Abu Dhabi was so strange to see. Giant glass skyscrapers filled the city and seemed to pop up over night. Our hotel was surrounded by construction sites and all of the buildings were immaculate. At night they were all lit up with neon lights of all colors.
The first stop we made was to a welcome center where we got to see a video of what Abu Dhabi had developed around over centuries and what their culture believes in. The models of the projected city were gorgeous. Giant gardens and beautiful buildings covered the land and their man made islands were perfectly shaped on the coast.
Dan explained to us that the Sheiks that control the land development mostly just build what they want to see without any thought of the future and how it will work. At one point in time a sheik decided he wanted a connection from Abu Dhabi to Dubai without checking to see if the connection would work and if there was land and money for it. The next day the project was begun and is still in the beginning stages because they later found out that the resources for the project are shorter than expected. Dan was telling us about the effort by Western architects to push green design in the harsh climate, but many of the leaders who want things built don't know about the options for design and worry it will make their buildings less pretty than the ones they are competing with.
We stopped at a small beachfront where we were able to put our feet in the ocean before walking through a park. We talked to Kate about our clothes and what was appropriate to wear in an extremely strict Islamic culture. We were told it is safer to wear clothes with sleeves and shorts or skirts that go down past our knees which we were all able to do even though it was 85 or 86 degrees out.
After the park we went to a small shopping mall called the Souk. Shopping seems to be a big part of the life in the U.A.E. The last stop of the day was a visit to another Alums office Gensler to see the current project he was working on before heading back to the hotel. That night we went to find some food which was a bit of a search but ended up being easier than expected.
Our second day we went on an excursion to Dubai with Kate, Dan and another alum Damen. We arrived in Dubai after a two hour bus ride and began by having a short visit to the city museum. Wax figurines covered the dark rooms which was slightly creepy but very effective.
After visiting the museum we spent an hour walking around creek side park where we all skipped rocks and walked around. The Dubai mall is one of the most amazing shopping malls I've ever been to.
We were told to get a quick bite to eat before meeting to go up to the top of the Burg Kalifa. The Burg is the tallest building in the world. Fun fact: if you take the re-bar used in its structure placed end to end it can stretch three-fourths of the way around the world. The observation deck was outside but was enclosed with glass panels. Pretty insane.
The last stop of the day was to the Dubai mall where on the way in we saw a white Lamborghini as well as many other million dollar cars parked in the valet parking. We headed into the mall to look around for a while as well as check out the attached indoor skiing slope. The skiDubai place was packed and it was fun to see people who usually never see snow running around playing in snow suits.
By the end of the day we were all very tired and I was extremely unlucky in picking up the contagious sore throat and cough that had been going around the past week.
The next day we woke up later giving time to work on homework and other things before meeting to talk about the places we would visit with Dan Render. Dan showed us a project called Masdar City which a sustainable city in the middle of the desert. There are no cars only PR2s as taxis that are automatic. The streets are self shading and the buildings work together to make a sustainable microclimate.
We left to see the Grand Mosque first but we were unable to see it in the morning because it was prayer time. We continued to our next stop which was a quick lunch from a grocery store before riding to the exterior of Masdar city where we loaded into our first automated taxis. We rode into the port and our guide took us up into the University which is stationed in Masdar as a prototype station for its future. The city was amazing to see. It was like looking a hundred years in the future. The only issue Dan has mentioned is that the project didn't take into account of repurposing that the rest if the world will need to make their towns sustainable with Masdar as a model.
On our way back we stopped to see Aldar a development contracting firm that is working on districts that are soon to be built in Abu Dhabi and part of them that are already built. We stopped at Ferrari World for a short visit after that and then a last minute visit to the Grand Mosque that was extremely fast.
We got back to the hotel with enough time for a quick dinner with our friends before beginning our late night journey to Singapore.
No comments:
Post a Comment