Archinect - News

Documentary exposes harsh labor conditions and deaths at NEOM’s The Line

2024-10-30T11:13:00-04:00

Documentary filmmakers have discovered abusive working conditions for laborers of NEOM’s The Line megacity development in Saudi Arabia. Per new reporting on the website Middle East Eye: "Labourers are forced to work grueling hours far beyond legal limits to construct the flagship project of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Neom megacity, according to a new ITV documentary."

That film, Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia, is set to air this Sunday for UK audiences. Labor conditions in the Gulf region are considered to have faltered at improving despite several recent regulatory changes in the view of many Western human rights watch groups.

(Another shock claim that 21,000 workers from three countries — India, Bangladesh, and Nepal — have died since the Saudi Vision 2030 plan was enacted in 2016 is reported in the documentary.)

ALNY chat discusses 'Domicide' and its application to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza

2024-06-11T12:05:00-04:00

How might this destruction be stopped? International law remains one of the only paths to seek accountability. And it is not only lawyers who make its systems function. Through their stewardship of the built environment (including long-standing engagement with the right to housing and the politics of climate change), architects, planners, and preservationists can shed light on the techniques, procedures, and consequences of modern urban warfare. They also have the potential to change them.

Berlin-based Palestinian urbanist and scholar Natasha Aruri, formerly of the TU Berlin, breaks down the concept of ‘domicide’ with MIT's Balakrishnan Rajagopal and SITU founding partner Brad Samuels. The term can be traced to the 2001 title Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home, but has roots in modern conflict (namely the U.S. bombing of Japan and Germany during World War II). The most recent reporting from human rights groups, including the UNWRA, has said that more than half of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed since fighting began there on October 7th.

Historic flooding shuts down Dubai, Oman

2024-04-18T19:20:00-04:00

CNN is reporting on the chaotic situation in Dubai as record rainfalls this week have nearly incapacitated the metro, making for some unreal scenes at both its airport and city streets after about 10 inches fell in under 24 hours. Lightning and high winds have also caused damage to several structures.

Timelapse of massive storm in Dubai that caused a biblical flood.#DubaiFlooding #dubairain pic.twitter.com/31dhquZNjH
— BlueGreen Planet (@BluesWaltair) April 18, 2024

This is the largest amount of rain the region has received in 75 years. A lack of adequate floor prevention infrastructure has caused Copenhagen to adopt so-called "sponge city" concepts after a similarly devastating 2011 cloudburst event, and engineers and planners in the Middle East region may follow suit as such events are increasing due to climate change.

At least 18 people have been reported killed in the flooding thus far.

A look at some of the Iranian cultural sites that Trump could be threatening

2020-01-06T15:22:00-05:00

Tensions in the Middle East keep escalating after the U.S. President followed his drone assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani with a tweet that publicly threatens to strike dozens of target sites in Iran, including "important" cultural sites, if the country dared to retaliate.

"Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD," threatens one passage of Trump's vague January 4th Twitter post which, as lawyer and specialist in historic preservation, Sara C. Bronin, pointed out in the Los Angeles Times, "amounts to an announcement of an intention to commit war crimes."

Ruins of the Tachara at Persepolis, one of Iran's most important UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Photo: Wikimedia Commons u...

Mosul residents fear revamping of Tigris riverfront will erase their historical identity

2019-07-20T09:00:00-04:00

"People know Mosul's Old City by its riverfront - it has some of the city's most important historic features," Fethi added, referring to the city's old wall, the citadel, palaces and other heritage sites along the Tigris' west bank. "It [the council] should aim to preserve Mosul's heritage rather than turn [it] into another Dubai ... an absolute anathema to what should be done."

Two years after Iraqi forces regained full control of Mosul from ISIL, local authorities are pushing a proposal to transform historic neighborhoods along the west bank of the Tigris river into a modernized “new city”, with high rises, large supermarkets and restaurant chains. Al Jazeera spoke with Mosul residents, who believe the plan will erase their historical identity. With some 300,000 residents still displaced, the redevelopment plan doesn't include a budget for rebuilding homes or restoring heritage sites.

“While still a vision for now, local authorities have already begun talks with residents to convince them of the proposal, which, they say, is the only way to redevelop Mosul in the face of limited support from the central government in Baghdad,” Al Jazeera reports. The article states that “Locals and experts alleged that the redevelopment plan was also an effort to manipulate communities into leaving their neighbourhoods”.

