the usually cluttered, claustrophobic building design for modern, open, flowing spaces.
The firm has worked on more than 250 projects in 40 countries since it was founded as Foster Associates in 1967 after Lord Foster left Team 4.
In recent years, Lord Foster's work has become "sleeker and more predictable", says Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York Times' architecture critic. However his creations "are always driven by an internal structural logic, and they treat their surroundings with a refreshing bluntness", says Mr Ouroussoff.
Lord Foster spends little time debating public reactions to his projects. One of his most famous quotes is that "great architecture should wear its message lightly".
His interests have moved into other areas; he survived cancer and now spends some of his time working with charities and scholarship programmes for architecture students - in addition to his role as one of the industry's most vocal supporters of environmentally sensitive designs.
And he is still happy pondering the development of his architectural philosophy: "I always prefer to look forward - to celebrate the next design challenge - rather than look back."
kbrass@thenational.ae
if you go
The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
if you go
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
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The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
Brief scores
Toss India, chose to bat
India 281-7 in 50 ov (Pandya 83, Dhoni 79; Coulter-Nile 3-44)
Australia 137-9 in 21 ov (Maxwell 39, Warner 25; Chahal 3-30)
India won by 26 runs on Duckworth-Lewis Method
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
