There is great public architecture and then there are cultural landmarks; the two are not quite the same.
Although there are buildings around the world that represent the pinnacle of design in their eras, only a few become entwined with a nation's cultural identity: museums, libraries, theatres and galleries that are as popular for the bricks and mortar they are made of as for the contents within.
Although it might sound difficult to predict such landmarks, it is actually rather easy: they are the ones that invite us in. Whereas it is easy to marvel at the bold technical ambition of a skyscraper, it's hard to establish an emotional connection with a building unless you've spent a few hours walking its halls, gazing at its walls or taking cover in the cafeteria from the elements.
But just as Sydney would be unimaginable without its Opera House, or New York without the Guggenheim Museum, at one time both great institutions were just ideas with the potential to falter. Many years later, such icons have not only succeeded in redefining the way in which their cities are perceived, but have also become milestones in our collective cultural history.
With a new decade now upon us, what will be the cultural landmarks of the next 10 years?
Resembling a giant glass and stone arrowhead resting in the desert sand, the Grand Egyptian Museum will sit two kilometres from the pyramids at Giza. Due to be completed in 2013, and expected to cost about Dh2.2 billion, it will house more than 50,000 of the country's most prized artefacts, including the Tutankhamen collection. Commissioned by the Egyptian ministry of culture and part-funded by President Mubarak and his wife, the museum is expected to attract 4.8 million visitors every year. Its design, by the Dublin-based Heneghan Peng, is intended to reflect both modern and ancient elements, including thousands of triangular pyramid-like pieces.
The impressively named MAXXI is due to open this spring and will consist of two new museums: MAXXI Art and MAXXI Architecture. Although it looks simple from the outside - a stack of vast concrete pieces with gigantic, windowed walls - the super-museum's interior is a complex lattice of stairs, walkways and galleries of varying sizes. Located in Rome's Flaminio district, the Dh790m landmark is being billed as the notoriously conservative city's first major contemporary art gallery. The project has taken so long that its design by the Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid harks back to an earlier stage in her career, when angular walls and jagged geological forms were greater influences.
Since opening to the public in 2000, London's giant modern art museum has become so popular it now attracts twice the number of visitors originally expected. The proposed Dh1.24bn extension, designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, is intended to increase the Tate Modern's floorspace by 60 per cent. After rejecting the original design - a stack of glass boxes - planners settled for a giant pyramid in the same dark brown brick-work as the existing building, a former oil power station. Although it is scheduled for completion in 2012, organisers have raised only a third of the money needed for the project.
A huge minimalist cube on the city's seafront, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations is expected to become the centrepiece of Marseille's European Cultural Capital celebrations in 2013. Designed by the architect Rudy Ricciotti and likely to cost Dh920m, it is intended as a showcase for the city's 2,600 years of history, as well as exploring the interactions between ancient civilisations throughout Europe. The museum is one of several major works planned for France's second city, including a research institute and a street arts centre.
Relocating from its present downtown site to a stretch of the city's most desirable beach-front is likely to do great things for the Miami Art Museum's international reputation. Designs by Herzog & de Meuron show glistening new premises with tall, white pillars and towering verandas covered in foliage. Dedicated to both contemporary and classical works of art, the museum will move to the 29-acre Museum Park (formerly Bicentennial Park) in 2013. The space will also become home to the new Miami Science Museum and a branch of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
Sitting on the banks of the Zhu Jiang River and resembling a pair of smoothed boulders, the Guangzhou Opera House is a brave attempt by the southern Chinese city to put itself on the world's cultural map. Also conceived by Zaha Hadid, the building's centrepiece will be a 1,800-seat theatre, designed to produce the perfect acoustics for Chinese opera. With an estimated budget of Dh380m, the opera house was scheduled for completion last year, but a fire in May moved the likely opening date back to 2010. Recent years have seen many of the country's cities race to open opera houses - a source of civic pride - designed by noteworthy architects.
Due to reopen this year, the National Museum of China has undergone refurbishment and redesign. The five-year project, overseen by the architects GMP, will lead to 28 new exhibition halls and more than double the previous exhibition space. The design is remarkably conservative for modern China, simply updating the look of the original museum created in 1959; however, the significance of the reopening for the Chinese people cannot be underestimated. It represents the long-awaited merger of Beijing's Chinese History Museum and the Chinese Revolutionary Museum into one entity, thus bringing both the history and art of one of the world's oldest cultures under one roof.
Our own cultural landmark in the making, Saadiyat is likely to become not just Abu Dhabi's artistic centre, but one of the Middle East's foremost visitor attractions. The Dh100 billion development will include new branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums, as well as new residential, commercial and leisure complexes. In addition to displaying treasures on loan from some of world's best-respected cultural locations, the island is to feature a collection of buildings designed by acclaimed architects. Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum resembles a chaotic arrangement of lopsided towers and cylinders, while Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi has a simple but elegant shallow dome design. There will also be a new campus for New York University Abu Dhabi, an 18-hole golf course and a performing arts centre designed by (you guessed it) Zaha Hadid.
With the Olympic Games heading to the South American metropolis in 2016, few things will help to clean up Rio's image better than the new Museum of Image and Sound. That's because it is to be built on the site of a demolished nightclub that became infamous for prostitution and drug trafficking. Designed by the New York firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the Dh183m project resembles a zig-zagging glass cliff-face looking out over Rio's picture-postcard Copacabana Beach, and is expected to be completed in 2012. The existing MIS, founded in 1965, sits in the centre of the city and brings together valuable collections of photographs, posters, films, videos and newspaper clippings.
Just as Paris's Pompidou Centre became one of the cultural icons of the 1970s, organisers hope its sister museum on the banks of the river Seille will leave its mark on this decade. The design is said to be based on a traditional Chinese hat; however, it is difficult to imagine the building, with its tall spire and cloud-like roof, being inspired by anything that exists in reality. The north-eastern town of Metz was reportedly chosen as the first location for a decentralised branch of the Pompidou because of its close proximity to neighbouring European populations. The project, designed by a trio of international architects, is set to open in the coming months and will share exhibits with the Pompidou's Paris headquarters.
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Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Company%20profile
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
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
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Background: Chemical Weapons
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
De De Pyaar De
Produced: Luv Films, YRF Films
Directed: Akiv Ali
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Rakul Preet Singh, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jaaved Jaffrey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The specs: Volvo XC40
Price: base / as tested: Dh185,000
Engine: 2.0-litre, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 250hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 350Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.4L / 100km
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox
Price, base / as tested: Dh76,900 / Dh110,900
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder
Gearbox: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: Torque: 352Nm @ 2,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.5L / 100km
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.”
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Result:
1. Cecilie Hatteland (NOR) atop Alex - 31.46 seconds
2. Anna Gorbacheva (RUS) atop Curt 13 - 31.82 seconds
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) atop Cash Up - 32.81 seconds
4. Sheikha Latifa bint Ahmed Al Maktoum (UAE) atop Peanuts de Beaufour - 35.85 seconds
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) atop Benur du Romet - 37.53 seconds
6. Annika Sande (NOR) atop For Cash 2 - 31.42 seconds (4 penalties)