Aecom wins project management contract for Saudi Arabia's Neom Bay

2019-07-02T19:15:00-04:00

U.S. engineering firm Aecom will manage the development of Neom Bay, part of a $500 billion mega city on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast [...] The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is spearheading plans to develop Neom, a futuristic city being built from scratch, as part of the government’s plans to cut its reliance on oil and attract foreign investment.

Intentions for the planned Neom megacity were first announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017, but Saudi Arabia's suspected involvement in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi a year later caused international outrage and prominent international figures on the Neom advisory board, including Norman Foster, to suspend their activity.

Sotheby's in talks with Saudi Prince to build contemporary art program in the desert

2018-12-27T15:47:00-05:00

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has set multiple ambitious agendas for his desert kingdom. Turning it into a major cultural destination may end up being one of the highest-profile. For part of the plan, the Saudi government has turned to Sotheby’s, the biggest U.S. auction house, and Allan Schwartzman, the co-chairman of its fine art division.

The largest auction house in the US, Sotheby’s, is in talks with Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to build a cultural center in the northwest deserts of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg. The contemporary art program is to be located in the Al-Ula region, which contains the country's first UNESCO World Heritage site and is an archaeologically rich area built up over 2,000 years ago.

Allan Schwatrzman, co-chairman of Sotheby's fine art division, sits on the advisory board of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, which helps oversee the region's development. He also leads Sotheby's art advisory firm Art Agency Partners, which has submitted the plans for the future sprawling arts and cultural destination. The project is currently in the exploratory phase—says a spokeswoman for the royal commission—and has begun inviting a dozen or so artists to submit proposals for the site.

Given the mounting pressure to address connections to the Saudi Arabian government in t...

Design of Norman Foster's Lusail FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar unveiled

2018-12-17T14:13:00-05:00

Officials in Qatar revealed the design for Lusail Stadium, the venue at which the opening and final games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place. The 80,000-capacity venue will be the largest stadium of the tournament, which will kick off on November 21, 2022, and be the first to take place in the Arab world.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

While most designs of the eight 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums have been subject of public debate for some time (most notably the controversial Zaha Hadid-planned Al Wakrah Stadium), the final appearance of the biggest and central venue of the games had not been revealed until now: the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium was designed by Foster + Partners and forms the centerpiece of the newly built Lusail City metropolis just north of the capital Doha. The 'golden bowl' facade takes inspiration from the region's traditional fanar lanterns.

Lusail Stadium concept. Video via Road to 2022 on YouTube.

Construction of the stadium is well underway, and the massive substructure is reportedly complete.

The venue's modular concept allows the stadium to transform into a community space complete with schools, shops, sporting and health facilities once the World Cup's last game has been played in mid-December 2022.

The new Qattan Foundation arts center rises as “a beacon of culture” in the West Bank

2018-06-29T18:21:00-04:00

This metallic box is the new $21m home for the AM Qattan Foundation, an arts centre that its founders hope will stand as a “beacon of culture” in the occupied West Bank. “It has been years of fighting to achieve anything close to the standards we wanted. There are defects, but it is the best we could do while building under (Israeli) occupation,” [says achitect Juan Pedro Donaire, whose firm designed the new building]

Saudi Arabia plans to build NEOM, a new $500 billion mega city

2017-10-25T15:12:00-04:00

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to build a new city on the Red Sea coast, promising a lifestyle not available in today’s Saudi Arabia as he seeks to remake the kingdom in a time of dwindling resources. The prince said the city project, to be called “NEOM,” will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with investors consulted at every step during development. The project will be backed by more than $500 billion from the Saudi government [...].

The project is ambitious with a capital A: besides the mere challenge of building a new mega city in currently undeveloped desert terrain, the Saudi Crown Prince also envisions a new kind of society for NEOM — likely modeled on the 'free zone' concept that made Dubai flourish — whose "new way of living" and "international standards" laws will be at odds with the ultraconservative traditions and values in the rest of the kingdom.

