What started as part of Dubai’s masterplan to position itself as a global luxury destination has evolved into one of the Middle East’s most recognisable hospitality brands. Long defined by the landmark Burj Al Arab, a self-proclaimed seven-star hotel set on a man-made island off Jumeirah beach, the Jumeirah group built its identity on creating architecturally distinct hotels that have become global symbols for Dubai itself. Today, this legacy still shapes the brand, but the opening of Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab marks the start of a new chapter of considered restraint.

Wallpaper* checks into Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai

What’s on your doorstep?

Set between Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Burj Al Arab, the hotel is part of Jumeirah’s original beachfront cluster of resorts, sitting at the southern end of the stretch, where the shoreline meets the city. From here, neighbouring Jumeirah hotels are easily reached by foot or golf buggy, linking Marsa Al Arab to a wide mix of restaurants, beach clubs, spas and leisure facilities spread across the complex.

Beyond this, the hotel is located within one of Dubai’s most established residential neighbourhoods, defined by low-rise villas, local cafés and everyday city life. The galleries of Alserkal Avenue and the Mall of the Emirates are both a short drive away, while Downtown Dubai and the Dubai Mall are also within easy reach, keeping the hotel connected to the wider city.

Who is behind the design?

In keeping with the Burj’s sail silhouette and the sweeping wave-like profile of Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Marsa Al Arab completes the beachfront trio with architecture by local practice Killa Design, who took its cues from the streamlined geometry of a superyacht with horizontal lines and curved balconies that emphasise fluidity and give the building the appearance of a vessel sitting on the water. A large arch is set into the base of the building to form the porte-cochère, supporting multiple floors above and framing views back towards the Burj Al Arab.

Inside, the sense of scale is softened, most notably in the lobby, which unfolds through a series of smaller, loosely connected spaces, encouraging informal gatherings over a pot of tea or a glass of champagne. Paris-based Trustan Auer worked together with Wilson Associates to set a sophisticated tone across the hotel, drawing lightly from the nautical theme with soft neutrals and burnt orange accents alongside warm lacquered woods and marble finishes. Elsewhere, various restaurants, including The Fore and Rialto, are the work of AvrOko who injected their signature soul with rich materials and considered lighting into spaces that smartly unfold over a series of zones.

The room to book

Some say that the city-facing rooms are the ones to book, looking inland across Jumeirah’s low-rise neighbourhoods and a shore shaped by early fishing communities. For pure Dubai spectacle, however, check into a room overlooking the Burj Al Arab and the crescent of Jumeirah Beach. All the all rooms are kitted out to the highest standard with spacious walk-in wardrobes and minibars stuffed with luxury treats like the pistachio-kunafa bar from Fix Dessert Chocolatier, but the standout is the Ocean Deluxe Suite, not just for its round-the-clock butler service, but for the sweeping balcony that runs the length of the living room, bedroom and bathroom – complete with a freestanding tub – perfectly positioned for a glass of champagne and sunset views over the glistening Arabian Sea.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Home to no fewer than 11 restaurants and bars, the hotel’s dining scene is arranged across the ground floor in clearly defined zones. Highlights include Bombay Club, serving classics such as butter chicken and naan fresh from the tandoor, and Rialto, which is the spot to be during white truffle season. After dinner, a discreet gin room opens into Rialto Bar, where a rare green marble counter makes the best perch for a Negroni. Elsewhere, Iliana offers a lighter, breezy option, perfect for long lunches with sea views.

Where to switch off

Marsa Al Arab is a remarkably serene escape in its own right, helped by its beachfront setting and generous spread of outdoor pools, which includes an adults-only spot and the Iliana Pool Club – available only for suite guests – with its collection of private cabanas. Wellness is centred around Talise, a sprawling three-level space unfolding with a gym, a standout indoor pool, and a full suite of treatment rooms and facilities all oriented towards the hotel’s signature views. Rounding things out is Limoz Logli, the eponymous salon from the London-based hair connoisseur, whose bespoke colour transformations will leave you feeling polished with effortless sun-kissed-ready hair.

The verdict

Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab marks a new chapter in Dubai hospitality, delivering the scale, polish and sense of occasion the city is known for, but tempered with restraint and understated elegance. While Jumeirah has long been an international name, this opening moves the brand into the global spotlight with an assured and confident offering.

Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab is located at Jumeirah St, Umm Suqeim 3, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Book now.

On the occasion of Design Miami 2025, the fair announced a new partnership with cultural enterprise Alserkal to introduce a collectible design fair in Dubai. Set for early 2027, the Dubai edition of Design Miami will be the first foray of the design fair into the Middle East, and will feature a jointly curated platform for collectible design in the region.

Design Miami in Dubai

Founded in 2007 by Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, an Emirati business leader and culture patron, Alserkal Avenue has quickly established itself as one of region's 'leading destinations for contemporary art and community engagement'. From a former industrial site, Alserkal Avenue became a key cultural district, also featuring an Arts Foundation and a creative consultancy.

'Alserkal’s partnership with the Design Miami brand is of global significance: by triangulating Dubai with Design Miami’s platforms in Miami and Paris, we have created a powerful network driven by our shared values,' says Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal. 'From today onwards, we are united in a single, forward-looking design vision.'

Home to over a hundred creatives, Alserkal Avenue will bring a new perspective to Design Miami and together, the two brands will establish what promises to be a leading platform for collectible design and the conversations surrounding it. The two bodies, says a note introducing the partnership, share a 'commitment to thoughtful, context-driven curation’ and the initiative ‘will bring together a like-minded community of designers, collectors and leading creative voice'.

'Alserkal has played a crucial role in building and shaping an international creative district in Dubai,' comments Jen Roberts, Design Miami CEO. 'Through this partnership, we see a great opportunity to exemplify our shared values and belief that design is a global language. Together, we can create a meaningful platform that celebrates both the region’s cultural heritage while highlighting its spirit of innovation – a platform to connect the global networks of collectors and designers we have built over the years.'

Dubai Watch Week [19 - 23 November] has opened its doors in its new Dubai Mall venue, safe from the storms that nearly washed out the 2023 edition. Going inside and increasing the space naturally gives more prominence to the bigger brands, notably, Rolex (whose 2025 story remains the era-defining Land Dweller), Van Cleef & Arpels, starring the incredible Brasséede Lavande table-top automaton, and the LVMH stable, including Bulgari and TAG Heuer.

Given the location and the wealth concentrated in the city, it’s no surprise that the exhibitor list is full of what you might call alt-Pateks, the brands to catch your eye before or after your number comes up for that coveted Nautilus or World Time Calatrava. Of note this year is the concentration of technically ambitious (and correspondingly pricy) makers such as Ferdinand Berthoud, Greubel Forsey, HYT and de Bethune, as well as more craft-focused makers such as Chopard, H Moser, Parmigiani and Laurent Ferrier.

Meanwhile, there’ll always be strong interest in the independent sector, however loosely defined, and Dubai Watch Week is a chance for those brands to get in front of the watch-buying public on more equal terms. What is notable is that the value range extends right through to the likes of Ming, Oris and Studio Underdog.

Dubai Watch Week 2025 highlights

Van Cleef & Arpels

The Brassée de Lavande is a new table-top automaton featuring a central lavender bouquet that opens to reveal a butterfly with orange plique-à-jour enamel wings, diamond accents, and black enamel contours. The butterfly’s body is crafted from tiger’s eye with amethyst cabochon eyes and diamond-tipped antennae. Detailed lacquered buds and an integrated carillon mechanism complete the piece

Chopard

The new L.U.C Grand Strike from Chopard is as technically ambitious as it comes: a highly complex chiming watch with a minute repeater and both grande and petite sonnerie functions, all using sapphire crystal gongs. Developed over 11,000 hours and protected by ten proprietary patents (five created specifically for this watch), it is the most intricate timepiece Chopard has ever produced – the culmination of a decades long adventure in sonnerie watches.

Parmigiani

Parmigiani are showing an ‘Arctic Rose’ edition of its PF Tonda Rattrapante, a sort of slow-food chronograph that unfussily allows you set a time interval with its extra minute hand. But it’s less about what it does and all about how beautifully it’s done–the subtlety of the finishes, (particularly theGrain d’Orge guilloché treatment on the dial) and the perfectly fluid shape of the case and bracelet take care of that.

Louis Vuitton

The Escale gets a gorgeously 70s makeover with two new stone dial editions that are being unveiled at Dubai. The new 40mm watches have dials and case rings in turquoise and malachite respectively, and are matched with platinum versions of the trunk inspired case that Louis Vuitton refreshed in 2024. Matthieu Hegi, Louis Vuitton’s Watch ArtisticDirector, promised at the 2024 launch, that a multitude of colours and materials would star in the new Escale and these two watches are that promise delivered.

Pérpetuel Gallery

Away from the Dubai Mall, the Pérpetuel Gallery will be hosting a stellar cast of top level makers including Roger Smith, Fiona Kruger and star of the future, Renaud Tixier. The Monday Watch, first seen last year, gets new dials to compliment the exceptional marriage of innovation and craftsmanship that Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier have brought to the project.

The natural makeup of Dubai’s Creek has been a vital regional hub for East and West trade for centuries. And today it continues to be a nerve centre for the exchange of ideas, and culture, too at the Dubai Design Week, which runs until November 9th. Here global creativity converges with local heritage to shape a city’s evolving identity.

Some Kind of Practice presents ‘When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard?’

How does a city known for hosting the world’s tallest building reconnect with its roots, often hidden behind glass and steel in a growing metropolis? At the Design District, palm fronds enclose a courtyard built on concrete blocks, while corrugated metal sheets form an open roof structure that lets in light and air. This is the winning proposal for the 2025 Urban Commissions theme of Courtyard. ‘When Does a Threshold Become a Courtyard?’, was conceived by the UAE-based design and research studio Some Kind of Practice, founded by Omar Darwish and co-led with Abdulla Abbas.

'Our fieldwork focused on places that have so far remained untouched by development; in the mountains, along the coast, and in the desert,' says Darwish. 'We wanted to recreate the regionally important courtyard space using off-the-shelf and natural materials, combined with traditional techniques such as the stacking systems we observed in the desert,' Abbas adds.

Ile Griot pop-up library by Bootleg Griot

In Dubai, the native Ghaf tree cannot be felled; its deep roots draw down for nourishment, and it’s common to see structures built around it. Likewise, the city’s expanding creative scene is digging deep to lay a solid foundation that makes space for both local and international talent to take root and grow. Bootleg Griot is one such organisation.

The pop-up library focused on housing African literature holds a collection of over 3,000 books all sourced from the UAE. ‘West African culture’s concept of the griot was essentially a human library,’ explains Fawaz Abdulazeez, co-founder of Bootleg Griot. ‘They say when a griot dies a library burns down.’

Their Ile Griot (Griot’s home) installation is set up as a space the griot would have lived and invited people to visit, and so they invite visitors to enter this home as they hold storytelling sessions, talks and screenings.

Tanween Design Programme

Organisations such as Tashkeel are enriching the design scene with their professional development offerings. Members and students are encouraged to experiment while gaining practical knowledge to develop and grow their business and skills.

At Downtown Design graduates of Tashkeel’s Tanween Design Programme explored the creative potential of local materials typically dismissed or underutilised. For instance, the Al Nawa Collection made from date pit and glue by artist and poet Nasser Alghawi features a chandelier and display table. Both made from date pits and wood dust. By transforming discarded materials into design objects, Alghawi presents an ode to Emirati generosity and resilience.

Clock & Cloud studio’s ‘Loodo’ table takes a more playful, yet practical approach. The piece features legs made from a desert sand based bio-composite crystal glass and with henna, turmeric and charcoal also feature. Reem Shawkat explains It’s incredible that construction companies pay to discard sand. ‘The material is often overlooked, even though we have it in abundance,’ Alefiyah Ustad says. The duo met during the Tanween course.

Emerging designers

Athath Fellowship participant Adnan Arif’s translates modularity with ‘Sil’, a totem-leg inspired table that allows for more elements to be in the future. 'I often feel furniture is too static, so I wanted to make it more accessible through personalisation and the use of different shades that allow it to look richer.'

Dubai’s position as a regional hub inspired One Third Studio’s Wasl shelving system, presented at The UAE Designer Exhibition. The design integrates circular platforms inlaid with intricate Dubai Khoo marquetry, blending modern form with traditional craftsmanship.

Product designer and founder of Design And Nourhan Rahhal is a skilled woodworker. Her Millefeuille collection features a tall lamp she made using layers of terracotta and ash wood stacked on top of each other. For her table made using the same materials she explains, “I haven’t used fixings here, and have connected the elements using mortise and tenant joints which offer stability and beauty.”

The Morphcode Collection by Syrian designer Ahmad Kattan are as functional as they are sculptural, the stools or side tables are made of simple geometric shapes rotated on a 45-degree angle. Made using a CNC machine, the solid yellow pine pieces 'demonstrate that wood can still work in humid environments,' Kattan explains.

Hardik Gandhi’s Around Collection considers multigeneration scaling his boucle chairs for adults and children, while his Avora planter, made from aluminium is designed for both indoor and outdoor use with a powder-coated colour finish allowing for personalisation.

Jagdish Sutar, a Milan NABA graduate, presented Objects of Legacy, which triggers memories of Rajasthan where all the pieces have been made. “These are the things I saw while growing up,” he says of the ‘Family Daybed’ made from teak, the oversized furniture reimagines the Indian ‘Charpoy daybed’ while encouraging people to gather close together.

Dubai's Downtown Design District: d3 Awards and more

A first for this year’s edition at the Design District is the d3 Awards, which champions emerging talent from the MENA region. Ohireme Uanzekin took home the prize for his Abora project that responds to the rapid urban development that has affected the natural terrain with the reintroduction of natural formations like trails and adaptive structures to create a living terrain shaped by soil, sediment and settlement.

Meanwhile, established Italian brands like Venini revisited archival design with an elaborate ceiling installation, and Foglie D’oro showcased masterful wood craftsmanship and the poetic simplicity of the Andrea Bonini-designed Sahrai booth.

Also at Downtown Design, Doodle and the Gang’s collaboration with rug company Hands and their ‘Postcards’ collection is a playful tribute to the collective memories of the Egyptian sibling design duo’s Asmaa and Mentalla Said’s heritage and travels. Pieces like ‘Twirl’ take inspiration from the Sufi costume worn by the spinning Al Tannoura dancers of Cairo and ‘Bonjuseh’ celebrates the iconic regional drink Bonjus. ‘These are not just our memories, a lot of these icons are recognisable throughout the region like the Aroosa Tea,’ Mentalla says. ‘We wanted the memory to use this project to create a storytelling of the regional memory that could trigger a nostalgic sense of comfort.’

Badih Ghanem Architecture and Design is also asking visitors to look back and ‘Remember Love?’. The French-Lebanese architect exhibits five pieces made from polished steel that recall family celebrations in the form of a ubiquitous chair that would always be dragged out for festivities. The vases, inspired by the Beirut Port Silos that scattered wheat throughout the city after the explosion of 2022 or the cinder blocks that represent the numerous unfinished post war homes. 'It’s about taking the time to live with what happened to us, we are scarred and live with it.' The mirror is made from one piece that folds on itself to create a frame, it initially appears distorted and as you move closer things appear clearer, a bit like our memories.'

