When it is complete, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai Hotel will be the world’s tallest. Never mind that scientists have discovered giant plumes of methane that could speed up global-warming, which could contribute to even higher temperatures in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other countries. Pay no attention to the fact that hundreds of partially unoccupied […]
Studio Schiattarella and Tecturae’s winning proposal for the Celebration Hall of Riyadh distorts true Bedouin values. It is common in Middle Eastern design to evoke images of a more sustainable past in order to justify a less sustainable present, and nowhere is this more true than in Saudi Arabia. The winning proposal for the Celebration […]
It’s official: Zaha Hadid is going to design the new Central Bank of Iraq’s Headquarters; Tafline argues that it should be green. Zaha Hadid is widely celebrated for her incredible, untethered design, but less so for her environmental sensibilities. So when we learned that the deal to design a major project for her home country, […]
For Mohammad Sabir Khedri, compiling the pages of this enormous and intricately detaied holy book was a 5 year labor of love. A master calligrapher has lovingly unveiled the world’s largest Quran in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to a Reuters report released last week. The giant holy book measures 7.5 by 5.10 feet, weighs over 1,000 pounds, […]
A report last week showed that development projects like The World manmade islands above are destroying the Gulf’s fragile marine ecosystem. One major culprit, Nakheel, aims to restore their own damage with 500 artificial reefs. Last week the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Toronto released the first official report linking […]
The revolution in Egypt has left a power vacuum that is allowing unchecked development to take over a once thriving, quiet dive spot. Apart from the Egyptian revolution itself, a powerful culmination of civil disobedience that roused thousands of somnambulant citizens from decades of political apathy, it’s still hard to see in what way this […]
Jordan’s Star Trek theme park will be a sprawling 74 hectare development, but it does have an eco upside. Since its various eco-parks and green housing projects haven’t done enough to stimulate an appreciation of sustainable development in Jordan’s residents, perhaps the Kingdom’s crazy new Star Trek themed park can fill in the gaps. Once […]
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill make their own announcement: they’re designing the Kingdom Tower, but it won’t be a mile high. Every blogger who gives a toot about sustainable building fell over themselves earlier this year to mock Saudi’s mile high tower. We all bought the story without really thinking about what such a tall […]
The Managing Director of dwp design in the United Arab Emirates discusses Abu Dhabi’s future at the opening day of Interiors UAE. Abu Dhabi is in a fantastic position to design for the people, according to a leading design professional. Brian Hillesdon, the Managing Director of dwp design in the UAE discussed Dubai’s uni-fuctional building […]
A greenie examines her soul at the foot of hundreds of Dubai towers. Dubai is nothing at all like Las Vegas. Though both are unlikely cities in waterless environs and full of people eager to divest visitors of both their souls and their money, that is where their likeness ends. As a tour leader for […]
Turkey’s prime minister has announced a plan to build a second waterway through Istanbul, just west of the existing Bosphorus Strait. As Turkey’s June parliamentary elections draw nearer, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has unveiled what he calls “the biggest project of the century”: a canal from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea. […]
The Saudi Kingdom has commissioned a tower twice as tall as the Burj Khalifa. Not long after we lauded the progress in their construction industry, Saudi Arabia has dashed our green expectations with the announcement that they will build a one-mile-high tower. To put that into perspective, the “Kingdom Tower” (hello Babylon) will be twice […]
Despite their protests, Nubians near Aswan fear that development projects will eventually dispossess them of their land. Long before the recent string of North African riots – in Tunisia and most recently Egypt – the Nubian community south of Aswan on the River Nile have resisted projects they say threaten a way of life depicted […]
If Mirdif City Center Mall is “green,” the emperor must have been wearing clothes. Given the choice between a LEED certified building and one without, we’d be nuts to take the first. Issued by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED certification and its equivalent in the Middle East – such as the Qatar […]
The campaign to stop the destruction of 2,200 trees in Jordan’s Ajloun forest gathers pace as the government states it now will assess the environmental impact of the proposed development project In response to the demands of the ‘Halt Ajloun Deforestation’ campaign, the Jordanian government announced it will now carry out an assessment of the […]