[ProjectEnd]

When did hating on Dubai become a thing? Is it a meme in the architecture circles or something? Is Dubai to urban development what Nickelback is to music? A fashionable target to be bashing for no particular reason?

Dubai is a stupid Potemkin Village which would not exist but for the supersized wealth and 'turn-a-blind-eye' labour 'laws' that deploy it in built form. It's a ridiculous set-piece for the disastrous, late-capital, charade which is currently playing itself out across the globe.

 

[ADRM]

Dubai is a stupid Potemkin Village which should not exist but for the supersized wealth and 'turn-a-blind-eye' labour 'laws' that deploy it in built form. It's a ridiculous set-piece for the disastrous, late-capital, charade which is currently playing itself out across the globe.

Also, even setting aside its awful urbanistic realities, a whole lot of the architecture there is just ostentatious, Vegas-like crap. There's precious little to emulate in Dubai in any form.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Dubai is a stupid Potemkin Village which would not exist but for the supersized wealth and 'turn-a-blind-eye' labour 'laws' that deploy it in built form. It's a ridiculous set-piece for the disastrous, late-capital, charade which is currently playing itself out across the globe.

Also, even setting aside its awful urbanistic realities, a whole lot of the architecture there is just ostentatious, Vegas-like crap. There's precious little to emulate in Dubai in any form.

Haha my goodness, there must something good about Dubai, not everything could be that bad?

 

[ushahid]

Also, even setting aside its awful urbanistic realities, a whole lot of the architecture there is just ostentatious, Vegas-like crap. There's precious little to emulate in Dubai in any form.

coming from someone who has never set a foot in Dubai.

 

[brianyyz]

How did this become the Dubai forum?

FWIW I have been there and I like it—but I also like dystopias and it sure is a massive example of one.

 

[ADRM]

coming from someone who has never set a foot in Dubai.

Oh, hi, anonymous poster who has never met me but nonetheless posits to know every destination to which I have ever traveled, thanks so much for your constructive contribution to the discussion.

 

[ushahid]

i can give u a really nice answer for this but I think we should end this Dubai discussion cause it's getting out of hand. back to my original comment, this is a very elegant building.

 

[brianyyz]

Not the best of pics, but they have turned on a nice light feature on the South (and I assume North) views. Looks better (and more orange) in person...

 

[Blixtein]

Haha my goodness, there must something good about Dubai, not everything could be that bad?

It's not as bad as you think. It's worse.

 

[ushahid]

if you guys are just hating Dubai cause they got no rights for the labour (which is bad) then let me remind you that NYC didn't have any rights when Empire state or chrysler buidings went up. workers worked like slaves to build both building in just 1.5 years. I have lived in Dubai for one year, the architecture is not perfect but they got some really nice buildings. end of discussion.

 

[isaidso]

It wasn't alright back then and it's not alright now. Perhaps we can get back to Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex.

 

[brianyyz]

Had a chance tonight to take a much better photo of how the orange is lit up at night. I am liking it!

 

[argus]

if you guys are just hating Dubai cause they got no rights for the labour (which is bad) then let me remind you that NYC didn't have any rights when Empire state or chrysler buidings went up. workers worked like slaves to build both building in just 1.5 years. I have lived in Dubai for one year, the architecture is not perfect but they got some really nice buildings. end of discussion.

No, not end of discussion. You are comparing a building constructed between 1929 and 1931 during the Great Depression to a contemporary monarchy with billions of dollars. The reason why the Empire state Building was built so quickly was due to innovation in construction and not to slave-like conditions that you assert. Unemployment was extremely high in the United States at that time, so many skilled workers were grateful for an opportunity to work. Was it an optimal labour environment? Compared to today, no. But agin, it was the early 1930's and during a severe economic depression. There is no similar situation in Dubai. Also, given the scale of the project and the speed at which the Empire State Building was constructed there were only five construction fatalities. There were also deaths during the construction of the Burj Khalifa, but a lack of transparency has resulted in estimated construction fatalities ranging from three to 40 workers.

 

[reteequa]

No, not end of discussion. You are comparing a building constructed between 1929 and 1931 during the Great Depression to a contemporary monarchy with billions of dollars. The reason why the Empire state Building was built so quickly was due to innovation in construction and not to slave-like conditions that you assert. Unemployment was extremely high in the United States at that time, so many skilled workers were grateful for an opportunity to work. Was it an optimal labour environment? Compared to today, no. But agin, it was the early 1930's and during a severe economic depression. There is no similar situation in Dubai. Also, given the scale of the project and the speed at which the Empire State Building was constructed there were only five construction fatalities. There were also deaths during the construction of the Burj Khalifa, but a lack of transparency has resulted in estimated construction fatalities ranging from three to 40 workers.

YES, end of discussion! Make a thread somewhere else to have your completely irrelevant conversations!

 

[torplanner]