As the event proceeds, Dubai Design Week director Natasha Carella is noticing that risks pay off. The design for the forum space used for the talks was conceived by Lebanese architect and designer Roula Salamoun and it has been positively disruptive. 'We wanted to flip things completely this year and Roula really committed to that,' Carella explains.

'You see the renders but before the event you don’t realise how the audience will react and interact with the space. Initially speakers like Tom Dixon sat down, but at the next talk Marcel Wanders walked around the space. There was also a lady who took off her shoes and sat comfortably to listen to a few talks and that’s exactly how we want the space to function.'

The 2025 RIBA Middle East Award winners have just been announced, the inaugural honorees in one of the organisation’s two new territory accolades.

The new RIBA awards, launched this year as part of the UK institution's International Awards expansion, focus on two territories – the Middle East and Asia Pacific – freshly added to its prestigious roster. As revealed today (5 November), nine buildings share the 2025 RIBA Middle East Award top spot, while the Asia Pacific winners will follow in a few weeks.

The 2025 RIBA Middle East Award winners

These Middle East awards, which will be celebrated at an event on 7 November 2025 during Dubai Design Week, were created to put a spotlight on the region's creativity and pioneering architecture. The winners span from the world’s first purpose-built women-only mosque in Qatar, to the world’s largest city park, in Riyadh. Scroll down for the full list.

Discover the winners

• Adaptive Reuse Winner: The Serai Wing, Sharjah – Bait Khalid Bin Ibrahim by Anarchitect
• Design for Living Winner: Al Wasl Plaza, Dubai – Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
• Future Project Winner: King Salman Park, Riyadh – Gerber Architekten is leading a joint venture with two engineering partners, Buro Happold, and Setec
• RIBA Member Winner: Buhais Geology Park Interpretive Centre, Al-Madam Plan – Hopkins Architects
• RIBA Member Winner: Expo 2020 Thematic Districts, Dubai –Hopkins Architects
• Social Architecture Winner: Al-Mujadilah Center and Mosque for Women, Doha – conceived by Her Highness, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro
• Sustainability & Resilience Winner: Jafar Centre, Dubai College, Dubai – Godwin Austen Johnson
• Temporary Architecture Winner: Singapore Pavilion, World Expo 2020, Dubai – WOHA
• Temporary Architecture Winner: World Food Waste Teahouse: Arabi-an, Dubai – Mitsubishi Jisho Design

RIBA's new awards: an explainer with president Chris Williamson

We caught up with RIBA president Chris Williamson to discuss the institution's new territory awards – their significance, the RIBA International Awards expansion, and how to submit.

Wallpaper*: Why establish The Asia Pacific Award and the Middle East Award?

Chris Williamson: The establishment of these awards marks an exciting new chapter for RIBA’s international engagement. Both the Asia Pacific and the Middle East are regions of extraordinary architectural ambition and diversity, where innovation, heritage and rapid transformation coexist. Launching these regional awards is part of RIBA’s mandate to celebrate design excellence wherever it is found and to be a supportive platform to projects that address pressing global challenges in their local contexts.

These awards are the first phase of our expanded international awards programme, recognising the architectural creativity shaping two of the most dynamic parts of the world today. They create new pathways for projects to gain global recognition and contribute to RIBA’s long-term aim of connecting architects across regions through shared learning, sustainability, and cultural exchange.

W*: What were you hoping to see in the submissions and shortlists?

CW: This year’s process was led by our Middle East and Asia Pacific Award jury panels, whose collective expertise and regional insight have been invaluable in shaping the results.

We hoped to see work that truly reflects the spirit of its place and understands its cultural, climatic and social context while pushing the boundaries of architecture. Both the Asia Pacific and Middle East shortlists deliver exactly that.

They demonstrate how architecture is addressing universal challenges, climate change, urbanisation, and social inclusion, through intelligent and contextually attuned design. What stands out is how architects are drawing on tradition, technology and local materials to create spaces that not only respond to their environments but actively enrich them.

W*: Are there specific highlights and innovations that you would flag as exceptional from the two shortlists?

CW: The juries’ assessments revealed rich and diverse forms of innovation across both regions. In the Middle East, [winning] projects such as the Al-Mujadilah Center and Mosque for Women in Qatar were recognised for advancing new social models through architecture, spaces that integrate spiritual, educational and communal functions in ways that reflect contemporary shifts in society. The King Salman Park masterplan in Riyadh was also commended for its scale and ecological ambition, transforming the city’s public realm and setting new benchmarks for urban sustainability.

In the Asia Pacific [shortlist], the jury identified a distinct movement toward socially and environmentally responsive design. BRAC University in Dhaka exemplifies this with its flood-resilient, low-energy campus that connects learning with nature and community. The Shenzhen Energy Ring reimagines industrial infrastructure as public architecture, turning a waste-to-energy facility into an expressive civic landmark.

As observed by the jury, these projects reflect a regional shift toward architecture that is both technologically advanced and deeply responsible to people and place.

W*: What does the foundation of these two new awards mean for the other RIBA awards’ categories, such as the International Awards, for instance? How do the new honours sit within the RIBA awards cycle?

CW: These new regional awards represent an evolution of RIBA’s International Awards. They strengthen the entire awards ecosystem by providing a more localised and inclusive structure for recognising excellence.

All built projects from the Asia Pacific and Middle East Awards will be eligible to progress towards the RIBA International Prize in 2026, the world’s most eminent prize for architecture.

This creates a more layered, global awards journey, recognising regional talent first before elevating the very best projects to an international stage. It adds depth, context and diversity to the International Awards cycle, ensuring that significant architecture from every region is celebrated, understood and showcased worldwide.

W*: How are the new awards judged, and what do architects need to submit?

CW: The prestige of the RIBA Awards rests on the rigour and integrity of the judging process. Every built project, regardless of size or style, is visited and analysed by an architect with extensive knowledge of the specific region, ensuring that our awards are grounded in first-hand assessment.

The new regional awards follow the same principles. Each jury comprises award-winning architects with deep experience working in the respective regions, capable of evaluating projects within their cultural, climatic and economic contexts.

For this cycle, architects were asked to submit projects they’ve completed between 2020 and 2024 and provide supporting sustainability data. Entries span up to ten categories, from Adaptive Reuse and Social Architecture to AI-powered Design and Sustainability & Resilience.

Ultimately, we assess design excellence in its broadest sense: how a project meets its brief, serves its community, responds to climate, and contributes positively to its environment and future generations.

riba.org

In partnership with Omniyat

Developer Omniyat’s new Luna Sky Palace in Dubai marks the launch of its ultra-luxury category, Omniyat Bespoke. The residential property at the Foster + Partners-designed Orla, Dorchester Collection in Palm Jumeirah taps into the desire for rarity, uniqueness and new standards of craftsmanship, promising to raise the bar for ‘one-of-one’ living up into the Emirati stratosphere.

A 58,476 sq ft premium luxury contemporary palazzo, the three-level, indoor/outdoor living property is crowned by a spectacular 13,500 sq-ft ‘sky garden’, a 36m infinity pool and 270-degree views of both sunsets and sunrises; the iconic Dubai skyline is visible through double-height, floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, and the blue-green Gulf on the other.

Luna Sky Palace’s rarified tone is set at its ground floor experience: two private reception lobbies, designed to the owner’s specifications, a private lift and a showroom-standard garage for up to ten vehicles.

‘With Orla, we are on a mission to bring together place, purpose, design, innovation and service to transform expectations, so every element of lifestyle and design is meticulously considered,’ says Mahdi Amjad, founder and executive chairman at Omniyat.

Tailored for an owner who values both privacy and luxury, Luna Sky Palace boasts highly personalised features, delivered as part of the new Omniyat Bespoke service. These include a private office for staff and personal assistants, as well as a private wellness spa, complete with a fitness suite, a salon, treatment rooms, steam and sauna spaces and multiple relaxation areas, designed by Miami-based interiors studio Yodezeen.

A niche segment in the ultra-luxury market, the ‘bespoke’ category is, believes Mahdi Amjad, ‘poised to redefine luxury living on a global scale’. Existing Omniyat properties had already fostered an ethos of extraordinary refinement and bespoke design, culminating in the Sky Palace at Ava, completed in 2023, the most expensive Palm Jumeirah property ever sold ($60 million).

Such landmark properties and the company’s perception of a shift in the conception of ultra-luxury real estate led to the formal launch of the Omniyat Bespoke category, providing a commitment to the elevated and the unconventional. The brand’s rare, one-of-one residential creations are shaped by some of the world’s finest talents in design, construction and craftsmanship.

‘Omniyat Bespoke allows owners to define their own criteria and unique aspirations in every facet of their homes,’ says Mahdi Amjad. ‘[It’s] a true expression of luxury.’

omniyat.com/omniyat-bespoke

Showing now at Gallery Collectional, Dubai’s first space dedicated to collectible design, is 'Unearthing', a group exhibition presenting newly commissioned metal works by designers from Mexico City: Manu Bañó, Héctor Esrawe and their collective design practice Ewe Studio, founded with gallerist Age Salajõe.

The exhibition, which runs until 15 December 2024, marks the designers’ first international collective show. The works, made in copper, bronze, brass and glass, glisten in the light of the gallery’s floor-to-ceiling windows, while their forms cast atmospheric shadows and nod to Mexico’s rich history of traditional metalwork that dates from the Mesoamerican period to the present.

'Unearthing' at Dubai Gallery Collectional

Bañó, born in Spain and based in Mexico City, explores traditional copper-working techniques in collaboration with artisans from the town of Michoacán and Santa Clara del Cobre, Mexico. Showcased in the exhibition are three of his new works that use copper as their base – an oval sculptural mirror, ‘OBJ-08’; a hanging lamp, ‘OBJ-09’; and a cabinet, ‘OBJ-10’ – together with a coffee table, ‘OBJ-06’, displayed with a new finish.

Each work begins with the manipulation of copper sheets through bending, hammering and cutting to create design objects that exude a simplicity of expression combined with a unique earthy sense of tactility. The pieces are polished to varying degrees to showcase copper's properties. On each are traces of burn marks that are left intentionally to heighten the works’ connection with nature, in this case the transformative element of fire.

'The world of artisans is still alive and growing in Mexico,' says Bañó. 'To create these works we looked for the best artisans around the country. We travelled to various states, from Oaxaca to Guadalajara and Puebla to find them. Our collaboration with them led to the establishment of Ewe.'

In creating works for Ewe, Bañó explains how the collective ‘digs into Mexico’s past to derive inspiration from the history of the country, vernacular objects, techniques, and materials. We are constantly looking for new ideas, stories and rituals to create our collections.’

Pieces by Ewe on display include the ‘Nebula’ lighting sculpture in amber glass, featuring molten glass blown within a metal shape, endowing it with a unique anamorphous form; and ‘Estela’, a sculptural lamp inspired by Mexican or Mayan stelae – stone monoliths that reference ancient history. When lit, the lamp emanates a soft light that reveals the raw surface of its bronze. The piece was initially hand-carved in stone and then cast in metal and, once again, the marks of the tools used to carve it have been intentionally left.

Lastly, Ewe has designed a desk and a cabinet that pay tribute to the sacred ritual spaces of Mexico, and which are crafted from patinated brass. Their elegant curves and smooth sheen heighten the metal's sense of glamour and intrigue.

Esrawe, whose work is heavily based in traditional Mexican craftsmanship, is presenting new pieces, including a desk in cast bronze as a variation of the ‘Gear’ collection, alongside a new edition of the ‘Gear’ side tables in cast bronze and cast aluminium. He's also showing two chairs, an evolution of the ‘Frecuencia’ collection in stainless steel, and ‘Shifting Parábola IV’, a large-scale radiant sculpture in natural brass.

The works, while functional, are akin to artworks – one-of-a-kind pieces that marry Mexican history, craft with explorations in contemporary forms and creation.

'Unearthing’ exemplifies the artistic mission of Gallery Collectional, which opened in 2021 in the Eden House complex near Downtown Design, designed by Emirati architect Khalid Najjar. The design gallery, launched by Dubai-based luxury hospitality company H&H, established in 2007 by Shahab Lutfi and Mohamed Al Hussaini, whose headquarters are located above the space, aims to bring high-end design to local and international customers in Dubai. It specialises in works that blur the boundaries between art and design at a time of demographic change in the Gulf city, as new residents are staying for longer, more indefinite periods of time.

'We want the Collectional to offer a limited-edition experience through specially commissioned design pieces,' explains Cristiano Baccianti, the gallery's CEO. 'You cannot furnish an entire house with limited-edition design pieces, but you can offer an evolution in your design, and this is what we’re offering this region.'

'Unearthing' is on display until 15 December at thecollectional.com

In partnership with L’École, School of Jewelry Arts

For the late French collector and antique art dealer, Yves Gastou, men’s rings held a particular power. Rife with symbolism, Gastou appreciated both their artistry and their aestheticism, amassing an impressive collection of more than 1,000 rings in his lifetime. Now, these pieces are the subject of an exhibition, ‘Men’s Rings, Yves Gastou Collection’, which marks the first time that the collection has visited the Middle East.

Following successful previous visits to Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, this fifth show features new additions, with more than 700 exceptional rings on display. Divided into five themes (history, gothic, Christian mystique, vanitas and eclecticism), the rings criss-cross eras and mediums, from precious to mass-produced, and encompass an eclectic selection, from ancient Egyptian rings and 17th-century Venetian doge pieces to memento mori skull rings and 1970s American biker rings.

For more than 40 years, Gastou frequented auction houses, flea markets, workshops and studios in a quest to develop and expand his collection, which was first unveiled to the public in 2018 at Paris’ L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. The school opened in 2012, with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, and it has continued to build on its mission to introduce everyone from beginners to experts to all aspects of jewellery culture, offering courses in the history of jewellery, the world of gemstones, and the savoir-faire of jewellery-making techniques.

Exhibitions, too, are a chance for the school to reach a wider audience, with this new exhibition being one of four currently on show around the world, alongside ‘Shakudo: From Samurai to Jewelry’ at L’École Asia Pacific in Hong Kong; ‘Paris, City of Pearls’ at L’École France Europe in Paris; and ‘Designing Jewels’ at L’École China in Shanghai. The Yves Gastou exhibition opened in early November in Dubai, its timely arrival coinciding with Editions, the city’s first limited-edition art and design fair. Coinciding with Dubai Design Week in the city’s Design District, the events signal an exciting new direction for jewellery, art and craft in the Middle East.

'Men’s Rings, Yves Gastou Collection’ is on show until 26 April 2025 at L’École Middle East, Dubai

lecolevancleefarpels.com

Dubai Design Week 2024, the tenth edition of the largest design fair in the Middle East, ran from 5-10 November in the D3 Design District, with more than 1,000 acclaimed and emerging designers, brands and creative leaders from over 50 countries on show.

Known for its diverse programming, the fair marked a decade by expanding even further, with a new showcase titled Editions, dedicated to collectible design, joining the established roster of Downtown Design, the Abwab public installations programme and the annual Urban Commission, plus much more. Here’s what caught our eye.

Dubai Design Week 2024 highlights

Downtown Design

The headline event of Dubai Design Week (DDW), Downtown Design returned to the Waterfront Terrace, with a diverse programme of established and emerging designers and practices from across the world. Spotlighting new collections and multidisciplinary innovations, the event also hosted pop-up concepts and installations, focused on the latest trends in design.

