The two main themes of the Emirates, in my experience, were Islam, which roughly speaking shuns the material world; and rampant materialism and consumerism. The symbol of the latter is the tower.
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| The exhibition centre. An exhibition in itself. |
In addition to Dubai's super tall Burj Khalifa, and a gazzilion other super tall buildings, Abu Dhabi is making an effort too; I've picked a few here to comment on. The exhibition centre caught my attention; it's classically weird and stupid and excessive and impressive and almost elegant.
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| Air traffic control. With style. |
In downtown Abu Dhabi, there seems to be an effort to make it look like it's teeming with towers. In a great compliment to New York, they seem to have modeled their sky-scape thereafter. It goes to this extent: an individual development often constitutes multiple blocks which are all the same, presumably just so that it looks like there's more towers?
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| Abu Dhabi. Teeming with towers. |
In a place with few people and plenty of space, I can't see any reason to build like this. So there's this great sense of irrationality to the developments, whose priorities are driven by vanity. The finer details are invariably beautiful, and seem to tirelessly promote Islam. The irony doesn't seem apparent to them though.
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