Tag: urban design

Vertical Forests, A Practical Design For Humanizing Cities Again

What on earth is a vertical forest? It's a forest that doesn't grow on the earth. It grows in...

Sologic’s solar eTree that keeps on giving

Many ecologists identify with it, but there is something sad about Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, about a tree...

Turkish architects design peace islands to replace La Spezia war arsenal

With so much conflict erupting around us, it's hard to imagine a peaceful future, but Erdem Architects does a good...

An urban park that embraces its desert environment

How many times have you seen a big old patch of lawn in the middle of Abu Dhabi and...

Floating Majlis meeting rooms made of recycled fishing nets in Dubai

Majlis are the boardrooms of the Arab world. A traditional 'place of sitting' often adorned with cushions on the...

The Shard is getting a neighbor and Qatar is footing the bill

There was great hullabaloo when The Shard was completed just one year ago. Not only was it financed by...

Beirut Residents Revolt Against Plan to Destroy Iconic Massad Stairs

Beirut residents are fed up: everywhere they look there are cranes and bulldozers turning their city into a giant...

First Green-Roofed Urban Oasis Planned for Abu Dhabi

Albeit better than neighboring Dubai's skyline of what renowned architect Frank Gehry calls "cheap" and "anonymous" architecture, Abu...

“Dubai’s Skyscrapers are Cheap” and “Anonymous” says Architect Franky Gehry

Frank Gehry, considered one of the world's most important architects, said in a recent Foreign Policy interview that its...

Urbin Beirut Crushes Stinky Cigarette Butts in Style

Cigarette butts are gross - whether they drift onto beaches, pollute our waterways, or endanger wildlife. But many cities...

Wooden Sun Filter Cools Istanbul Apartment Complex Naturally

Like many countries in the Middle East/North Africa region, Turkey is undergoing rapid expansion and that's not necessarily a...

Green-Roofed Istanbul International Financial Center Breaks Ground

Istanbul residents have been dreading this moment: construction has broken ground on an enormous International Financial Center designed to...