The Forum, where talks and master classes are staged, was this year designed by Lebanon’s Thomas Trad – an intimate minimalist space in soothing forest greens and burnt orange – with a curved three-seater sofa by Heilig Objects, that acted as anchor amidst the hustle of the fair.

Eye-catching showcases this year included Natascha Maksimovic’s collaboration with Knot Rugs, taking her Japanese ink-marbled wallpapers and reproducing them as rugs, as well as exploring the use of the paper as a marble backsplash alternative. India-based lighting company Oorjaa presented its incredible lamps made from recycled lokta, banana fibre paper, upcycled cork and quarry waste, creating beautiful organic forms from sustainable materials. Emirati design incubator Tashkeel exhibited a number of new sustainable furniture pieces conceived and created by participants in its latest Tanween Design Programme – such as ‘Kashi,’ a stackable and modular dynamic form of clay block stools/tables by Rimsha Kidwai, and ‘The Sanad Collection’ coffee table, which celebrates the beauty of off-cut travertine stone, by Samara and The Poet Studio.

Urban Commission: TukTukDum by Altqadum

Created by Omani architectural firm Altqadum, the winning project of this year’s Urban Commission was inspired by the Gulf region’s musical traditions, often bringing people together in public spaces in a participatory fashion. ‘TukTukDum’ responds to this year’s commission theme of ‘Tawila’ (meaning table) by merging interactive music with a 5.5m-long table, inviting the public to become performers. Openings in the table’s surface allowed up to three people to stand inside the gaps and play the traditional hide-covered Omani drums. A performance by professional drummers was staged during the week, but the playful installation also drew many in to try their hand at music.

Abwab Installations

The annual Abwab programme (meaning ‘doors’ in Arabic) acts as a gateway to new ideas, with an open call for installations from across the SWANA region, focused on cultural heritage, socially-conscious design and material innovation.

This year’s winning projects included Iraqi designer Ola Saad Znad’s ‘A Present/ Absent Mudhif’, focusing on the native architectural heritage of the Marsh Arabs in Iraq, which is in danger of disappearing due to drought. Crafted from locally sourced reeds and mud, the installation mirrors the traditional Mudhif structures that have served as villages for generations. Znad hopes to preserve this vernacular architecture for future generations, and look at ways to keep this sustainable building technique alive and thriving.

Ethiopian designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham’s ‘Material Witnesses and Narrating Lifeforms’ takes inspiration from the coral stone found in early East African coast and UAE settlements. Her installation uses coral as a living, dynamic element, combined with wax, tulle and salt – reminiscent of a climbing wall or organisms organically growing on a structure – seeking to engage visitors in a space of reflection.

‘ReRoot’ by Dima Al Srouri, Dalia Hamati, Andy Cartier and Rosa Hamalainen explores emergency housing solutions – especially within the current context of the war in Gaza – using palm waste and mycelium, a material derived from fungi. The self-assembly housing kit prototype aims to allow communities the means to build their own shelters and structures using local materials, with a modular design that can be tailored to the purpose and size of the needed building.

Design Next X Isola Design Group

Entitled ‘Design Next’, this new exhibition was the first joint initiative between d3 and Milan-based Isola Design Group, which just announced its new regional headquarters in the Middle East in Dubai. Focused on circular economy and sustainable design, the showcase spotlighted designers experimenting with new materials and innovative, practical design. Leaning into problem-solving for daily life or alternative materials for the design market, highlights included a series of biodegradable plantable phone cases by Italian firm iGreen, which it claimed could replace 20,000 tons of plastic cases every year. Emirati product DesertBoard uses date palm waste with zero formaldehyde, which can be employed for furniture, flooring, temporary structures or even fire doors.

UAE Design Exhibition curated by Omar Al Gurg

This specially curated section of Downtown Design championed the work of emerging UAE-based designers, working with local materials and crafting objects that resonate with people seeking to slow down and find design that creates a peaceful, meditative space. ‘Nasab Bookcase’ by Chafic Mekawi is the ultimate bookcase for people who can never decide how to display their collection. Thanks to its spinning pedestals arranged across a series of arches inspired by Levantine architecture, the user can always have multiple book faces on display. Meanwhile, ‘Tansej’, meaning ‘she weaves’, is a collaboration between UAE artist Noura Al Serkal and Atelier Talasin's women weavers, rooted in Amazigh culture in the Atlas Mountains. The project resulted in a stunning, colourful rug made from rare Siroua sheep wool, dyed with local plants, utilising the revived ancient Berber Knot, which had nearly vanished.

Editions

New to DDW, Editions is the region’s first limited-edition art and design fair, and made its debut during design week alongside Downtown Design. Showcasing a variety of collectible works from over 50 galleries, design studios and collectives, this new event offered contemporary design, photography, prints, ceramics and works on paper from both established and emerging creators. Lebanese designer Samer Selbak’s ‘Reef’ uses luffa coloured in various periwinkle blues from cabbage dyes to create geometric wall hangings and light shades in unusual shapes. At Dubai-based Hestia Gallery, Helene de Saint-lager – known for her pieces at Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores worldwide and the new VIP lounge at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport – showcased a stunning lilac resin table embedded with seashells collected from holidays, simmering strands and coral-like plants that captivated viewers.

‘Neo-Majlis’ by Future Bedouin

Merging nomadic traditions with modern AI technology, Future Bedouin is known for its fantastical creations that reimagine traditional Arab architecture with a futuristic twist. At DDW, the group transformed one of its AI inventions into a physical installation. ‘Neo-Majlis’ merged the essence of the classic majlis (a communal gathering space in Arab architecture) with contemporary design, resulting in a striking structure made from translucent pink inflatables.

The unconventional colour and material acted as a lure to viewers, inviting them into this immersive, dreamlike installation that was intended to spark dialogue, playful interaction and community spirit. It symbolised the adaptability of Dubai’s nomadic heritage, while envisioning a forward-thinking future that is open to experimentation and pushing the boundaries of tradition.

Dubai Design Week 2024 ran 5-10 November, dubaidesignweek.ae

The annual Dubai Design Week wrapped last week, but design activity in the region is still buzzing. Premium building work in and around the area has seen the market for the 11-year-old brand Bentley Home, a partnership between the UK’s Bentley Motors and the Italian-based Luxury Living Group, rise rapidly.

Inside Bentley Home in Dubai

This November sees the launch of Bentley Home’s first flagship in Dubai, following the success of two in Riyadh, one in Jeddah and its main base in Milan close to Luxury Living’s factory in Forli where the products are fabricated. This new space, opening 19 November, is a generous, light-filled 150sq m showroom at the Dubai Mall Zabeel in the financial district, positioned advantageously at street level with a dominating four-window façade adjacent to other luxury retailers.

'It’s become clear there is a demand for Bentley Home in this marketplace,' says Chris Cooke, head of design collaborations at Bentley Motors, who works alongside Luxury Living’s Monique Zappala, creative director of Bentley Home. 'We’re currently involved in several high-profile developments in the area including Mira Villas, 36 five-bedroom homes for which we’ve furnished all the interiors. This is what Bentley stands for in terms of our level of craft and innovation – everything that the cars have been doing for so many years. The retail space is a direct reaction to what is resonating with people locally.'

The store itself, a collaboration with local retailer The Mattress Store, has been designed by Zappala’s Milan team with input from Cooke in the UK. 'Aesthetically, it feels very connected to the Milan flagship: modern and contemporary,' explains Cooke. 'We’ve created a lot of contrast of material and colour to give it a bit of drama but also it ties into our core brand which is about polarity and harmony – those two worlds working together.'

The glass-fronted showroom is full of light, walls are lined with Bentley Home finishes including a vertically engraved Pietra d’Avola stone boiserie as well as silk wall art from the Bentley Home wallpaper collection. The polished resin flooring becomes a backdrop for the collection including the dynamic Wilton desk and Bollington desk chair by Francesco Forcellini, the first pieces from the home office collection which launched earlier this year during Salone del Mobile.

'My own favourite piece is the Ramsey sofa,' adds Cooke. 'It’s a timeless piece we launched a few years ago and is one of our most successful. It’s very simple, beautifully lightweight with panelled pieces and trimmed in leather with a slim profile. The cushions are very large, padded – we spent a long time getting the language of its interior and form right, to feel comfortable without looking heavy. It’s been very popular.'

The UAE as a marketplace is known for its love of strong colour and ultra-luxury finishes, so the store is merchandised accordingly. 'We’ve created individual, domesticated moments; these spaces that feel like whole rooms,' explains Cooke. 'We find the level of customer here will walk in and want the entire thing as it is – down the books on the shelves, so, we’re presenting it in a finished, effective, high luxury environment.' The showroom also offers a customising service for those looking for something more personalised.

'Sometimes our clients might want pieces completely individualised so we can do that – we have an incredible portfolio of finishes,' says Cooke. 'The result of collaborating with a customer is that we always come up with something wonderful and unexpected. These are the pieces we hope people will keep for their entire lives – it helps having that emotional connection to the design process. A level up from that is our Furnished by Bentley Home service: our team will come into your home and design absolutely everything from fine-crafted walls and floors to the lighting and furniture – it’s a complete 360.'

bentleymotors.com

Delano made its debut in South Beach in 1995, with a game changing Philippe Starck-designed property that defined South Beach cool in the 90s and helped pioneer the lifestyle hotel as we know it. That original is currently getting a full-scale refresh ahead of its relaunch later this year, but in the meantime, the brand landed in Paris with Maison Delano, which opened in 2023 inside an 18th-century mansion in the 8th arrondissement. Now comes the Dubai edition, a coastal spin that nods to the Miami original but brings its own sense of place.

Wallpaper* checks in at Delano Dubai

What’s on your doorstep?

Sitting just off the coast of Dubai Marina, Bluewaters is best known for its residential towers, high-street gloss and the giant Ain Dubai wheel that looms over it all. Until now, it’s been more lifestyle precinct than luxury destination, but now, thanks to Ennismore, this slick entertainment hub has a new draw.

Who is behind the design?

For those who remember the Miami classic, there are nods throughout, such as the white-draped cabanas, sunken pool loungers, and a focus on theatrical, design-led spaces. But this isn’t a replica. The Dubai version dials things up with interiors – very much of the moment – that feel warmer and more intimate, with the earthy tones, curved silhouettes, and a generous use of wood, stone and textured fabrics that trade the stark minimalism of the original for something richer and more inviting.

The 251 rooms and suites are quietly confident, the design led by a quartet of studios – Elastic Architects, SA Consultants, La Bottega Interiors and YDesign – together with Ennismore’s in-house team. Oak floors, soft custom wool rugs, fluted leather bed headboards, and softly curved furnishings are revealed through a calming neutral palette and accented by archival colour photographs of Delano South Beach. Most come with balconies or terraces that open to sea or pool views, while the Breaking Waves Suites on the ground floor go a step further, with private pools just a few steps from the beach.

The room to book

Spanning the entire seventh floor, the Penthouse unfolds to include formal and family spaces – which can be kept separate – a professional Bulthaup kitchen, five en-suite bedrooms and two terraces with views over the Arabian Gulf. More like a private home, the design is revealed through organically shaped furnishings like the Meridiani sofas and Poliform armchairs, which are set around wool rugs and Flos lighting all in a tonal palette.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Among Delano’s eight restaurants and bars, Blue Door – set among the hotel grounds within a romantic garden – stands out for its Anatolian coastal menu, which features an array of traditional mezze and grilled specialties. A short walk along the beach path are Gohan and La Cantine. The former serves elevated Japanese favourites like the chicken and foie gyozas, while La Cantine is a lifestyle destination with an adults-only pool, a sports club with a pickleball court, and a restaurant which sends out Mediterranean classics like the squid ink risotto.

Back at the hotel Tutto Passa serves an all-day classic Italian menu, but it is great for a late breakfast, before heading to the adjacent pool, where cabanas, sunken pool loungers and laid-back lounge beats send out Miami vibes. As for the nightlife, Rose Bar, its low lighting, red velvet seating, marble tables and killer cocktail menu are sure to draw the crowds just like the South Beach original, which it was inspired by.

The verdict

Delano Dubai isn’t just a rebrand, it’s a full reboot. Part of a dual project alongside the neighbouring Banyan Tree – and a collection of restaurants – the launch brings a fresh energy to Bluewaters, that shifts the island’s focus toward something decidedly more refined.

Delano Dubai is located at Bluewaters - Bluewaters Island - Dubai - United Arab Emirates; delanohotels.com

In partnership with Omniyat

With organic, maritime forms redolent of luxury cruise ship design, The Alba is a new garden-retreat destination on the shores of Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, a project by developer Omniyat, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), and managed by hospitality group Dorchester Collection.

Set to open in 2028, the ultra-luxury Alba Residences – from two- and three-bedroom units to three- and four-bedroom simplex and duplex units and penthouses – feature bold, bright, and expansive interiors designed by Gilles & Boissier, with 3m-plus ceiling heights and spectacular views of Dubai’s famous cityscape.

Gardens crafted by international award-winning landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic are designed to add serenity and beauty, integrating the natural world with the residences’ striking architecture. The distinctive, arcing shapes of the buildings emerge from gardens enriched with waterfalls and lily ponds and shaded walkways.

Tailored for those seeking a life of privacy and tranquillity, The Alba elevates luxury living with a focus on living well. The project is designed with architectural longevity and sustainability in mind, while also offering residents a connection to nature, outstanding culinary experiences, indulgent branded spa treatments, and elegantly appointed rooms. Each residence also has its own private amenities, including private pools, outdoor jacuzzis, and elevated sun platforms, all placed on expansive outdoor terraces.

‘Each space will be a sanctuary within an exclusive enclave,’ says Christopher Cowdray, president of Dorchester Collection. ‘This next-level lifestyle and hospitality experience will be combined with the impeccable service of Dorchester Collection. With panoramic views across the sea, The Alba’s expansive private terraces and immersive wellness offerings will cultivate a sophisticated oasis for reawakening, reconnection and renewal.’

Says Mahdi Amjad, founder and executive chairman of Omniyat, ‘Dubai derives so much of its charm and lifestyle from its seaside location; The Alba enhances this connection by offering a personalised waterfront experience.’ By merging ultra-luxury with curated living, the developer pushes the boundaries of design, craft, and excellence, collaborating with some of the world’s most visionary creative minds to offer ‘a harmonious blend of nature and cutting-edge design’.

‘Each space will be a sanctuary within an exclusive enclave,’ says Christopher Cowdray, president of Dorchester Collection. ‘This next-level lifestyle and hospitality experience will be combined with the impeccable service of Dorchester Collection. With panoramic views across the sea, The Alba’s expansive private terraces and immersive wellness offerings will cultivate a sophisticated oasis for reawakening, reconnection and renewal.’

The project exemplifies and honours the legacy of ZHA’s founder, Zaha Hadid – spatially inventive, artistically refined, and technologically advanced. The design aims to meet the highest level of certification from the WELL Building Standard, aligning with Omniyat’s goal of infusing luxury with ecological responsibility.

For sales and information, visit omniyat.com

In partnership with One&Only

The One&Only group has long been a pioneer in resort design and luxury travel. Created in 2002 by South African hotelier and entrepreneur Sol Kerzner, it was born of an original and independent spirit, and has been raising the bar for resort experiences around the world for over 20 years.

Back in 2005, One&Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives, the company’s first purpose-built property, redefined hospitality in the Indian Ocean, changing the perception of the Maldives from a hub for scuba divers to a gold standard-setting destination for ultra-luxury travellers.

