Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
An independent investigation into the construction of New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus has found that despite the school’s best intentions and efforts, about one third of the workforce at the site — roughly 10,000 workers — was not covered by the school’s labor guidelines, and thus faced unfair and exploitative practices [that were reported in previous allegations]. — Hyperallergic
To add to that, construction of the NYUAD main campus is nearly complete and the workers have already moved on to other jobs.Related:Abu Dhabi: Saadiyat Guggenheim StallsHigh Culture and Hard LaborA Memorial for the Workers Dying While Constructing the Qatar World Cup Stadium View full entry
With all the cultural, sports and real-estate projects launched throughout the United Arab Emirates, there have been persistent protests about the working and living conditions [...] ”Serious concerns about workers’ rights have not been resolved”, claims the advocacy group, asking for a commitment for ”more serious protection” from these institutions and Saadiyat Island’s developers. [...] appears to have made a serious effort to address the concern expressed by Western museums and architects. — theartnewspaper.com
UK/Dubai-based media company Electric Lime Productions recently released a film for the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi called "The Arcology", defined as "a vision of architectural design principles for very densely populated habitats (hyperstructures)"The short video below is a highlight from a... View full entry
Saadiyat Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi, has seen $27 billion in investments pour in as the island hopes to become a new beacon of culture in the region
developers behind the island have received international attention for the poor conditions in which migrant laborers work and live. Reports have found that in some cases, the control employers hold over the island's workers, such as withholding their passports to prevent them from returning to their home countries, amounts to forced labor.
— Al Jazeera America
Saadiyat Island includes a half-billion-dollar branch of the Louvre Museum designed by Jean Nouvel, a national museum designed by Norman Foster and a variety of luxury resorts, golf clubs, marinas and private villas. Where does an architect's responsibility begin and where does it end? View full entry
A spoof Guggenheim website, globalguggenheim.org, went live this morning with a satirical “Sustainable Design Competition” for the global museum’s embattled Abu Dhabi branch. The website, a slightly modified replica of the official Guggenheim version, features images of Saadiyat Island, where the museum is to be built, overlayed with the hashtag #futureguggenheim, as well as references to Gulf Labor’s ongoing 52 Weeks campaign. — hyperallergic.com
Drop by Hollywood’s finest art and architecture bookstore, Hennessey + Ingalls, tonight for a special event launching Shaping the City, a newly revised edition of contemporary urbanism case studies. The event will also feature a conversation with University of Toronto’s Director of... View full entry
In our previous post, we published the four regional winners of the Best Tall Building prize conferred annually by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Winner of the award for the Middle East & Africa region is the five-building Sowwah Square complex in Abu Dhabi designed by Chicago architecture firm Goettsch Partners and developed by Mubadala Real Estate & Infrastructure. — bustler.net
Abu Dhabi, the most oil-rich of the United Arab Emirates, is now home to the world's single-largest concentrated solar power plant.
The 100-megawatt Shams 1 plant cost an estimated $750 million and is expected to provide electricity to 20,000 homes, according to the BBC.
Why, you might ask?
Bloomberg says the less oil Abu Dhabi uses for local consumption, the more it can export.
— npr.org
Chicago architecture firm Goettsch Partners has designed the flagship commercial development for UAE-based Al Hilal Bank in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island, formerly known as Sowwah Island. — bustler.net
London has its gracious Victorian mansions, New York has its elegant brownstones and Paris has its ornate Empire-style buildings. But what architectural legacy will future Abu Dhabi residents have to remind them of the city's early boom period?
The fear is that Abu Dhabi's headlong modernisation will eliminate all evidence of the city's evolution, leaving nothing significant to bridge the gap between the pre-oil age and the skyscraper city currently being built.
— thenational.ae
London-based Austin Smith: Lord (ASL) said it is owed £7.85m (AED45.3m) by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage for its work on the Qasr al-Hosn fort in the centre of the city.
The 62-year-old design firm last month signed a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) with its creditors in a bid to avoid administration. ASL has made more than 80 staff redundant, including 13 employees from its Abu Dhabi office, which has since closed.
— arabianbusiness.com
The Abu Dhabi company building a branch of the Guggenheim museum in the Emirati capital said Sunday it has temporarily dropped plans to award a major construction contract, raising questions about the future of the high profile project. TDIC (The state-run Tourism Development and Investment Co.)... View full entry
For several years, the Gulf states have been engaged in an ambitious rebranding campaign, to establish themselves as a centre for art, culture and science. Leading academic institutions, like the New York University or Paris's Sorbonne university, have opened campuses in Abu Dhabi; major museums, like the Louvre and the Guggenheim are planning to build branches there. — Qantara.de
The Abu Dhabi Art Fair has turned into an attraction, not just for regional artists, gallery-owners and art experts, but also for those from Europe, the USA, South Asia and Australia. The Emirate of Sharjah puts on an Art Biennial which has international status. These developments are part of the... View full entry
The first phase of this zero-carbon Gulf city is up and running. But behind the futuristic facade of driverless pods, medieval streets twist and turn back the clock to traditional design — guardian.co.uk