TWO SIDES OF DUBAI

 

It's all a question of framing. You can see the upside or the downside in most situations. It worries me a little that we prefer frame human activity as harmful to "the planet" or whatever word you choose to frame something sacred outside ourselves.

These are pictures from one of my morning walks. I have been living in an unfashionable suburb of Dubai for 17 years now. I can frame that in a positive way. I enjoy living amongst the "common people" who keep the city running. It lacks the glitz of tourist areas and keeps you mindful of the harsh climate. But all the same, purchasing this flat was a smart move. Like so many others I came to Dubai to climb out of a financial hole, and switching from rental to ownership early on has made a huge difference on many levels.

So you can point the camera at the empty plots, the discarded rubble, the feral cat limping on three legs. You can notice the street-football pitch marked out on a corner of the pavement because there is a shortage of proper play areas. (or because kids are resilient and resourceful)... OR...

 

You can frame the view to catch the miracle of a city in the desert. The carefully calibrated landscaping maintained with recycled water. The animals that adapt and survive. I don't have a picture here of the corner shop that is packed with curious and helpful staff who light up in smiles and greet me the moment I enter. The guy who picks out 10 Dirhams worth of juicy dates for me as soon as I catch his eye. Human contact with people who I could frame as victims earning pitifully low wages, but don't.

They are also survivors. They are happy to have an opportunity to earn hard currency and to remit some it to their families. Instead of showing resentment and distrust to an englishman in their midst, they see another opportunity to learn, to interact, to share the simple pleasures of common humanity.

Dubai has been kind to me, just as western media have been quick to point a finger at its faults. I see both sides. But as a fallible human I'm not willing to cast the first stone. Better to hold on to twenty years-worth of positive memories, with the occasional shadow to keep me straight.

 

As part of the celebration of twenty years working at Godwin Austen Johnson in Dubai, I was offered a free night at the Palace Dubai Creek Harbour. This is a project that I worked on extensively during 2018 and 2019, setting up the initial Revit models for the architectural elements, creating most of the family content, and managing the doors and windows package right through to the end of detail design.

It's my first time to visit the site. In fact it's closer to where I live than I had realised. The hotel is fully operational but the area around is not quite finished. Give it another year to be fully buzzing. All the same I can't help wondering what it would be like to live this lifestyle on a daily basis. The glamorous side of Dubai.

 

Too late for me. I made my choices 50, 40, 30 years ago. But it's timely to catch this glimpse into the parallel world that I ignore for the most part as I go about my business in this desert theme park. Kudos to Jason, and others in the concept design team for developing this very sleek and elegant solution. The interiors were by another firm, and like most of the ID work I have had to incorporate into a BIM workflow over the past 15 years and more, executed entirely in 2D Autocad (plus some fancy renders of course, possibly outsourced)

We had to model the basics of the ID for them for the sake of coordinating with MEP and Structures. The same was true for Landscape Design. It's starting to change now. More and more subdisciplines are adopting BIM. Transitions take time. Forcing them is not always a good idea.

Bottom line. The interiors are great. Much better than I had imagined, and quite seamlessly integrated with the architecture, while taking the edge off the minimalism that works so well externally. Landscape too. All the eye-rolls and cursing from our BIM team now forgotten. So glad to have experienced the project from the other side of the fence.

 

Selfies on the balcony of my room. "Living the life" just for a moment. I suspect if this became my everyday reality it would lose its sparkle. But as a break in routine it's perfect. I can see why some people fall in love with Dubai and others feel a deep resentment and suspicion.

For me it's just the backdrop to my life for the past 20 years. The last phase of my "working life" effectively as I gradually figure out some kind of "retirement" phase. Hopefully that will be pursuing my passions, but necessarily at a slower pace as my energy levels tail off. It's OK.

Revit model versus built reality. Not a direct comparison but perhaps more useful. Cutaway axo of a partially developed model. Structure in pink (linked model). External shell for the Architecture was divided into three files. The podium across the entire site. The 45 floor apartments, and the 10 storey Hotel. Actually the podium contains shell and core up to first floor level. The two towers were divided into interior and exterior. Interior models are not shown here.

 

We had trouble with groups for the typical floors. Maybe it's possible to manage them so they never break. With a mixed ability team in two locations and lots of design changes... not so much. But we got there. Maybe one day there will be a more robust solution. Links are not it. For one thing the doors in a link don't register the floor they are on in the master model.

But my days of wrestling with these kinds of issues are drawing to a close, and I can revel in a project become reality. I know it so well and yet the immersive experience of now is quite different from navigating a model and hunting down issues to solve as part of a design team.