Bringing the best of each destination to life – with curated cultural experiences, award-winning dining from the world’s best chefs, and revitalising spas that harness ancient healing rituals and cutting-edge techniques – One&Only’s expansion has continued apace.

One&Only now redefining city and alpine escapes

Now, the brand is setting new benchmarks for ultra-luxury stays in urban and alpine destinations. One&Only’s first city experience, the Nikken Sekkei-designed One&Only One Za’abeel in Dubai, opened earlier this year and a first foray into the ski fields – and the United States – One&Only Moonlight Basin will welcome guests to the spectacular landscape of Big Sky, Montana, in 2025.

Designed by architect Tom Kundig of Seattle-based practice Olson Kundig, the One&Only Moonlight Basin, Montana resort promises to be deeply in tune with its surroundings, prioritising space and seclusion – with 360-degree views of Lone Peak and Spanish Peaks – and using local materials where possible.

‘To come into a landscape like this is almost like an invitation to a sacred situation, where it’s beautiful the way it is,’ says Kundig. ‘How do you make an architecture that actually unfolds itself into that landscape, but also doesn’t detract from that landscape? I could not imagine a higher honour at this point in my career, to help create a place like this with clients who are sensitive to maintaining the spirit of a landscape and the spirit of a local culture.’

One&Only also brings its exceptional design, personalised service and ultra-luxury amenities to the residential space, with One&Only Private Homes now available to purchase in Montana, as well as at a number of the brand’s other locations – Kéa Island in Greece, Portonovi in Montenegro, Le Saint Géran in Mauritius, and Mandarina in Mexico – with access to a One&Only resort right on their doorstep.

oneandonlyresorts.com

For its 10th hotel and its first new opening in more than a decade, the Dorchester Collection has resurfaced with a bang. Also its first hotel in the Middle East, The Lana is housed within one half of a striking interconnected building bridged by the Lana Promenade – a central podium for shops and restaurants – by Foster + Partners. Perched on the vibrant Marasi Bay Marina beside Downtown Dubai, the hotel unfolds over 30 floors to include 225 rooms and suites, the first Dior Spa in the UAE, and eight drinking and dining venues including High Society, the rooftop bar and restaurant with and infinity pool and sweeping desert and cityscape views.

Discover The Lana – Dorchester Collection

Inside, Paris-based studio Gilles & Boissier took its cues from Dubai’s desert landscape as well as the rich fusion of cultures within the UAE while staying true to the Dorchester brand. The result is decidedly understated and feminine, its low-key earthy tones of sandy beiges, warm terracotta and dusty browns elevated by pink hues, a collection of striking artwork, subtly concealed lighting, and sumptuous natural materials – like the elevators that are lined with marble and padded, fluted pink leather walls – that provide touch points throughout the hotel.

Each of the public spaces has a standout design element. For example, the rooftop has a seductive staircase that cantilevers over the infinity pool – which wraps around the edge of the building – while the lobby is revealed through architectural elements like angled ceilings, cornices, arches and curves that provide a deep and characterful base for visual components like the pink alabaster walls and a dramatic wax casting in bronze honeycomb sculpture by British artist Sophie Coryndon. Here, organically shaped furnishings are arranged in intimate groups, where guests and visitors gather for a menu of light bites and afternoon tea, while to one side, a small low-lit 20-seater bar called Bitter Honey serves tableside cocktails from a trolley against a backdrop of handsome timber wall panels.

Outside, ensconced by greenery and woven parasols, The Veranda is an open-air lush garden bar with a menu of tapas and Levantine-influenced dishes. While elsewhere, the 12 Michelin-star chef Martín Berasategui sends out wood fire-cooked dishes such as the San Sebastian-style spider crab stew that nod to his native Basque country. At Riviera by Jean Imbert – an airy indoor-outdoor Mediterranean restaurant – pretty plates like the signature tuna tartare or the lamb chops with ragu stuffed vegetables are served against views of Dubai’s skyline.

This all comes together as a perfect balance for the tranquil rooms. Each with floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies that mostly look out onto views of the Burj Khalifa, it’s at sunset when they most come alive, the warm glow highlighting details like the beaded wall panels, velvet upholstered curved furnishings, and pink marble bedside tables. Plump for the one of the Junior Suites which has a bath with a view, or a Duplex Suite, where a striking marble staircase is offset by a melody of soft tones and textures. And if you can tear yourself away, the gorgeous spa features a long mirrored corridor with brass accents that leads off to five treatment rooms and one couples suite, each with their own light-filled relaxation areas with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the views outside. Here, treatments focus on fitness and movement and range from exclusive offerings such as Dior Stone Therapy to D-sculpt, which uses various techniques to firm and slim.

The Lana – Dorchester Collection is located at Marasi Dr, Business Bay, Dubai, dorchestercollection.com

Set in the heart of Dubai, the impressive Blue Copper Loft is a private home born out of the transformation of an apartment in a contemporary high-rise. The result, a spacious duplex penthouse bird's nest of a home, is the UAE pied-à-terre of a modern nomad, who commissioned Dubai- and London-based architecture studio Anarchitect (with past projects spanning from a Dubai barber’s to Sri Lanka's Harding Boutique Hotel) to reimagine the property into a single, flowing, modern dwelling. 

Step inside Blue Copper Loft in Dubai

The practice's founding principal Jonathan Ashmore said: 'The clients’ love of travel and experience of unique properties and places around the world led them to want to live boundlessly, without the restriction of enclosed rooms in their own home.'

The architects opened up the interior and cleverly directed the user's gaze towards the striking Dubai skyline views. At the same time, a carefully curated palette of natural and hand-crafted materials alongside bright colour pops craft an interior that surprises and delights. 

'The existing staircase stood dominant in the main living-dining room, overpowering the double-height space and never letting you truly relax with its strong presence,' said Ashmore. 'The large corner windows also felt too prominent in the space, with too much hard surface, particularly as the narrative conceived for the project was one of “retreat” and “escape” for the clients [when they are at] home between their travels.’

The patinaed copper feature wall that brightens up the living space, next to the redesigned staircase, inspired the project's name. This transforms the circulation area into a sculptural, monolithic pedestal. 

'At first the staircase and feature wall may appear indulgent, but for us this is a pivotal point, the crux for the entire reconfiguration of the residence,' said studio associate Tom Herd. 'The natural materials, textured finishes and raw fabrics throughout the loft are deep and rich in tones that absorb the abundant light from the large double-height windows to soften the spatial conditions and create the sanctum. The natural turquoise patina of the copper contrasts with this; as its tone subtly transforms from poised to tempered through the day, as natural light falls upon it.'

anarchitect.com

In the midst of global and regional tensions, Art Dubai 2024 pulls focus towards creative exchange and harmonious healing. Offering an oasis of art, design and ideas, this year’s programme does not disappoint. The world’s most globally diverse art fair and showcase for art from the MENA and South Asia serves up a moveable feast of delicious offerings. But where to start?

Art Dubai 2024 highlights

Art Dubai 2024 features 120 presentations drawn from more than 60 cities and over 40 countries across four sections: Contemporary, Bawwaba, Art Dubai Modern and Art Dubai Digital. Programme highlights include major new commissions and premières by internationally renowned artists, among them the premiere of ‘Heart Space’ by digital artist Krista Kim, presented by Julius Baer as part of its global NEXT initiative. According to the organisers, this year’s edition offers ‘the most extensive education, talks and thought-leadership programme of any international art fair’. A flagship summit, the Global Art Forum, examining the relationship between extreme weather and extreme change, will be organised by commissioner Shumon Basar and curator Nadine El-Khoury.

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the fair is held in partnership with ARM Holding, sponsored by Swiss wealth management group Julius Baer and collaborates with a plethora of international galleries. This year’s participating galleries in the Contemporary programme range from Leila Heller in New York to Meem in Dubai, Gallery One in Ramallah, and O Gallery in Tehran.

Bawaba, meaning ‘gateway’ in Arabic, is curated by Emiliano Valdés, chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Medellin, and associate curator for the 10th Gwangju Biennale. The overall vision for the ten solo presentations by artists from the Global South this year is one that imagines art as ‘a place of reckoning and healing, confronting social and political issues, engaging in critical dialogue, and creating a sense of community and belonging’.

In the words of Valdés the work will ‘explore healing on a personal and spiritual level but also a social historical and political level to examine the ways in which these varying scales of the healing process relate’.

Across many mediums, artists from Guatemala to Mozambique to Palestine will explore art as a ‘catalyst for change, transformation, and healing’, and the section will investigate how these processes change across regions.

Art Dubai Modern as curated this year by Dr Christianna Bonin, assistant professor of Art History at the American University of Sharjah, will examine how the post-Second World War geopolitical landscape in the Global South played out for artists who studied in Soviet metropoles through Cold War-era exchanges.

Of particular note is the Meem Gallery’s presentation on outstanding Iraqi modernists, including  Mahmoud Sabri, who studied at the Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow from 1963, combining socialism and expressionism, tradition and modernity; the bronze sculptures of renowned Iraqi artist Dia Al-Azzawi and pioneer of modern Arab art who once made banners in support of Soviet-leaning Abd al-Karim Qasim, will also be included; and work by Kadhim Hayder and Jewad Selim, who were both exhibited in major museums in the Soviet Union and were featured in Soviet-era publications about Iraqi art, will also be presented. 

Meanwhile, visitors can contemplate a brave new world as Art Dubai Digital explores the intersection of new media art and technologies ‘in order to expand our understanding of contemporary culture’.

Curated by Auronda Scalera and Alfredo Cramerotti, co-directors of IAM-Infinity Art Museum in the metaverse and Multiplicity-XXnft curatorial and publishing platform, they will continue their investigation of new tendencies in digital arts, AI, AR, and VR ‘through the lens of advanced technologies and offer possible approaches for the future of art and its perception’.

The 17th edition of Art Dubai takea place at Madinat Jumeirah from 1 to 3 March 2024

artdubai.ae

‘JK Bruce-Vanderpuije's remarkable vision offers us a window to the beauty, culture and daily life of a Ghana that once was,’ says Kwame Mintah, director of Efie Gallery, Dubai, which co-presents unseen photographs from the late Ghanaian photographer (1899–1989). ‘In this prolific photographer’s works, we discover not only his genius as a practitioner and innovator but also the evolution of Ghanaian culture and identity over the 20th century.’

‘Unveiling the Shadows of the Past: JK Bruce-Vanderpuije – The Hidden Icon of Photography in Africa’

Looking back on a career that spanned seven decades, the exhibition of Bruce-Vanderpuije’s works is at Dubai’s Efie Gallery until 20 February 2024, curated by Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh, after previously being showcased at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London last year.

The ‘forgotten forefather of 20th-century African photography’ captured his nation's history from boxing culture to marriage rituals, colonial Gold Coast to independence, with images dating back to the 1920s.

Over the course of three years, the works have been restored by Bruce-Vanderpuije’s granddaughter Kate Tamakloe, and now have a permanent home at the Deo Gratias studio (founded by Bruce-Vanderpuije in 1922) in Accra.

The Dubai exhibition chronicles an authentic narrative of West Africa, and showcases glimpses of daily life across the decades.

‘The process of restoring my grandfather’s photographs has been a labour of love over the past three years, enabling us to reflect upon Ghana’s history with a fresh perspective,’ reflects Tamakloe. ‘The photographs continue to teach us new things about life and society during his time. As the custodian of my grandfather’s estate, my work with Efie Gallery is an important step forward in preserving his legacy and sharing it with the public.’

The contemporary art gallery, founded by Ghanaian family Valentina, Kwame and Kobi Mintah, focuses on the representation and advancement of artists of African origin (‘Efie’ is Twi for ‘home’), and promotes the cross-cultural dialogue between African artists and communities across the world.

‘Unveiling the Shadows of the Past: JK Bruce-Vanderpuije - The Hidden Icon of Photography in Africa’ is on show until 20 February 2024 at Efie Gallery

efiegallery.com

This new Art Jameel pavilion, Tarabot: Weaving a Living Forum, commissioned by the arts organisation and designed by Lebanese practice theOtherDada, is a fractal, domed structure stretching over the amphitheatre at the Jaddaf Waterfront Sculpture Park in Dubai. Weaving together traditional and high technologies, recycled waste materials and indigenous plants, the architectural pavilion aims to bring life to the area over the next five months, forming a new ‘interspecies habitat’. 

It sees Art Jameel, which supports artists and creative communities and is behind both the sculpture park and the wider Jameel Arts Centre, promote a conversation about sustainability and re-use. 

Founded in 2010 by architect Adib Dada, theOtherDada pushes the boundaries of traditional architecture, adopting a ‘holistic and biomimetic design approach with nature and people at its core’. Reflects Dada, ‘I had these two diametrically opposed practices – building for humans and building for other organisms […] When this commission came along, it became an opportunity to weave these two practices together in a meaningful way.’ 

Art Jameel pavilion, a study in sustainablity

Deeply involved in contemporary art scenes and climate activism in Beirut, from leading ‘Toxic Tours’ of the Beirut river to developing tree-planting project theOtherForest, Dada was invited to an Art Jameel symposium in March 2023 to discuss the role of arts institutions in addressing the climate crisis. 

Art Jameel director Antonia Carver explains, ‘What does it mean to create exhibitions in this climate? What do we do with all the materials after?’ As a direct result of the symposium, Art Jameel has been rethinking its exhibition production processes and reusing waste such as gypsum moulds.

‘Tarabot is an Arabic word that means “weaving together” [...] we’re weaving together issues of architecture, urbanism, ecology, wildlife and human-life centred design,’ says Dada. A lack of shade and life on the pavilion’s site prompted a shade-providing design. Working closely with architect Dalia Hamati, Nader Akoum, scientists, and desert conservationists, Dada conceptualised four life-giving ‘pillars’ – Soil, Water, Plants and Energy – for the pavilion, corresponding to the dome’s three touchpoints with the ground, and its roof.

The first pillar, Soil, makes compost out of waste from the art centre’s exhibitions, neighbouring restaurant Teible and coffee shop. Encased in modular ‘bouquets’ made from local date palm waste, a zero-carbon material, by Desert Board, the waste is broken down by mycelium (the root-like system of fungus). 

The Water pillar uses solar power to condense and filter water from the humidity in air. This water drips through a series of traditional passive cooling clay cones, handmade by local potters, collecting as freshwater in the pavilion pool. 

The Plants pillar uses the composted soil and collected fresh water to grow vegetables that return to the restaurant. Salicornia, an indigenous edible plant able to grow in saltwater, is also planted, further attracting insects, birds and pollinators. Artwork from multidisciplinary Dubai-based artist Solimar Miller features intricate handcrafted prints on upcycled fabrics, representing indigenous flora and fauna that are endangered in the UAE. 

The Energy pillar, on the roof features aluminium cones that funnel sunlight into the pavilion, and Arish, traditional palm-leaf roofing systems provide shade. 

Almost all materials used in the pavilion are biodegradable or fully recyclable. Once it’s dismantled, the modular cones of soil and plants will be divided and taken to garden homes and balconies by local communities, disseminating indigenous plants in the region. The unfinished steel structure’s fractal design was fine-tuned with local coral practitioners in the Emirate of Fujairah, and the structure will take on new life as an underwater habitat for coral, ‘linking life on land to life underwater’. 