The Palestinian Museum opens its first show: Jerusalem Lives

2017-08-25T18:41:00-04:00

The Palestinian Museum opens its inaugural exhibition this weekend focusing on the holy city of Jerusalem, a city that both Israel and Palestine claim as their capital. The wide-ranging, overtly political show focuses on the realities of living in Jerusalem as well as the idea that despite being seen as the original global city, it also serves an example of how globalization has failed worldwide.

The Palestinian Museum, located in Birzeit, Palestine’s West Bank, opened last May. Back then, however, the $24 million structure designed by Heneghan Peng Architects had no exhibits to show due to a sudden resignation of the museum's former director.

Its first show, Jerusalem Lives (Tahya Al Quds), on view from August 27, is participatory, consisting of four chapters that examine the cultural, political, economic and ideological aspects of Jerusalem. The exhibit will include works by contemporary artists, a display of 20 large-scale commissions in the museum’s extensive gardens 'based on ideas about land, openness and non-exclusion', featuring artists such as Mona Hatoum, Emily Jacir, Khaled Jarrar, and many more. Additionally, supporting events and programs will be held at other Palestinian institutions.

“What is going on and why are these exclusionary policies being accepted? How are people—artists, organisations and civil society—working against it? And how can we build togethe...

Dutch prisons converted into homes for refugees

2017-06-21T18:09:00-04:00

As the country’s crime rate and prison population have steadily declined for years, dozens of correctional facilities have closed altogether. So when the number of migrants started to rise—more than 50,000 entered the Netherlands last year alone—the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) saw a solution.

Many prisons in the Netherlands have been repurposed to house refugees who are waiting to be granted asylum status, a process that usually takes at least six months. Free to come and go as they please, the refugees are not allowed to work but are encouraged to learn Dutch and build connections with the surrounding community.

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

2017-06-06T12:53:00-04:00

In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions running even within Sunni Islam that are often overlooked by the West, which tends to view the Muslim world through the dichotomous prism of Sunni and Shia.

These countries accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, which is to say, primarily, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood held power briefly in Egypt following the 2011 Revolution before being overthrown in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. They are active in many of the seven aforementioned countries.

Qatar also funds Al Jazeera, the widely-watched news channel known for supporting political Islamism and for critiquing the regimes controlling Saudi Arabia and other countries. And Qatar has been criticized for m...

Completion of Jeddah Tower, the world's tallest building, pushed back to 2019

2017-05-17T14:02:00-04:00

Completion of the world’s new tallest tower, Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, has been pushed back to 2019, its developer said yesterday. Formerly known as Kingdom Tower, the structure is to reach more than a kilometre in height, which means it will surpass Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Construction began in April 2014, and was to have finished in 2018. [...] “The project was delayed... but it’ll open (in) 2019,” Prince Alwaleed said during a media visit to the site, reports AFP.

"Saudi Binladin Group has been hit by a fall in work brought by lower Saudi public spending following the collapse in oil revenues," GCR reports. "Last year workers in Mecca burned buses in protest over unpaid wages amid reports of mass lay-offs."

SOM opens a new office in Dubai

2017-04-05T18:59:00-04:00

The architecture giant Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has announced that they will open a new office in Dubai, a move intended to further their presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The office will be led by Thomas Behr, who will oversee all operations in the region, alongside Uwe Nienstedt, who will manage the office in Dubai. With a prime location on Sheik Zayed Road, the office will oversee current projects and put forward new project proposals.

While the office may be new, SOM has a long presence in the region. From designing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai—the world’s tallest building—to master planning Bahrain Bay in Manama, SOM has cultivated region-specific knowledge, whether in the form of energy conservation or in “reflecting” Islamic culture.

"Our new office allows SOM to build upon decades of experience in the Middle East. By establishing a formal presence in Dubai--an important business center for the region--we are better equipped to serve our local...

Meet Dr. Sumaya Bint Sulaiman Al Sulaiman, Saudi Arabia's first female dean of a design college

2017-04-05T14:30:00-04:00

Dr Sumaya Bint Sulaiman Al Sulaiman has become the first woman in Saudi Arabia to be appointed dean of a design college. Al Sulaiman now heads the College of Design at the Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faysal University ...the highest administrative position for a Saudi woman at a public college or university was vice-dean, except at Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University, an exclusively for women university in the capital Riyadh.

Dr. Al Sulaiman's appointment at the University of Dammam College of Design last month is one of two groundbreaking university dean appointments in Saudi Arabia. She was appointed days after Dr. Dalal Namnaqani, who became the first woman to become dean at the Taif University College of Medicine.

