I was wondering, is anyone interested in architecture here? Whenever I hear people talking about Dubai (I don't live in Dubai btw) all I hear is real estate, real estate, market crash, real estate, real estate, etc... Hardly anyone I know talks about how any of these new buildings going up will actually look like and feel. Also I wonder how they will all fit together. Take the marina for example, will it become a great place or will it be a super-congested concrete jungle.
I think the jumeirah beach residence has done a great job of ruining the marina because of how they recycled a design (a pretty bad one at that) 40 times for 40 towers. It could still turn out OK in the end though since in the most recent pictures that I've seen the parts near street level seem a lot better. One good thing about the beachfront near the marina though is the twin towers in front that look great:
(http://i1.tinypic.com/ojgeuf.jpg)
The reason why I dislike the JBR is because this could have been one of the best beachfront skylines in the world if all the towers looked as good as those 2.
I always wonder how many architects are actually working on buildings for this city. Dubai's height fetish reminds me of New York in the 20s and 30s. I'm sure we know of burj dubai right? (click on the pics for bigger pictures)
(http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/762/burjdubai28af.th.jpg)
but do you know that from what's planned now Dubai will have at least 24 towers over 1000 feet in the next 7 or 8 years? The city with the most right now is Chicago with 5.
(http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/762/burjdubai28af.th.jpg)
(http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/9854/lakehotel7ox.th.jpg)
(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8470/burjalalam5lk.th.jpg)
(http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/8913/20050504213413emirates7uv.th.jpg)
(http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/2628/dr42hf6kl.th.jpg)
(http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/6659/marketproject54462hh.th.jpg)
(http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/1239/roserotanasuitestemp6kk.th.jpg)
(http://img423.imageshack.us/img423/3371/52md.th.jpg)
(http://img447.imageshack.us/img447/2889/223marina2jp.th.jpg)
(http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7137/oceanheights5zv.th.jpg)
(http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/8126/torch9ot.th.jpg)
(http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/1291/untitled10bv.jpg)
(http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7695/miniburjalarab152pz.th.jpg)
I don't actually care about how high these things are. The key is a good design. There are a good number of buildings going up that look like crap but some developers fail to realise that with so much being built only projects that are of good quality will be successful. Some do actually seem to be very good though. Here are some of my favourites that should be ready in a few years:
(http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2851/dr5xe84sc.th.jpg) (http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/2285/obb019rk.th.jpg)
Dubai has some pretty whacky proposals aswell. The burj al arab would be a good example but there are also a few in the works. Here is the centrepiece for the palm jumeirah, was redesigned and released only yesterday:
old design:
(http://www.tradearabia.com/source/2005-10/05/trump.jpg)
new design:
(http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1103/trumphoteltower4vo.jpg)
I really prefer the new one since the old reminded me too much of this:
(http://starbase8.de/aliens/statuen/alien_egg_detail_2.jpg)
I think it would be great if Dubai built some kind of theatre or something designed by a world class architect. I've heard something of an opera house being built near the creek, can't wait for some drawings.
Just wanted to share my thoughts, is there anyone else who's even remotely interested in this sort of stuff?
(http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2382/burjkhalifa.jpg)
(http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9678/83426207.jpg)
(http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6015/burjdubaishow.jpg)
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5932/in030i.jpg)
(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/708/in031.jpg)
(http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6613/in028.jpg)
(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9970/in027.jpg)
(http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2139/in038.jpg)
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/5773/in044.jpg)
(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6981/in048.jpg)
(http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/701/in045.jpg)