On what he hopes visitors will take away from the project, Dada muses, ‘I think developing a culture of care and understanding on the more than human. It’s not about us saving the planet. The planet doesn’t need saving, we need saving.’

Tarabot: Weaving a Living Forum is open to the public at Jadaf Waterfront Sculpture Park, Dubai until 30 April 2024

Artjameel.org 

theOtherDada.com

theotherdada.com 

jameelartscentre.org

A walk through the Dubai Design District (d3) during Dubai Design Week 2023 (7-12 November) – the ninth edition of the event, which has become the biggest of its kind in the Middle East for architecture and design – revealed over 30 large-scale design installations, specially commissioned for the event and reflecting sustainable practices as well as past and present Middle Eastern heritage. 

Ahead of the upcoming COP28 climate conference, which will kick off in Dubai at the end of November 2023, the installations on view championed environmentally friendly architecture and design and design-led solutions to combat the adverse effects of climate change. 

Highlights from Dubai Design Week 2023

Positioned between the edgy grid façades of d3 was an unlikely sight: a large wooden installation, Of Palm, made entirely from the indigenous palm tree by Emirati architect Abdalla Almulla. Guests could walk underneath the work’s alluring ceiling, made from a series of elegantly folded woven-palm mats. 

The work, commissioned as part of Abwab, an annual feature of Dubai Design Week that features design pieces from across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, is significant in its use of raw materials in new, multifunctional and thus sustainable ways. 

Visitors were able to station themselves underneath the work’s magical canopy-like ceiling to get reprieve from the sun or to taste or perhaps purchase honey from Yemen, sold on one corner of the piece. Of Palm serves as an example of how a natural, indigenous material can be used in a contemporary structure.

Another poignant and in some ways, endearing installation was Designest, by Dubai-based Syrian concept designer and architect Ahmad Alkattan. Inspired by traditional pigeon towers that can be found throughout the Arabian Peninsula and North African countries such as Egypt – used to protect pigeons during harsh weather and to collect their faeces to use as fertiliser – Alkattan created his own take, with entrances for both birds and human visitors. Its form reflected that of the historical oval structures, but with separate sections for humans and pigeons. Bird faeces were collected in the top part of the installation and used as fertiliser for plants in Dubai Design District. 

Designest won first place in the Dubai Design District’s Urban Commissions competition, which invited designers to create unique and innovative outdoor ‘furniture’. The towers combine styrofoam, steel, concrete and recycled glass-reinforced plastic, while the pigeon holes are made using 3D printing, with a plant-based material and wood powder. 

Urban Hives by Beirut-based designer Nathalie Harb in collaboration with BMW presented a vision for a parking space with a garden located above that acts like a protective shield against the sun’s effects on a vehicle. The garden includes a solar panel and a rainwater collection and irrigation system that independently sustains the lush array of plants. 

The idea, notes Harb, is to transform a private space, like a parking spot, into the public realm through a mix of technology and nature. 

Other design installations incorporating sustainable materials and championing environmentally friendly structures included Pulp Fractions, a large-scale work in a burnt red colour by Dubai-based interior design firm TEE VEE EFF, made from paper pulp that has been dried, pressed and moulded, and waste cardboard. Inside some of the rectangular shapes used to create the structure were green plants, reflecting the convergence of man-made architecture with the natural world.

The works by Alkattan, Harb, TEE VEE EFF and Almulla are just a few of the designs that were commissioned for Dubai Design Week and positioned around d3.

Fundraising initiatives and refugee support

A humanitarian focus was also felt at this year’s event. While the week is one that celebrates the joy of creative discovery in the realm of architecture and design, it was overshadowed this year by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas rages. To that end, one of the event’s highlights was a fundraising initiative in support of Gaza relief efforts. For the first time ever there was an entrance fee of 25dhs to enter Downtown Design, now in its 10th edition and staged concurrently to Dubai Design Week, all of which will be donated to the Emirates Red Crescent work in Gaza, with funds matched by the Art Dubai Group that organises the event. 

Displayed prominently within d3 was also The Refugee Housing Unit (RHU), the result of a collaborative project led by Better Shelter and UNHCR and supported by the Ikea Foundation to provide an easy-to-assemble and durable temporary shelter for emergency situations. 

The housing units showcased innovative design for the world’s marginalised communities. Visitors could walk inside the structures and see firsthand what makes them a robust and functional response to urgent situations the world over. 

Focus on sustainable architecture and design

Elsewhere in d3 are notable exhibitions staged alongside Dubai Design Week. One is ‘Sustainability—Past, Present and Future’ (until 12 December) showcasing the past, present and future of sustainable architecture in the Gulf with RIBA Gulf Chapter. Staged in building 6, the exhibition aims to align with COP28, the UAE’s Year of Sustainability and Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan. It features the plans of more than 35 architectural studios (either RIBA members or d3-based brands) around sustainable architecture in the region. These include existing historical structures such as the Al Ain Museum, the Chedi Al Bait and a Bastakia Wind Tower from 1975, as well as upcoming projects such as the Hospital of the Future and the Abu Dhabi Zayed Museum. 

'This is the year of sustainability and with COP28 coming up at the end of this month, we wanted to show structures with a history as well as visions of the future,' said Andy Shaw, chair of the Gulf Chapter of RIBA, stressing how all components in the exhibition were sustainable. 'The benches and easels are made from reclaimed wood and the boards are made from local palm strands,' he explained.

Partnership with Milano Durini Design Association

A significant announcement made during the event was the signing of a strategic partnership agreement between Dubai Design District (part of TECOM Group PJSC) and Milano Durini Design Association, an association of over 40 Italian companies serving as a key reference point for innovation, style and ‘Made in Italy’ design. The strategic partnership will promote collaboration, information exchange and networking opportunities across education and business spheres in the design sector between the two districts.

'Partnering with an established and international counterpart like Milano Durini Design Association is a significant milestone for d3,' said Khadija Al Bastaki, senior vice president of Dubai Design District (d3), part of TECOM Group, speaking exclusively to Wallpaper*. 'We’re forming a strategic exchange programme for talent, knowledge and students. It will not only deliver opportunities for creatives in d3 and Dubai in a key market like Milan but also forge a gateway for the emirate to collaborate with a world-leading design sector, reinforcing Dubai’s profile as a global creative capital.'

Supporting emerging designers

Just like Downtown Design, Dubai Design Week also acts as a platform for emerging designers from the Middle East and South Asia region. 

Italian digital platform Isola hosted two exhibitions during the week; one, titled ‘Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens’, focused on collectible design, sustainability and neo-craftsmanship, presenting a mix of works by regional and international designers. 

Several Lebanese designers presented their work in the show. George Geara showed his chair ‘Echelle’ – a sleek handcrafted chair with a long back akin to a ladder, as its name suggests, and a plush velvet seat. Studio Bazazo by Ahmad Bazazo presented the ‘Mistral’ coffee table, hand-carved out of solid Italian Travertino Rosso and meticulously put together by master craftsmen in Lebanon. 

The piece, a minimalist design and sculptural object, lights up a room with an understated approach to glamour. Part of Bazazo’s wider ‘Mistral’ collection, which is inspired by the wind in the south of France, the idea for the table, says the designer, ‘stems from nature eroding stones and creating these organic, sumptuous pieces’. 

Bazazo says it was also inspired by Pierre Cardin’s home in Cannes, a retro-bubble style palace. ‘It reminded me of better days,’ explains Bazazo. ‘I created the collection after Covid but had visited Cardin’s home a few years before. The collection was about better days to come, evoking the idea of the 1960s and 1970s in the south of France, the parties and the glamour. The collection was inspired by [Cardin’s] villa, the time, and by this idea of motion and moving forward, which the wind brings forth.’

dubaidesignweek.ae

When it comes to luxury resorts in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai and Abu Dhabi may grab the lion’s share of the headlines, but insiders know that there are serious contenders aplenty to be found nearby. Exhibit A is the emirate of Ajman – a brisk 40-minute drive from Dubai, but a world apart from the madding crowd. Here, on a sprawling 247-acre estate framed by long stretches of beach and mangroves, the Oberoi Beach Resort, Al-Zorah is a handsome 89-room pasha’s retreat of white stone, timber and glass – the first and, by UAE standards, tiny salvo in the hotel group’s grander plans for the region.

Oberoi Beach Resort, Al-Zorah by Piero Lissoni

Rather than dominate the horizon with towering bulks, the Italian architect Piero Lissoni strung three low-slung volumes containing rooms, restaurants, a library and a yoga pavilion along the beach, their windows and perspectives oriented towards a winning trifecta of bone-white sand, Arabian Gulf and blue-domed sky.

Lissoni says the project’s greatest challenge was presented by Ajman’s extreme weather, which has had a profound influence on the local architecture. This explains why, for the Oberoi resort, he and his team worked hard ‘to limit the density of the built space, seeking to keep the volumes low and to just one level where appropriate. This is the first hotel we built in the area, so there was no existing infrastructure and very few points of reference. Integral to this approach was the active integration of the surrounding landscape of trees and greenery.’

Meanwhile, the interiors of the resort bear all the hallmarks of Lissoni’s predisposition towards a tasteful mix of textures, colours and touchstones, not least in his use of traditional materials, which are counterpointed by customised furniture alongside the occasional antique and objet trouvé.

No stranger to creating bijoux havens in difficult settings – his 2021 Shangri-La Shougang Park in Beijing comes to mind – Lissoni says he likes ‘the fact that we were able to realise an oasis whose silent architecture respects the setting of sea, saltwater lakes, mangrove forests and desert. We did not want these buildings to become barriers, attempting instead to create something that expressed a human scale. Each building dialogues in some way with the realities of water and nature.’

And if none of that impresses, there’s always the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.

oberoihotels.com 

lissoniandpartners.com 

Foster + Partners has released images of its concept design for Dubai’s debut vertiport terminal, working hand-in-hand with Skyports to shape the infrastructure for this next generation of aviation. We’ve been tracking the evolution of the electric airport of the future for a number of years, as big players like Stellantis and Hyundai join forces with a hangar-full of start-ups like Joby and Lilium to grab a slice of the zero-emission skies. 

Foster + Partners’ vertiport for Dubai

Foster + Partners’ provisional concept design envisages a vertiport terminal alongside Dubai International Airport (DXB), with three other locations elsewhere in the emirate. The eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) industry is looking to the Middle East to be the technology’s landscape of early adoption, and the enormous investments in infrastructure are a good opportunity to find space for eVTOL. According to the Foster + Partners team, the Dubai concept is all about providing ‘seamless, sustainable travel across the city for international and domestic passengers’.

The suggested arrival date for this mix of new tech and new infrastructure is 2026, by which time the skies could be alive with newly certified aircraft, buzzing this way and that in a frenzy of autonomised activity. Plans are also afoot for a similar outpost at next year’s Paris Olympics, with Skyports working alongside Aéroports de Paris to run a service using Volocopter’s Volocity. 

FosterandPartners.com

Skyports.net

Reaching for the skies around the world: eVTOL air taxis of the future 

Mindful of the broken promises, endless technical obstacles and increasingly wary public perception of the autonomous car, the eVTOL industry knows it has to run a marathon, not a sprint, in order to bring these services to market. That said, autonomous flying is theoretically easier to compute than the infinite complexity of the terrestrial road system. It’s just that mistakes are rather more costly. 

eVTOL’s golden promise is point-to-point, short-hop travel, providing the connective glue within a wider network of long-haul flights and high-speed rail. Here is a selection of new aircraft hoping to be contenders for the air taxi of the future.

Atea by Ascendance Flight Technologies

The Atea is a five-seater hybrid eVTOL aircraft, designed and developed by the Toulouse-based Ascendance Flight Technologies. Currently in prototype stage, the company hopes to enter service in 2026. The Atea uses a hybrid system, with batteries powering take-off and landing to reduce noise and emissions in urban centres, and traditional kerosene power giving the craft a helicopter-like range of around 400km. 

Ascendance-ft.com

Lyte Aviation Skybus

The Skybus is perhaps the largest eVTOL solution in development. A 40-seater hybrid-electric tilt-rotor, the Skybus is an ambitious project that updates the ill-fated 1957 Fairey Rotodyne, a large gyrodyne (an aircraft that uses a rotor for lift and conventional props for forward flight) once envisioned as the future of inter-city transportation. The Rotodyne – which actually flew – was canned due to its excessive noise. Lyte still has a long way to go before it even builds a prototype, even though the basic concept is sound. 

LyteAviation.com

Prosperity 1 by AutoFlight

AutoFlight is one of the few companies to have a substantial eVTOL craft up and running. The company’s craft currently holds the record for the world’s longest eVTOL flight (a distance of 250km on one charge) and has also announced orders for 200 aircraft from EVFLY, a new air fleet management and operation company specialising in the electric sector. The Chinese manufacturer believes its Prosperity aircraft can be used for both passengers (seating up to four) and cargo, in both autonomous and piloted versions. EVFLY plans to kick off with cargo services before moving on to the more complex air taxi application. 

AutoFlight.com

Generation 6 by Wisk

California-based Wisk is backed by Boeing, giving it serious support in its bid to become America’s first all-electric air taxi. Their Generation 6 is a four-seater passenger craft designed from the outset to be fully autonomous. Powered by a total of 12 propellors, six of which tilt for forward flight, the Generation 6 has a spacious cabin and plenty of luggage space.

Wisk.Aero

Aïda Muluneh has long been turning the global perception of Africa on its head. The Ethiopian photographer’s instantly identifiable visual language is a striking blend of surrealism and sharp, vivid references to Ethiopian culture and the lives of women. Through graphic, shadowless planes and deft deployment of Photoshop, her primary colour-saturated works weave a complex web of domesticity and politics, fact and fantasy, subtle symbolism and arresting frankness. 

Muluneh’s first show at Dubai’s Efie Gallery highlights her ability to harness art as a tool for change. Titled ‘The Art of Advocacy’, the show spotlights works from acclaimed series such as Water Life 2018, (commissioned by WaterAid and shot in the salt flats of Dallol, one of the driest, hottest and most inhospitable places on earth), which addresses the impact of water deprivation on women’s liberation, health, sanitation and education, and The Road of Glory (2020), commissioned for the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition that explores how food and hunger are used as weapons in war. ‘I purposefully selected works that respond to themes of human rights, environment, conflict and health as these continue to be prevalent global issues,’ Muluneh tells Wallpaper*.

Each project, the artist explains, ‘relates to encounters that I have experienced in my personal life and also in my professional career as a photojournalist. Having spent many years working close to several communities, the artistic interpretations of unspoken realities have manifested within the images presented,' she says. ‘The work aims to raise questions, to provoke curiosity and to imagine a different visual aesthetic as it relates to presenting the challenges that Africa faces – something that often falls victim to the foreign gaze as it relates to visual representation in the international media.’

Alongside, Muluneh will showcase a new work displayed for the first time, in which the artist explores a new process of hand-painting acrylic onto photographs. ‘I wanted to further my approach to photography by combining digital and analogue work as a form of mixed media,’ she explains.

For Muluneh, advocacy extends to the position of art institutions in Africa and the Global South. ‘As someone who has worked across Africa, the core values of the gallery of creating bridges through art is something that is needed in the UAE,’ says Muluneh, who has exhibited in the likes of MoMA and The Smithsonian. ‘The need to support African-led galleries such as Efie Gallery is part of developing an art landscape that goes beyond Western and European institutions.’ 

