Frank Gehry, considered one of the world’s most important architects, said in a recent Foreign Policy interview that its “cheap” skyscrapers makes Dubai look like any other “cruddy city in the world.” We’ve been dissing these skyscrapers for a while, based on their shoddy eco credentials, but it’s so satisfying to hear from one of […]
Google’s street view has taken us from the streets of Tel Aviv to the Grand Canyon and even under the sea, and now this incredible tool has reached new heights – 2,716 feet to be exact.Using their swanky new Street View Trekker backpacks, a team from Google has mapped out views from the world’s tallest […]
Orlando De Urrutia has designed what he says is the world’s first building to get its water from the air. Called the Water Building Resort and powered by a facade of building integrated photovoltaics, the mixed-use structure designed for Dubai is shaped to resemble a water drop.
Gundeep Singh used to own a yacht and a porsche before he turned over a green leaf to open what is now known as the “world’s most sustainable building.” Located at Sheikh Zayed Road in Al Barsha, Dubai, The Change Initiative stocks an array of eco-lifestyle products and recently earned LEED Platinum from the USGBC.
America’s bumbling fictional super spy Maxwell Smart had a good point when he would say of the villain, “If only he had used his evil genius for niceness.” We’ve heard far too many tragic stories of drones being used as weapons of war. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone figured out how to beat this […]
Diamond Developers selected Baharash Architecture to plan the second of four phases of Dubai Sustainable City – a 46 hectare, 500 villa eco-development slated for construction at the junction of Al Qudra and Emirates Roads in Dubai.
Tall glass buildings have come to dominate the Dubai and Abu Dhabi skylines, which makes absolutely zero sense given that summer temperatures consistently burst their seams in the region. But now the UAE has imported NASA-developed transparent panels that deflect heat back into the atmosphere.
If consumerism is the predominant modern day religion, then this week’s picture shows one our most monumental cathedrals – Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates. According to news reports earlier this year, it is the world’s highest grossing shopping mall.
Earlier this year I got up before dawn one morning to photograph the Dubai marathon and 10k race. It was a foggy morning which added to the surreal spectacle of thousands of people putting themselves, voluntarily, through the trials of the long distance run.
We have often lamented that people from Dubai and other Arabian Gulf countries walk around with wild cats the way Hollywood stars carry Chihuahuas. But now one of the world’s leading Cheetah experts says these people can actually help to save the species from extinction.
Ice hotels are fairly commonplace in northern countries where temperatures regularly fall below freezing, but that didn’t stop the Sharaf Group from opening an ice lounge in the middle of the desert.
My last photo blog on Green Prophet featured one of the many sites in the Hajar Mountains from which construction aggregate is extracted. This time I’m showing a different kind of mountain on the outskirts of Dubai. This is a landfill for building rubble.
Dubai may not seem like the most likely place for a “miracle garden” but the first phase of the 721,000 square foot flowerfest was unveiled at Dubailand earlier this year.
Dieter Moor of ertex solar examines the installation of his company’s solar project in Al Ain. Finally the Middle East is attuned to the numerous benefits of solar energy, and large scale Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants are popping up all over the region. There’s Shams 1 outside of Abu Dhabi, the largest […]
We’ve been hearing about Dubai’s version of Masdar City since 2011, but skeptics have doubted that “Sustainable City” would ever become more than a mirage in the desert. Not anymore, according to local news reports. Diamond Developers has announced plans to officially launch their latest project – a 120 acre green city – at the […]