Al Sulaiman has a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Newcastle (UK), a master's in architecture from King Faisal University, and has executive certificates in management, leadership, strategy and innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before becoming dean of the University of Dammam's design college, she was the Vice Dean for Quality, Development and Academic Accreditation and Chair of the Graphic Design and Multimedia program.

Al Sulaiman was the recipient of the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship at MIT in 2013-14. “Her research interests include areas of intersection between architecture and politics such as the mediation of power in space and place; ideologies and nation...

Zaha Hadid Architects just opened a new office in Dubai

2016-11-08T13:31:00-05:00

With 16 projects currently in the works in the Middle East-North Africa region, it's not really a surprise that Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has just opened an office in the Dubai Design District. As stated in the press release, the firm has 30 years worth of experience working in the region.

"A recipient of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, ZHA marries concepts of connectivity with the tremendous advancements in design technologies, material development and construction practices," states ZHA.

"ZHA is working with the many diverse histories and cultures of the region to address important issues in a meaningful way - contributing to the development of more ecologically sustainable and integrated built environments."

For more recent news from ZHA, follow these links:

Saddam Hussain's architectural heritage—and what to do with it

2016-09-13T18:30:00-04:00

During his time in power, as head of state and as leader of the all-powerful, secularist Ba’th party, Saddam would oversee an unprecedented program of monumental development across the historic city of Baghdad. This was not limited to monuments of war and hollow bronze shells, but enormous palatial complexes, museums, art galleries, and civic squares [...] marshal it, awkwardly, unevenly, into the post-industrial age, a modern city shaped by the aspirations and egotistical tastes of a despot.

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As refugees flood into the country, Germany experiments with new urban-planning strategies

2016-08-22T12:37:00-04:00

Since August of 2015, Germany has become home to more than 1.1 million refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. This influx has German architects and urban planners asking the question: “Do we have a refugee crisis on our hands? Or a housing crisis combined with huge challenges to the ability of cities, job markets, and schools to integrate the newcomers?”

[Doug Saunders] cautions that arrival cities are “where the new creative and commercial class will be born, or where the next wave of tension and violence will erupt.” The difference, he adds “depends on how we approach these districts both organizationally and politically, and, crucially, in terms of physical structures and built form.”

For more on the mass migrations transforming Europe, Africa and the Middle East, check out these links:

Sweden tightens its refugee policy, introduces new restrictions for asylum seekers

2016-06-21T13:52:00-04:00

Sweden, once one of the most welcoming countries for refugees, on Tuesday introduced tough new restrictions on asylum seekers, including rules that would limit the number of people granted permanent residency and make it more difficult for parents to reunite with their children. The government said the legislation... was necessary to prevent the country from becoming overstretched by the surge of migration to Europe that began last year.

As more and more refugees flood into Europe from the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere, once-welcoming countries are increasingly tightening their borders. For more on this, check out these links:

Phyllis Lambert receives 2016 Wolf Prize in Israel

2016-06-03T18:47:00-04:00

The one and only Phyllis Lambert continues to rake in architecture honors from around the globe. She received the American Academy's Brunner Memorial Prize this past April and was bestowed the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the 2014 Venice Biennale. Most recently, the former Canadian Centre for Architecture Director has been honored with the 2016 Wolf Prize in Israel. Past laureates include Eduardo Souto de Moura, David Chipperfield, and Peter Eisenman.

Syrian architect talks about the past and future of her destroyed hometown of Homs

2016-05-13T13:57:00-04:00

Is planning still important in a city that's been razed to the ground by civil war? Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni thinks so. She describes life in the city of Homs, which has sustained massive destruction during the Syrian war, and reveals what she'd like it to look like in the future.

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Giant "calligraffiti" mural unites community in Cairo slum

2016-04-07T13:32:00-04:00

Amid Cairo's brick buildings and heaping piles of trash is a sprawling work of art, which, at first, looks messy and incoherent. But when you stand on the nearby hillside and read the spray-painted Arabic "calligraffiti," as its creator Tunisian-French artist eL Seed calls it, the message reads loud and clear: "If one wants to see the light of the sun, he must wipe his eyes." [...] in total secrecy from the Egyptian government due to the country's strict laws forbidding artistic expression.