‘Aïda is able to transform natural environments into what can be perceived as otherworldly settings. Furthermore, as opposed to a mere backdrop, these landscapes are presented as an active agent in Aida’s storytelling, which is exemplified by her WaterAid commission,’ says Kwame Mintah, co-founder of Efie Gallery, which specialises in artists of African origin. ‘In the works, viewers are directed to focus on the barren landscapes that Aida positions her models within and in turn, the models and the environment are conveying the same story of the harsh reality of water scarcity.’

Through her activism, Aïda Muluneh is framing Africa not as a monolithic identity, but as a broad cultural tapestry. Her figures are stoic, dignified and resolute as they gaze down Mulenuh’s lens, questioning the gaze the world has long been accustomed to, and making them look harder. ‘The role of art for me is to document the present and to raise questions as it relates to our humanity. Throughout history, regardless of region, artists have played an important role in preserving the changing dynamics of a community, country and region, Muluneh concludes. ‘Creativity is a tool that provokes the imagination and provokes an audience's subconscious towards a conscious reaction.’

Aïda Muluneh, 'The Art of Advocacy', 12 January - 24 February 2023, at Efie Gallery, Dubai. aidamuluneh.com; efiegallery.com

Entering Takashi Murakami’s first exhibition in Dubai feels like visiting a store for hybrid emojis in 3D. On a frontal wall is a new set of heavily pixelated paintings of the artist’s shiny, happy Murakami.Flower series, which have a retro video-game feel. On plinths are DOB sculptures in bow-ties and candy colours (Mr DOB is a prominent mouse-like avatar in the cast of characters the artist created in 1993). In the centre is Together with the Flower Plant and Child featuring two waving plants (one clearly the adult) with wide-mouthed smiles, green bodies and petals the colour of rainbows.

Murakami’s exhibition is taking place at Perrotin’s pop-up space at ICD Brookfield Place, alongside a corresponding show by Jason Boyd Kinsella. It’s part of a partnership with ICD’s Malak Abu-Qaoud and coincides with the launch of Perrotin’s new permanent Middle Eastern outpost, in Dubai’s financial district. The accessibility of Murakami’s visual language paired with Abu-Qaoud’s community-driven approach as an art manager makes this collaboration a good fit.

The wild popularity of the technicolour iterations of Murakami’s DOB works comes from their recognisable references to several animated characters, such as the Japanese robot-cat Doraemon, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mickey Mouse. ‘I started out as an artist by wanting to draw animations,’ Murakami says. The impact of otaku, or the obsession with video games, manga, animation and science fiction, is ever-present in his work as the kind of Japanese geeky subculture that engenders a major trend. ‘You can really feel the tempo of a place like Japan through its manga culture,’ he continues. ‘When I became a famous artist in New York, I thought I needed to go back to honest, Japanese culture.’ Yet Murakami understood the power of Pop Art early on when he became part of the New York City art scene in the 1990s. His ability to combine this awareness with craft via Nihonga, the lavish Japanese traditional painting technique he studied in university, is how he stakes his claim using the language of consumerism and youthful nostalgia.

Murakami’s ‘Superflat’ ethos of levelled pictorial space and stylised figures has become a signature approach, drawing from kawaii, or the aesthetic of ‘cuteness’ in postwar Japan. This controversial, Neo-Confucian notion of docile, childlike women as illustrations of doe-eyed girls during the Edo period was later popularised by iconic characters such as Hello Kitty. But while the result is that Murakami’s works are often read as emotionally flat, with an optimism that is childlike, a closer look reveals darker undertones in the pointy teeth or refracted faces of DOB Kaiju Monster in the exhibition, undoubtedly inspired by the Japanese kaiju or ‘strange beast’ motif prevalent in a film and TV genre. 

Murakami has often explained that Superflat responds to Japan’s post-Second World War condition, earthquakes and the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima. In Dubai, he says, ‘The Japanese people have experienced a lot of natural disasters. Perhaps the [1945] atomic bomb [in Hiroshima and Nagasaki] was seen as that kind of disaster too. At the same time, we still have fear. Maybe my characters look like happiness, but in my head, it’s not necessarily that. There’s this idea hiding in the background.’

His anthropomorphic cartoon-like figures may be an attempt to seek subjects that have been left out of art history, but their rich references are sometimes lost on the viewer. For example, the 108 backgrounds for the Murakami.Flowers series are based on the Buddhist principle of bonnō – or the number of earthly temptations that sully the mind. To an uninformed eye, this could read as the 108 colours of advertising.

The most striking work in the exhibition is on the way out: a 2017 miniature model of Murakami himself, cloaked in an Oriental robe, each hand taking on a mudra (a yogic gesture symbolic in Hindu and Buddhist ritual). Murakami Mini Arhat, modelled on the clairvoyant disciples of the Buddha, is a satirical self-portrait that has Murakami’s face split in two with a double emerging in between. Four eyes imply 360-degree vision and the eerie omniscience of an artist who has long understood the intersections between art and commerce. 

Takashi Murakami at Perrotin Dubai, ICD Brookfield Place, until 28 January 2023. perrotin.com

Abu Dhabi is a city of four base ingredients: sun, sea, sand and safety (earlier this year, it was crowned the world’s safest city for the sixth time). With immaculate beaches, jaw-dropping architecture, a climate that rarely goes south of 22 degrees, and a burgeoning cultural scene, there’s something for every mood, taste and traveller. 

Like other cities in the GCC region, including its close (but very distinct) neighbour Dubai, the UAE capital’s rapid urbanisation from desert to global destination (underpinned by abundant oil and gas resources) has transformed the city into a majestic metropolis of retail, commerce, hospitality and industry. 

Abu Dhabi tour: 8 highlights in the UAE capital

What sets Abu Dhabi apart is its cultural revolution. By 2025, the city's Saadiyat Island is set to become a cultural tourism masterpiece, firmly placing Abu Dhabi on the world stage for Emirati heritage, culture and international exchange. Arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith travelled to Abu Dhabi to uncover the best of the city now, and in the years to come.

Saadiyat Island

The natural island of Saadiyat, located 500m off the coast of Abu Dhabi island, is set to become something of an art and architecture mega-hub in the coming years. Already home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, future additions, now under construction, include the Phenomena Abu Dhabi gallery (opening 2024), Adamson Associates’ Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (opening 2025) and Foster + Partners' Zayed National Museum (opening 2025). Elsewhere, David Adjaye’s Abrahamic Family House, opening in 2023, will comprise three religious spaces in one – a mosque, a synagogue and a church – seeking to nurture acceptance and peaceful coexistence across all faiths.

saadiyat-island.ae

The Bridge Wellness Hub 

Spanning a vast 8,000 sq m space – including a gym, a spa, a restaurant, a juice bar, a nutrition corner, a shop, an indoor running track and a rooftop garden – The Bridge Wellness Hub is Abu Dhabi’s all-in-one lifestyle ecosystem for the body and mind. The hub boasts a minimal design, a wide range of wellness therapies, and the latest Technogym equipment, topped off with stunning views of the Al Qana canal. Beyond a straightforward gym, the hub aims to transform members’ lives through a holistic approach to wellness, reforming the way ‘health’ is understood in line with the UAE’s National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031. If there’s anywhere to kick off a New Year’s Resolution fitness plan, it’s probably here. 

thebridgehub.com

Al Maryah Island Apple Store by Foster + Partners 

Earlier this year, Foster + Partners unveiled their multisensory design for the Al Maryah Island Apple Store, offering a new model of retail experience. Perched atop a pyramid of Absolute Black granite stone steps cascading with water, the design is defined by a stainless-steel portal entrance welcoming visitors into the single-level interior offering panoramic views of the Abu Dhabi coastline. Elsewhere, a 72ft-long mirrored foil ceiling offers a kaleidoscopic effect, accompanied by a soundtrack of water flowing down the exterior glass walls. 

fosterandpartners.com

The Louvre Abu Dhabi

Conceived of an agreement with the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Louvre Abu Dhabi celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. The Jean Nouvel-designed structure of gleaming white geometric buildings enveloped by a colossal dome of intersecting aluminium lattices proved an instant international sensation when it opened in 2017. Considered the first universal museum in the Arab world and the first addition to the major Saadiyat Island cultural development, the Louvre Abu Dhabi seeks to promote historical and contemporary cultural exchange through its vast permanent collection and temporary shows, including its current Art Here 2022, an exhibition of ten GCC artists shortlisted for the Richard Mille Art Prize.

louvreabudhabi.ae

Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Council for Motherhood & Childhood by Studio Roar

For its latest project in Abu Dhabi, interior design and architecture studio Roar has blended work, play and functionality for the UAE’s Supreme Council for Motherhood & Childhood. Spanning three levels, the space is a haven for traditional Emirati design codes with a contemporary edge, from dynamic Lego walls to pastel-hued furnishings, play areas and workspaces. As founder and creative director of Roar, Pallavi Dean, told us: ‘We wanted the design narrative to subtly allude to different cultural elements from the region while drawing attention to the SCMC’s core mission: to foster innovation and creativity in the fields of motherhood and childhood.’

The Abu Dhabi Edition Hotel

For those seeking a home-from-home with a luxury Emirati twist, the Abu Dhabi Edition Hotel has it all, three signature restaurants, a three-storey social space, two pools, two state-of-the-art fitness centres and a spa. The hotel’s 198 guest rooms are accented by a grey oak herringbone pattern that draws on local basket weaving techniques and photography by Brett Weston, which references Abu Dhabi’s desert surroundings. Three distinct culinary offerings are helmed by Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens: Market, an all-day dining concept that uses local ingredients for an imaginative, no-waste menu; the Oak Room, offering a dose of British rock ‘n’ roll flair; and the al fresco Alba Terrace, which evokes elegant Mediterranean summers. 

editionhotels.com

Abu Dhabi Art: Artist Commissions in Cultural Sites

Unveiled for the opening of the Abu Dhabi Art fair on 16 November 2022, public art installations are now in situ across sites of historical significance as part of the fair’s Commissions in Cultural Sites programme. On view until 22 January 2023, the project sees leading contemporary artists occupy locations in the historic Al Ain in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. At Al Jahili Fort, Al Saadi’s Quipu Alphabet draws on the Incan writing system of the same name, while Shilpa Gupta’s video StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream uses the artist’s signature double flat board format, reminiscent of notice boards in railway stations. At Al Ain Oasis, Conrad Shawcross’ Patterns of Absence (Bb36D10) - Desert Beacon responds to the contemplative potency of the desert. 

abudhabiart.ae

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

For anyone visiting Abu Dhabi, the landscape-dominating Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a must-see. With 82 domes, 1,000 columns and 24ct gilded chandeliers, this architectural feat was unveiled in 2007 to embody the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s vision to convey the Islamic message of peace, tolerance and diversity. Notable features include the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet in the main prayer hall, and the Mosque’s astonishing 2,000 sq m floral marble decoration, designed by British artist Kevin Dean. 

szgmc.gov.ae

Dubai’s strategic position as a crossroads city – first as an important port along the historic Silk Road trade route and later on as a financial hub conveniently straddling Europe and Asia – meant that it has long been associated as a meeting place of cultures. However, Dubai Design Week 2022, which opened this week, largely spent its energy acquainting visitors with its own flourishing crop of homegrown talent. In addition to the many international participants, the fair was bursting with creatives born and raised in the Middle East, providing a peek into the region's vibrant creative scene.

The exhibition was spread over two locations: the Downtown Design trade fair, comprising over 200 exhibitors from 30 countries, and the d3 Design District, the purpose-built creative neighbourhood that throughout the week has been animated by installations from local and international brands – largely with a focus on sustainability. 

For instance, an interactive pavilion by Stella McCartney demonstrated the development process from prototype to product of the brand’s mycelium-based vegan leather. Or ‘From Dunes and Trees’ by UAE-based ARDH, a circular structure composed of bricks made from desert sand and date seeds, a product of the studio’s research into low-impact local materials. 

'The younger generation of designers have been very inventive with their approach to sustainability,' said Dubai Design Week director Kate Barry. 'There are so many bright young minds in this region working to develop a more sustainable future. So in organising this Design Week, it was important to us to shine a light on their work.'

Dubai Design Week 2022: the highlights

UAE Designers Exhibition

The standout exhibition in the Downtown Design tent was the UAE Designers Exhibition, which profiled several up-and-coming UAE-based independent design studios. Curated by Cyril Zammit and set within a booth designed by Studio D.04’s Fatima Al Zaabi and Noora Al Awar, the exhibition comprised 20 original works. 

Like the rest of the festival, it had a distinct focus on sustainability. For instance, designer Talin Hazbar presented a seating series composed of sea waste, including ropes dredged from the bottom of Dubai harbour, which was designed to benefit the Dubai Voluntary Diving team. Meanwhile, ANQA studio's collection, aptly titled ‘The Most Sustainable Furniture', employed plastic waste to create a series of furniture defined by its pink marbled surface.

Terminal G by Iwan Maktabi

Third-generation Lebanese rug maker Iwan Maktabi’s Terminal G collection called on several Gulf creatives to design a collection inspired by regional narratives. For example, Kuwaiti designer Aseel Al Yaqoub’s ‘Water Memory’ – which resembles the reflection of a plastic deck chair in a tiled swimming pool – is a representation of the domestic ritual of gathering around a body of water, in this case, an homage to Al Yaqoub’s grandfather, who could often be found sitting next to their family pool. Or UAE-born graphic designers Afra and Sheikha Bin Dhaher’s ‘Taghrouda,’ a beautifully rendered topographic representation of ancient camel routes across the Arabian desert.

Gaar by Nareg Krikorian 

Lebanese-Armenian designer Nareg Krikorian presented Gaar, a collection of leather furniture originally designed for his master’s thesis at Central Saint Martins. In crafting the fetish-inspired armchairs and stool, Krikorian employed a type of stitching generally used in the construction of handbags, but here scaled up to create a looping, exaggerated effect along the furniture’s ‘seams’. Krikorian’s vast knowledge of leather working comes from his family, who for several generations have specialised in the craft. In fact, his mother’s personal brand, Jasmin’s Line, was situated directly across the aisle from his own.

Modu Method by Omar Al Gurg

Emerging brand Modu Method’s modular furniture was a Downtown Design standout. Dubai-born designer Omar Al Gurg, who studied architecture at Belfast’s Queen’s University before returning to the UAE, presented his all-new ‘Chill Pill’ collection of rugs inspired by the 1960s, as well as his ‘Nu’ series of stackable modules that can be combined to form anything from storage to Space Age-style coffee tables. Also on display was his bent wood ‘Kelly’ system, a hybrid desk and shelving unit that can be cleverly arranged in several different ways, which Al Gurg says was designed to accommodate small space living.

 Saudade by Styled Habitat 

Interior design studio Styled Habitat opened the doors of its d3 neighbourhood offices to showcase its latest exhibition, Saudade, a creative imagining of a private home. 'At the forefront was the idea of depicting a timeline of someone's life, of a person that inhabited a space over the course of years,' explains creative director Rabah Saeid. 'Each element, whether textile, wallpaper or even paint, truly speaks to the influence of design during different periods. The interior is also a testament to the quality and good craftsmanship of selected items that would weather the passing of time.'

Dubai Design Week 2022 runs until 13 November 2022

dubaidesignweek.ae

Dubai’s rapidly growing economy has generated a new wave of opportunities and has had a direct knock-on effect on the local property market, with interior design one of many industries to benefit from this boom.

