Archinect - News

Controversial Dubai Frame opens to the public almost a decade after it was first designed

2018-01-02T14:40:00-05:00

But the building has proven controversial for other reasons. The 50-storey portal may be the tallest picture frame in the world, but its architect wants to add another title to the stats: for him, it is the biggest stolen building of all time. “They took my project, changed the design and built it without me,” says Fernando Donis, the Mexican architect whose frame proposal won an international competition in 2008 for a “tall emblem structure to promote the new face of Dubai”.

The controversial Dubai Frame opened to the public yesterday, finally offering tourists a 360-degree view of the city. While construction only began in 2013, the new 150 meter landmark has been a decade in the making, blighted by controversy surrounding its stolen design.

Beginning with a questionable competition organized by the elevator company Thyssen Krupp in conjunction with UIA, the Mexican architect Fernando Donis had originally won a $100,000 prize for his design. However, after Donis refused to sign the contract provided by the Dubai municipality that would have restricted his role in the project, the city hired Hyder Consulting and proceeded without him.

Though Donis would've liked to have been involved in the construction process, according to the Guardian, he is still very pleased to see his design actualized. You can check out this interview we conducted back in 2015 in which he discussed the controversy to find out more.

New video shows construction progress on controversial Dubai Frame

2017-08-04T20:04:00-04:00

The Dubai Frame is quickly taking shape in the heart of the city, providing breathtaking views of 'old' and 'new' Dubai. A Dubai Municipality delegation on Thursday has given residents a sneak peek into one of the upcoming iconic structures in the city. [...] The work has already started on the frame's glass bridge, and the cladding is expected to be completed by the end of this year, a top senior Dubai Municipality official had told Khaleej Times earlier this year.

Construction work on Dubai's latest gilded landmark appears to be making progress as the Dubai Municipality documented today in a new social media video of a city government delegation visiting the site.

The design of the 150-meter-tall Dubai Frame structure isn't without controversy: the concept originally surfaced as the 2008-09 ThyssenKrupp competition-winning design by architect Fernando Donis who eventually filed a lawsuit against the Dubai Municipality for stealing the copyright to his design. In a 2015-interview, Donis told Archinect: “At the end they took it, built it and will profit from it, without having involved us nor paid us."

The opening date of Dubai Frame has been pushed back numerous times but is now expected to happen by the end of this year.

The conspicuous ethics of the Dubai Frame, opening date delayed to later this year

2017-03-13T14:49:00-04:00

Raised as a monument to Dubai’s aspirations as a center of international commerce, the Frame is now a physical manifestation of the crude system that erected it.

Considering the already controversial nature of the Dubai Frame, The New York Times recently published a piece on the project in relation to the city's “entrenched system [that notoriously] leaves outsiders vulnerable to mistreatment — from professionals sketching blueprints to construction workers laying foundations [...] a system in which kinship can outweigh contract terms”.

Based on the 2008-09 ThyssenKrupp competition-winning design by architect Fernando Donis, the 150-meter-tall Dubai Frame structure in Za'abeel Park has drawn plenty of opposition over the years, most notably from Donis himself. Donis filed a lawsuit against the Dubai Municipality for stealing the copyright to his design and for breaching the international UNESCO-UIA regulations from the competition. “At the end they took it, built it and will profit from it, without having involved us nor paid us,” Donis previously told Archinect in 2015.

After multiple delays, the opening date of the Dubai Frame was pushed bac...

Archinect speaks to designer of controversial Dubai Frame project

2015-12-17T12:55:00-05:00

Whatever you think of the initial "Tall Emblematic Structure in Dubai" prompt, there's no doubt that some fairly significant changes were made to Fernando Donis' winning design for the Dubai Frame and the actual monument as it is being constructed. As Archinect commenter Donna Sink noted, "The proposal shows the frame section being an extruded square. The project being built has angled mitered corners. Angled mitered corners recall the traditional shape of a picture frame, and mitered corners are not Modern. In something as simple as this, changing the corner connection completely changes the cultural resonance of the form. In short, the designer is right to be pissed."

Archinect had the opportunity to speak directly with designer Fernando Donis about how he ultimately didn't get paid for his work due to a fraught contract signing process, his open letter to Dubai Municipality, and his advice to architects thinking about entering future open design competitions.

Archinect: What happe...

Controversial Dubai Frame to open this month

2015-12-09T13:33:00-05:00

“The project is being transformed from being non-figurative architecture to an overscale figurative photo-frame. That is, from being a modern, public monument to a postmodern pastiche,” [competition-winning architect Fernando] Donis wrote in an open letter.

Described by an internet commenter as "the St. Louis Arch minus the beauty or finesse," the Dubai Frame project is scheduled to open this month to the public. The somewhat controversial monument, which has not only attracted a scathing load of public commentary but an objecting open letter from the architect who initially designed it, will quite literally frame views of both the old and new Dubai skylines. The $43.5 million rectangular wonder isn't just for viewing from afar; visitors will be able to access a sky bridge inlaid with a 25 square meter glass panel.

The Dubai Frame is becoming a reality, to be complete end of 2014

2013-05-13T14:47:00-04:00

Lootah said the project is a complete glass, transparent structure resembling a huge window frame intended to highlight the attractions of the city so visitors can view the skyscrapers on Shaikh Zayed Road from one side — symbolising modern Dubai — while the other side of the frame will show the old Dubai landmarks of Deira, Umm Hurair and Karama. “The electrical panoramic elevators will help visitors move through its facilities as if they are moving in the sky inside the glass frame,”

As some of you may remember, when the winner of the ThyssenKrupp Elevator Award was announced 3 years ago, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the selected winner. The winning entry, "Dubai Frame" by Fernando Donis of the Netherlands, was a 150m tall structure designed as a literal frame of the city of Dubai.

Well, it appears construction on the monument has begun, with a completion date estimated for the end of next year.

Click here to read the 3-year old news article announcing the winner, with the flood of reader comments.