All images by the artist, eL Seed. For more images click here.

More Cairo-related stories in the Archinect news:

Taking your pad for a spin: Dubai's rotating tower proposal is back

2016-02-03T14:20:00-05:00

An 80-storey ‘Dynamic Tower’ will be standing in Dubai by 2020 is everything goes to plan, architectural firm Dynamic Group has told us. When built it will be the world’s first skyscraper consisting of separate rotating floors attached to a central column, and inside there will be luxury apartments (natch). If you’re wondering what a rotating skyscraper actually is, it’s very much as the name suggests. [...] control the rotation speed and direction of their apartment through voice activation.

"Proposed back in 2008 by architect David Fisher, the tower aims to be 420m tall, which would make it the second tallest building in Dubai, as well as the second tallest residential tower in the world behind New York’s 432 Park Avenue (which stands at 425.5m)."

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Destruction of Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery by ISIS militants went unreported for 16 months

2016-01-20T17:01:00-05:00

Iraq’s earliest Christian monastery has been destroyed by Isil extremists. [...] This seems to have occurred in September 2014, three months after the site on the southern outskirts of Mosul was seized by Isil forces. [...] If the near-total destruction of Mar Elia is confirmed, 16 months after the event, it is worrying that it went unreported, since it suggests that other Christian sites may have also been destroyed without publicity.

Related stories in the Archinect news:

Saudi Arabia's uneasy relationship with its cultural heritage of Mecca and Medina

2015-11-24T13:45:00-05:00

The systematic destruction of Saudi Arabia is under way—in silence. Historic mosques, tombs, mausoleums, monuments and houses: more than 90% of the old quarters of the holiest cities of Islam has been razed to make room for a new urban landscape of hotels, shopping centres and apartment blocks. [...] Construction works have already transformed Mecca and Medina into cities without a past, dominated by skyscrapers.

Built in 1780 and leveled in 2002 for the construction of the Makkah Royal Clock Tower hotel complex, the Ottoman Ajyad Fortress is just one of many historic sites that are being destroyed and replaced by hotel towers, condo skyscrapers and parking lots.

Egypt's challenges to build its new capital city

2015-11-09T17:38:00-05:00

Cairo is an unruly urban sprawl that has spun out of control. Now, officials want to build a new capital in the desert -- a potent symbol of President Sisi's regime. But will it ever happen? [...] The old Cairo is an ugly city, an affront to the senses. [...] a city of contradictions, created from the bottom up, even though that had never been the intention. It has been growing wildly since the 1960s -- from 3.5 million back then to 18 million now -- against the will of the country's rulers.

Previously in the Archinect News:

Rainforest in the desert? This new Dubai tower will have one. Oh, and an artificial beach, too.

2015-10-13T13:39:00-04:00

Dubai, the city of superlatives, is set to get a new tower on Sheikh Zayed Road that will have an artificial beach and a rainforest-like landscape development on top of the tower's podium. [...] The project consists of two towers, 47 storeys high with a combined five-storey podium and two basement levels, that will house the facilities. [...] Kieferle & Partner is the architect.

A few images of the two-tower development via ZAS Group's website, the lead consultant on the project:

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Private money attracts big-name architects to design new museums in Beirut

2015-10-09T15:01:00-04:00

A raft of museums, most backed by private money, are springing up in what is, for many, an unlikely cultural hub: Beirut, the capital of Lebanon [...] The design competition launched on 1 October; the architect Zaha Hadid is on the jury along with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones of London's Serpentine Galleries. Salamé, who founded the Aïshti fashion chain, invested $100m in funding a contemporary art museum, designed by the British architect David Adjaye, in Jal El Dib [...].

A world divided: mapping border fences globally

2015-09-17T13:31:00-04:00

Europe will soon have more physical barriers on its national borders than it did during the Cold War. This year’s refugee crisis, combined with Ukraine's ongoing conflict with Russia, has seen governments plan and construct border walls and security fences across Mediterranean and eastern Europe... Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 40 countries around the world have built fences against 64 of their neighbours.

The Economist takes a look at the world's borders, (mostly) new and old. Of the 40 countries that have built physical border walls since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 30 of those happened after 9/11, and 15 this year alone. Check it out the interactive graphic here.

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