Downtown Design (9 – 12 November 2022) is the destination in the region for high-quality, contemporary design and attracts leading design professionals, industry decision-makers and buyers from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and beyond. Now in its ninth year, the fair has established itself as the Middle East’s leading design event, its popularity – enhanced by sister event Art Dubai and a growing affluent audience – bolstering the already surging local design sector.

Brands, manufacturers, studios and individual designers from around the world participate in Downtown Design to gain commercial opportunity, enhance their visibility and brand awareness in the market, while accessing the most relevant audiences.

At the 2022 fair, major global names such as Cosentino, Fritz Hansen, Lasvit, Minotti and Pedrali will be exhibiting creative showcases and latest collections. CC-Tapis will unveil an exclusive collection of hand-knotted rugs by multidisciplinary designer Bethan Laura Wood, presented by Iwan Maktabi; Lutron is staging an interactive experience with architectural lighting; and VitrA will launch its collaboration with Tom Dixon in the Middle East. Parisian design gallery Anne Jacquemin Sablon will present pieces by interior designer Tristan Auer, among others; and Colombian textile studio Verdi is returning with a showcase of handcrafted pieces of rare natural fibres woven with metals.

In the fair’s section dedicated to limited-edition design, Downtown Editions, renowned design gallery House of Today is showcasing works by Lebanese creatives Stephanie Moussallem and Roula Salamoun among others; emerging Emirati designer Omar Al Gurg will reveal a solo showcase of his brand Modu Method; and Kuwaiti designer Meshary AlNassar will present new collectible pieces using natural materials.

Visitors can also discover a curated selection of collectible design and craft pieces in dedicated exhibits from Egypt, Jordan and Uganda.

Alongside a week-long line-up of engaging talks and masterclasses, networking events and guided tours, this year’s edition of the fair will host a number of new features, including new programmes catering to specific audience categories and based on interests; an ambitious sustainability plan; and the main champagne lounge hosted by Veuve Clicquot, celebrating the maison’s 250th anniversary.

Downtown Design takes place from 9 – 12 November 2022 as the headline commercial event of Dubai Design Week, in strategic partnership with Dubai Design District (d3). For more information on Downtown Design 2022, visit downtowndesign.com

Looking at it peeking through the Dubai skyline, it feels clear that the Museum of the Future was not designed to be subtle; rather, it was designed to celebrate and shout about human achievement and the innovation that guides humankind into the future. Housed in a suitably eye-catching building, rounded, gleaming and adorned with Arabic calligraphic inscriptions, this new cultural destination in the UAE turns the idea of a museum on its head. Instead of being a home for historical artefacts, it is an experimental space, hailed as a hub to inspire the future of humanity. The brainchild of the Dubai Future Foundation and architect Shaun Killa of Killa Design, the project will house a permanent exhibition of human technology and creative thinking; and it opens its doors to the public today (22 February 2022). 

The building was conceived by Killa ‘as an architectural and cultural icon’, and it's true that its striking, shimmering volume is as memorable as it is dramatic. The architect composed its flowing form using computer-aided design, harnessing state-of-the-art technology in volume shaping and futuristic visions of architecture to achieve his goal. The result is an impressive 77m high, seven-storey toroidal structure built without using a single column. 

Museum of the Future

The glistening structure is clad in stainless steel panels manufactured by robots that produced the pattern that makes up its skin – lines of Arabic calligraphy representing three quotes on the future by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. These say: ‘We may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity can leave a legacy long after we are gone’; ‘The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn’t something you await, but rather create'; and ‘Innovation is not an intellectual luxury. It is the secret behind the evolution and rejuvenation of nations and peoples’.

Made using technologically advanced building methods, the Museum of the Future also employs modern sustainable architecture strategies, such as solar power (the structure is powered through its own dedicated solar park). Inside, a multipurpose hall sits at the core of the building, surrounded by further spaces including a lecture hall, innovation laboratories for health, education, smart cities, energy and transportation, and permanent exhibition areas. 

‘The Museum of the Future is a “living museum”, constantly adapting and metamorphosing as its very environment drives continual and iterative change to its exhibits and attractions,’ says Mohammed Al Gergawi, UAE minister for cabinet affairs and chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation. ‘The museum brings together futurists, thinkers, innovators and the public in a testbed of ideas that define the world of the future and shape the way we interact with our world to come.’ 

INFORMATION

killadesign.com

Dubai’s first permanent collectible design gallery and digital design platform, Gallery Collectional, has opened its doors during Dubai Design Week. The space, located in Dubai’s Eden House complex, is launching with the inaugural show, ‘The Shape of Things to Come’.

The first collectible design gallery in Dubai

The new gallery is the brainchild of luxury developer H&H, and offers both a curation of pieces and also the opportunity to connect customers keen for bespoke projects with designers and manufacturers, as well as sourcing rarer, one-off pieces. For Gallery Collectional creative director Catalina Ruiz Urquiola, the new space is a chance to take a closer look at the work of individual designers. In the ‘Shape of Things to Come’, new works by independent designers are presented alongside those of more established design houses in a thoughtful showcase that considers the dialogue between function and aestheticism.

‘The name of the exhibition is inspired by the objects, all of which have strong and dynamic shapes that push the boundaries of form,’ says Ruiz Urquiola. ‘The name also represents the beginning of a long journey for the gallery and refers to the possibilities that design presents to shape the future of the dynamic city of Dubai and the anticipation for what is to come.’

Debuting ‘Mirage’ mirrors by Sabine Marcelis

Sabine Marcelis’ new collection, ‘Mirage’, plays an integral role in the exhibition. Commissioned exclusively for the gallery and inspired by Dubai, it marks the designer’s first time exploring the possibilities of light through mirrors, with the warmth of the desert reflected in rich and vivid hues.

The collection joins other works by emerging and established designers from around the world, including Michael Anastassiades, Dimoremilano, CC Tapis, Ewe Studio, Kooij, and Alexander Lamont, who are contributing both exclusive and limited-edition pieces. ‘The exhibition champions modern craftsmanship – bringing together time-honoured skills, new technologies and innovative materials,’ adds Ruiz Urquiola. ‘Whilst our first exhibition brings together global designers, plans are already underway to work with local talent on championing collectible design coming from the region.’

INFORMATION 

thecollectional.com

ADDRESS

Eden House
Al Satwa
Dubai

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

There’s a cultural moment heating up in the Gulf. Fashion house Valentino recently ventured east to take part in cultural exchange Qatar Creates in Doha, where new cultural hub M7 just landed, and a Virgil Abloh retrospective has launched at Qatar Museums. Meanwhile in Dubai, Dior celebrated the opening of a new boutique right on Jumeirah beach, and let‘s not forget the postponed Expo 2020 Dubai that will continue to draw in an international audience until spring next year. The start of Dubai Design Week should now take things to sizzling point.

So what does Dubai Design Week bring? Now in its seventh year, there is a steer to make the programme appealing for all. ‘Dubai Design Week is a free-to-attend event and we ensure that there are activities for all levels of experiences, skills and ages,’ says director of Dubai Design Week, Mette Degn-Christensen. With plenty of initiatives supporting local communities, addressing the constant architectural evolution of the city, and promoting the next generation, there’s an underpinning aim to give creatives from the Persian Gulf a global stage in what Degn-Christensen calls the ‘creative capital of the region’.

Dubai Design Week highlights

The Beirut Concept Store

Last year saw a tough moment for the Beirut creative scene, with the August 2020 explosion taking down many studios and spaces in the city. Following this, support poured in from the industry, and it hasn’t stopped. For Dubai Design Week, 50 established and emerging Lebanese creatives get a moment in the spotlight at The Beirut Concept Store in Dubai Design District (D3). Curated by Mariana Wehbe, The Beirut Concept Store will showcase a wide range of creative fields, including ceramics to collectible design. Included are works by Borgi Bastormagi, Atelier Nadeen, Nathalie Khayat, Souraya Haddad, and Marylynn and Carlo Massoud, plus works from new creative platform Exil Collective that aims to promote budget-conscious designs that are made locally.

‘Nature in Motion’ Abwab by Ahmed El-Sharabassy

Abwab (translating as ‘door’) is an annual feature of Dubai Design Week that supports talent from the MENASA region, and features pavilions that respond to themes such as human senses and socio-political barriers. Fittingly for this pandemic recovery year, the inspiration for Abwab is regenerative architecture and restorative design. For this, Dubai-based Egyptian architect Ahmed El-Sharabassy’s winning installation alludes to the local ecosystem: the desert's constant motion and the city’s transforming architectural landscape. Under the lightweight canopy that is made using recyclable, sustainable materials, the public can gather and enjoy an exhibition that also engages with the topic of regenerative architecture.

Global Grad Show and MENA Grad Show

Innovation and the power of design thinking often come from bright young talents, and each year Global Grad Show highlights this. For 2020, a spin-off concept, MENA Grad Show, was launched for locally curated projects from the Middle East and North Africa. While Global Grad Show 2021 features its products digitally from over 470 institutions, MENA has a physical display – ‘We are always looking to generate further awareness of design and creativity as a tool for solutions, and that presents opportunities for UAE-based and regional designers,’ says Degn-Christensen of having graduate shows as a pillar of Dubai Design Week. Included in MENA Grad Show’s 60 projects is ‘Sleeye’ by Farzaneh Mangelian & Zahra Ghiasi from Tehran University of Art. Using short-wavelength blue light, the product aims to boost sleep and minimise daytime dysfunction in blind or partially sighted people, and essentially improve life quality.

‘Context Reflections’ by Anarchitect and Cosentino

Taking centre stage inside the D3, this installation shows the possibilities of Cosentino’s first ever carbon-neutral surface, ‘Sunlit Days’. Using the warm Dubai glow as a third collaborator, Anarchitect has realised a low-tech edifice that shows the importance of natural light to visitors, who can enter the space and enjoy the optical performance of light play in architecture.

2040: d3 Architecture Exhibition 

For a city that is ever changing, how do we predict what Dubai will look like in 20 years? This was the task for five architectural firms in this multimedia showcase. Aligning with The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan for a sustainable urban development, these concepts focus on being human-centric, with the practices, Beyrac Architects, Dabbagh Architects, MEAN (Middle East Architecture Network), RMJM Dubai, and Tariq Khayyat Design Partners, responding to four themes: Mobility and Transportation, Public and Recreational Spaces, Accessibility to Infrastructure, and Eco-Tourism.

INFORMATION

Dubai Design Week runs from 8 to 13 Novebmer 2021
dubaidesignweek.ae

ADDRESS

Dubai Design District

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Unsurprisingly, it has been a slow couple of years for global gatherings and international travel, but the tail end of 2021 brings with it a hint of optimism and a shy promise of better times – at least in some parts of the world. And right on cue, Expo 2020 Dubai has just opened – one year on from its original launch date, which was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. Still, this has not dampened the participants’ enthusiasm as representatives from across the globe are looking to the UAE for this month’s inauguration, taking part in events in architectural pavilions and shows that are set to last till spring 2022.

This year's agenda is rich and varied, addressing key global concerns surrounding sustainable approaches; the future of transport and travel; and innovative takes for what's to come, from exciting new ideas to activities for young people and communities. The Expo 2020 Dubai site is arranged accordingly, in three main areas, each of which features a flagship pavilion to best project the district's core message. A structure named Terra, designed by Grimshaw Architects, headlines the Sustainability section; Foster + Partners has spearheaded Mobility; and Kuwait-based AGi Architects is behind the Opportunity Pavilion. 

Around them, some 190 country pavilions fight for the attention of visitors, as part of the Expo’s national participations. The Thematic District, designed by Hopkins Architects, connects all three aforementioned sections, as well as the various country pavilions together. This is an architectural extravaganza to impress and inspire. 

Expo 2020 Dubai main district pavilions

Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion

Designed by the British architecture practice Grimshaw Architects to highlight ingenuity and different strategies in the field of sustainability, this pavilion loosely resembles flowers or leaves turned up towards the sun. Indeed, the design team drew inspiration from natural processes, such as photosynthesis, to compose their piece. And the approach is not only reflected in its looks. The pavilion captures energy from sunlight ,and fresh water from humid air, aiming to demonstrate a new way of living sustainably. 

Alif – The Mobility Pavilion 

From Earth-bound vehicles to space exploration, this is the pavilion dedicated to all things mobile. Transport and technology on all levels come together in a space designed by Foster + Partners – a pavilion named Alif (after the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, symbolizing new beginnings, explain the architects). ‘This is the third World Expo that we have been involved in; the two previous were in Shanghai and Milan. These events are incredible opportunities to showcase innovation from around the world. Similarly, Alif – The Mobility Pavilion conveys new ideas of mobility in a simple, yet thought-provoking and engaging manner, as we look towards the future of Dubai and the UAE in its aspirations, its technology and its investment,’ says Gerard Evenden, head of studio at Foster + Partners. 

Mission Possible – The Opportunity Pavilion

Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea and Nasser Abulhasan, principals and founding partners of AGi Architects, led the design of the Opportunity Pavilion, which is fittingly named ‘Mission Possible’. While other pavilions focus on strategies, systems and objects that can help us change our future for the better, this district's mission is more orientated towards the human element. Celebrating the role that young people and communities have to play in making positive change, the structure is designed as a place of gathering, a public space for everybody to come together, focusing on collaboration and coexistence. 

Thematic District

Bringing together the three main pavilions detailed above, as well as their wider sections and the national pavilions, the Thematic District has been masterplanned by Hopkins Architects. More of a wider landscape than a pavilion itself, this design was inspired by the traditional architecture of the Al Fahidi District in old Dubai, also drawing on the region's climate and colours. Around it, Mobility, Opportunity and Sustainability fan out in petal-shaped succession at the very heart of the Expo site. 

Touring some of the Expo 2020 Dubai country pavilions

Italian Pavilion

Designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota Building Office, with Matteo Gatto and F&M Ingegneria, the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai looks at reconfigurable architecture and circular design. Its façade is made of two million recycled plastic bottles, while the rest of the structure features innovative materials, such as algae, coffee grounds, orange peel and sand. ‘Our design for the Italian Pavilion deals with what I believe is architecture’s most important challenge today: advancing the double convergence between the natural and the artificial. It anticipates issues and suggests strategies that will be increasingly crucial for the future of our cities as we address the consequences of the current climate crisis,’ says Ratti, who is also director of the MIT Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ‘The pavilion keeps mutating into different forms. It speaks about reconfigurability both in the long term, because of its circularity, and in the short term, thanks to its use of digital technologies.’

Brazilian Pavilion

Within a fairly simple and straightforward pavilion design, visitors to the Brazilian Pavilion are set to get immersed in lush Brazilian landscapes, through clever projection mapping technologies. The piece is created by multidisciplinary design studio Cactus and features a  360-degree experience, inspired by nature and its potential. ‘We want the world to see and feel the beauty and intricacies of the country we call home,' says Marcelo Pontes, head of architecture for Cactus. ‘The process of achieving seamless user experience requires good design at its core. There were many technical roadblocks, including regional weather, sand, and heat, that made this project more difficult than anything else we have taken on before. Unlike traditional immersive experiences, which only focus on projection mapping inside spaces, we were designing for the entire exterior of the exhibit as well.'

