This is a discussion of the evolution of tall buildings in the
Gulf region as exemplary of the interaction between spacetime and identity in
many parts of the world. The rapid change and speed that the Gulf region is an ideal condition to study this phenomenon. Tall
buildings constitute a significant part of this change and transformation. The
emerging cities of the Gulf region are witnessing rapid increase in the number
of high-rise, tall and super-tall buildings. According to the CTBUH, one
quarter of the world's future tallest building projects will be based within
the Middle East region, specifically Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Aside from satisfying functional and economic needs, tall buildings are
becoming symbols of modernization, development, and globalization. They are
sources of national pride and cultural identity expressing globalization and
economic prosperity. Yet, they pose a challenge integrating them within the
urban fabric of emerging cities of the Gulf region. There is increasing concern
among professional of the impact of tall buildings on urban habitat. The socio-cultural sustainability of
tall buildings are essential part of global city image. It is critical to understand the phenomenon of constructing tall buildings in the Gulf region
as new building type that contributes to the relationship between spacetime and
identity and the Aestainability, or the Aesthetics of sustainability, in the
emerging Gulf cities. Virilio’s concept of dromology (1986) is an attempt to understand the process and speed of change in the cities of the
Gulf region and its contribution to the transformation of cultural identity.
Tall buildings contribute to the shaping and changing of cultural identity of
cities in the Gulf region. Measures should be considered when
designing tall buildings to participate positively in shaping the contemporary
and future city identity. They include; controlling the speed of change
produced by tall buildings, social interaction on the street level, planning
and distribution of tall buildings in the city, forms and codes used to
integrate them in the city, materials and technology employed to construct
them, environmental and economic impact on the city and, in general, the role
of tall buildings in the city as providers of cultural and identity.
Why is identity important? In our rapidly
globalized world, based on transportation and communication technologies, rapid
changes and transformations are alienating people from their surrounding
environments and creating segregated and exclusive spaces in the city based on
economic and spatial separation. This results in disintegrated city life that
is fundamentally against the purpose of the city. Elements of cultural
identity: language, music, religion, social, institutions, history, … and
architecture. The problem of tall and suprtall buildings is
that they are a new form cultural identity in the Gulf cities that were until
very recently deriving their identity from small scale, low rise images. This
sudden shift is problematic for many when they witness the rise of more and
more tall buildings in the region.
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