Canadian Pavilion

The Canadian Pavilion features a creative installation by KANVA. The art piece, called Traces, is a ‘poetic vision of an uncertain future and a reflection upon our present'. The piece was specifically designed to create a sense of urgency around climate change. ‘The concept for Traces began with the location of the Canada Pavilion in the sustainability section of the Expo grounds, and with the main exhibition being inspired by Canadian landscapes and natural diversity,' says Rami Bebawi, a KANVA partner and lead architect of the Traces project. ‘We wanted to create something that would emphasize the threats that climate change and global warming pose to those same landscapes, and more specifically, to the species that inhabit them.'

Finnish Pavilion

JKMM Architects is behind the Finnish Pavilion. ‘In designing the pavilion, we sought to bring a fragment of Finnish nature to UAE and Dubai,' says JKMM's Teemu Kurkela, who explains that it is titled Lumi, meaning ‘snow’ in Finnish. ‘The pavilion was inspired by the thin white layer of first snow that covers the Finnish landscape at the beginning of winter. The main entrance was inspired by a traditional Arabic tent. Two cultures meet in the architectural concept of the pavilion. Hopefully, this will be the best space in Expo for meeting face to face.' Sustainability was taken very seriously in the construction of the pavilion too. With very few exceptions, all materials and labour were sourced locally. 

Moroccan Pavilion

Architects OUALALOU + CHOI are bringing traditional Moroccan building methods to Dubai with their pavilion. The building feature a 4,000 sq m rammed-earth façade – impressively, the largest of its kind. The structure comprises 22 stacked rectangular volumes that draw on the vernacular rammed-earth villages of Morocco. They are all connected by a continuous ‘inner street’. 

Qatar Pavilion

Renowned architect Santiago Calatrava is behind the design for the Qatar Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. The architecture draws on the four elements represented on the coat of arms of Qatar, the architect explains: ‘two crossed and curved swords, encompassing a dhow and island with palm trees'. He continues: ‘Inspiration is derived from Qatar’s national emblem to truly capture the essence and vision of the nation. The architectural gesture and structural form of the pavilion, which houses the entire visitor experience, mirrors the shape of the dhow and its grand sails. The sculptural monument at the entrance of the pavilion represents an abstract translation and fusion of two intertwined palm trees, while the reflective pools and integrated water features surrounding the pavilion represent the Arabian Gulf, which encompasses the nation of Qatar.'

UAE Pavilion 

Santiago Calatrava also designed the UAE Pavilion. ‘We are honoured to unveil the UAE Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020. The design emulates a falcon in flight, symbolic to the country, and is rooted in UAE’s local rich history and cultural heritage,' says the architect. The falcon is the national bird of the UAE, and the design pays homage to the region's heritage and traditions. The pavilion's wing-like roof elements seem to defy gravity. 

UK Pavilion

The UK Pavilion, titled Poem Pavilion, was created by leading artist and designer Es Devlin. Working closely with structural engineers Atelier One, environmental design consultants Atelier Ten, executive architects Veretec and creative agency Avantgarde, Devlin became the first woman to design the UK Pavilion since the Expo's inception. The design offers a take on machine-generated poetry, in architectural form. ‘Algorithms are among us, they are an ever-growing part of our culture, their output is based on what they are trained on and who trains them,' says Devlin. ‘The pavilion is at once an expression of the ideal of a culturally diverse Britain that I grew up with, tempered with our growing awareness of the part algorithms play in shaping the future of our culture.'

Dutch Pavilion

The design for the Dutch Pavilion, created by V8 Architects, elaborates on the climate crisis by proposing a temporary circular climate system, ‘a biotope in the desert, with a unique sensory experience'. There are organic, transparent solar cells to provide energy for the structure; a special technology that extracts water from the desert for the pavilion's needs; an 18m-high green cone that demonstrates how oyster mushrooms can grow naturally in a desert land; and more features by, for example, the likes of designer Marjan van Aubel and Amsterdam-based Buro Belén.

Japan Pavilion

Japan’s pavilion celebrates the Asian nation's traditional origami techniques and shapes. The building has been designed by Yuko Nagayama/NTT Facilities and aims to blend traditional Arabesque and Asanoha (hemp leaf) patterns, while also featuring a restaurant for visitors. 

Saudi Arabian Pavilion

This eye-catching design is the brainchild of Boris Micka Associates. Not only is the structure the second largest pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai site (the pavilion spans an area of 13,059 sq m), it also boasts an impressive façade that draws the eye with its intricate, colourful patterns. More than just a pretty face, this is also a fully LEED Platinum Certified pavilion. 

Swiss Pavilion

In a bold move, Zurich-based architecture studio OOS covered the Swiss Pavilion in reflective cladding, creating a giant mirror at the Expo site. The pavilion is fittingly titled Reflections. Featuring a red carpet that leads the visitor up to the front entrance, the building's shape was inspired by Bedouin tents. 

Australian Pavilion

One more eye-catching structure, this time courtesy of the Australian participation. The pavilion was created by Brisbane-based architecture firm Bureau^proberts. The intricate design is composed of a ‘cloud' of vertical aluminium panels that hover above a plinth made of timber. The piece ‘encapsulates Australian optimism and creativity and celebrates Australian diversity and collaboration’.

INFORMATION

expo2020dubai.com

Earlier in 2021, Adidas comissioned a YouGov survey in the United Arab Emirates, which found that only 12 per cent of women are entirely at ease wearing a swimsuit at a public beach or pool. In June, the German sportswear behemoth launched its first full-cover swimwear collection for women, an 18-piece offering of technical, modest pieces, which includes long-sleeve tops, lightweight hijab and trousers, accented with Adidas' signature triple-stripe motif.

In celebration of Adidas' inclusive milestone, which reinforces its commitment to making sport as diverse a playing field as possible, the brand pitched up on a popular Dubai beach, erecting the first interative liquid billboard in the sand, where female beachgoers could make a splash, and not only take in, but become part of its ‘Beyond the Surface' campaign.

Dive into the deep blue depths of Adidas’ liquid billboard

Adidas’ immersive billboard, 5m high and 3m in depth, and formed from reinforced transparent acrylic, took three weeks to erect. The water-filled wonder invited the women of Dubai to take a public leap of faith into the pool, where they could dive into its blue depths. Those who made a splash included Adidas ambassador and amputee triathlete Dareen Barbar, who is also a Guinness World Record holder (for the longest static wall sit), plus Adidas ambassador Raha Moharrak, the first Saudi Arabian female to climb Mount Everest.

In an amplification of the event, footage surrounding the digital screen was projected onto a digital screen above the Dubai Mall Ice Rink, allowing shoppers and residents to take in the liberating dives and jumps.

‘Our belief is that nobody should be prevented from enjoying the benefits of being in and around the water, hence the recent launch of our diversified product offering for all women,' says Amrith Gopinath, senior brand director of Adidas GCC, of the brand's inclusive swimwear launch and subsequent immersive activation. Adidas' liquid billboard represents a symbolic swim in the right direction.

INFORMATION

adidas.co.uk

The Global Grad Show is always a true demonstration of the power of design. This year’s entries reveal how our world can be more resilient and responsible through the use of education, technology, architecture and more. Submissions poured in from 270 universities from 60 nations and five continents this year, and the results are on view for Dubai Design Week in a virtual showcase.

Plenty of tech tools are highlighted in this year’s roster: from a device that simulates human touch to one that monitors women’s reproductive health. Meanwhile, Chiara Rossi from Lund University has realised a small weeding robot that allows organic farmers to increase soil health via an app.

The students in this year’s show hail from universities that span Huddersfield, UK to Auckland, New Zealand. Tadeu Baldani Caravieri director of Global Grad Shows says the project supports students in three ways. ‘We showcase their innovations, we create knowledge exchange opportunities, and an entrepreneurship programme.’ To break down the 100 designs, Global Grad Show is divided into five themes of Living with Illness and Disability; Coping in a Complex World; Saving and Protecting Vulnerable Lives; Cleaning a Waste Filled Planet, and Sustaining the Urban Experience.

While realising solutions, many projects rethink conventional design styles, like Sense Glucosse Earrings by Tyra Kozlow, which aims to change the way in which patients interact with diabetes. The non-invasive blood glucose monitor can be used like an earring, without the need for a blood sample, and therefore reducing waste. Instead, the portable piece uses radio-waves to generate the data. Sense Glucose Earring eschews the look of medical testing kits, appearing like rechargeable earphones.

Other notable wearables come by way of Cammino by Chiara Rossi, a system that prevents the risk of falls for the elderly that are suffering from Parkinson’s disease with a bluetooth system inside the shoe. ‘Freezing from gait is one of the most frustrating and dehabiliting symptoms of  Parkinson’s…my product will limited the number of freezing episodes using technology,’ says Rossi of her design in a video on the Global Grad Show website.

‘Water is a basic human need,’ says Harleen Kaur from Pearl Academy in New Delhi when discussing the inspiration behind her water container that can be transported like a suitcase on wheels. Jal Saath’s compact and flat shape allows it to travel through small, rural areas that may be struggling with access to clean water, a fix for heavier, less portable carriers. ‘A lot of the people who are responsible for getting water for their families include children, so it gets difficult to transport large quantities on a daily basis.’

Encouraging the wellbeing of our mental health is Pause Pillow by Wonmo Yoo and HyunYeol Shin, a product that interrupts WiFi signal when you lie on it, so that accessibility to the internet and social media is inhibited for a better sleep. Elsewhere, Alhaan Ahmed’s Aibo lamp an apt solution for this year’s elongated isolation periods as it communicates signals for those living alone who cannot interact with their neighbours but may require assistance.

Trailblazing and inspiring, the sixth edition of Global Grad Show allows us to appreciate the growth and talent of young imagination even more in a year when we are faced with more challenges than ever. 

INFORMATION

globalgradshow.com

Dubai Design Week commissioned Iraqi-born designer Hozan Zangana to create an outdoors installation for the Arab Emirate’s design district. Titled ‘Fata Morgana’, the installation was conceived by long-term collaborator, Luuk Disveld of Generous Studio, and produced in Amsterdam by Joseph Crickett of WoodCast Designs.

The name of the project was inspired by the optical effect that commonly occurs in the desert or at sea, a visual mirage appearing on the horizon and traditionally thought to be linked to witchcraft. Zangana’s design recreates this effect with shiny copper and rammed earth, using a modern equivalent of the ancient Atuba building technique and sand inspired by locally available materials. ‘For the viewer, the installation might resemble something of a Fata Morgana, with the universal human curiosity we hope to invite people to closer inspect and discover it for themselves, and come together to experience a space designed for reflection and interaction,’ says Zangana.

Based in the Netherlands, Zangana works intuitively (‘Shaping from Intuition' also being the title of an early collection he created), his shapes are often abstract and inspired by language, tradition and rituals.

For this project, Zangana asked himself: ‘How can we (re)connect culture, history and people in a public space?’ The multi-purpose installation responds to is based on a modular system and features a circle of seven pillars, each representing an Emirate, with different elements designed for public seating. A central plinth anchors the space, and a structure that, according to Zangana, ‘highlights the cultural context of the installation. The intersections between the elements demand a blend of cultural meetings and line of sights, becoming an opportunity for conversation between strangers.’

Each pillar in the installation features a layered design, with each layer representing materials from a specific Emirate. The choice of materials and manufacturing methods and materials was based on a ‘responsible and sustainable design approach, in which the production process is a key to its visual appearance.’

The Covid-19 pandemic was on Zangana’s mind while designing the installation, which was created with social-distancing in mind. ‘Our installation provides a safe public space where people can sit down and facing each other at a safe distance,’ he observes. ‘We hope this will inspire them to start connecting with each other.’

INFORMATION

generous.studio/fatamorgana

ADDRESS

Dubai Design District
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

Dubai’s MO has long been to upsize every quotidian experience; whether to create the world’s biggest mall or an artificial island that’s visible from space.

Little surprise then that even the ideal of the traditional speakeasy as a small cozy affair has now been turned on its head. For Toronto-based Studio Paolo Ferrari, the visual references splice Rome’s Villa Farnese, the final Louis XIV-esque bedroom scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago.

The result is an unapologetically theatrical set-piece in which clear cast resin tables, 1960s furnishings, and smoked oak panels flank a bronze-hued fiberglass bar whose sinuous curves recall both Dali and Zaha Hadid. The bathrooms, lined with glass floors and mirrored walls, are attention grabbers – though, perhaps, not as much as the hidden doors in the main room that swing open for VIPs to literally drive into the speakeasy directly from the carpark.

INFORMATION
Website

ADDRESS

Basement, Five Palm Jumeirah Hotel
No. 1 Palm Jumeirah
Dubai

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

The white, clean, structured minimalism of the newly completed Residence 22 in Dubai makes it stand out clearly within its context of glass-clad office towers. Located in Business Bay, adjacent to the Business canal, this 20 storey residential structure is the work of UAE architecture studio dxb.lab. 

The architects, headed by founder and principle director Khalid Al Najjar, were a fairly young, dynamic studio out of Dubai when we first covered their work, over 13 years ago, in the 2007 Architects Directory. Now, the firm is prolific, producing from houses to large scale commercial work, skyscrapers and cultural projects. Residence 22 is just one of several recent completions, which include a farm villa in the region and the Al Hamriyah Studios for the renowned Sharjah Art Foundation. 

For this housing scheme, Al Najjar and his team wanted to create something different for their client, who had requested a design that ‘has not been done' before, offering something new to the local market. The architects' response was to start by asking themselves ‘how a residential building can have its own identity' that is different to its surroundings or the wider typology, and ‘how can we make a timeless yet contemporary piece of architecture.'

The solution presented itself through a clean, deceptively simple design with a fairly austere facade that is based on a slim grid of columns and rectangular openings. This lattice structure, as well as the design's purity in shapes and materials (the exterior is simple painted plaster over cast in-situ concrete), defines the project's striking aesthetics. 

Recessed glazing provides a degree of natural shading in a region where the heat can be intense. The ground floor lobby leads to a private plaza finished in travertine stone cladding. Inside, out of the 22 apartments, 19 occupy a whole floor, allowing ample living space for residents and a rare penthouse-feel in almost every unit.

Housing plays a key part in the studio's growing portfolio. ‘We have recently done several other residential buildings,' the architects explain. ‘Another one of them is currently under construction and shall be completed by end of the year. Each of them is different but yet they all share certain references, and draw on our past work as well as other architecture.'

MORE FROM WALLPAPER* ARCHITECTS DIRECTORY 2020

INFORMATION

dxb-lab.com

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is celebrating the exterior completion of Opus, the Omiyat mixed-used development in Dubai. Found in the vicinity of the city's Burj Khalifa district, the Opus building offers a strking new view from every angle, appearing to morph and shift within its own abstract cube outline.

A central free-form void defines the overall building's shape, dividing it into two towers. The four storey atrium at ground level marks the start of the two towers’ upward journey. After that, they separate, twisting poetically as if they had been pulled apart. They’ll meet again at 71m, where an asymmetric, 38m-wide, three-storey bridge connects them on the structure's one side.

While organic and soft, the building's form feels futuristic, which is accentuated by its glimmering glass facade. The void opens up mind-bending views of the building inwards upon itself. Its curved inward edges playfully juxtapose the hard exterior edge of the cube.

Mahdi Amjad, Omiyat's executive chairman and CEO is pleased: ‘The design conveys the remarkably inventive quality of ZHA’s work; expressing a sculptural sensibility that reinvents the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior.’ 

In 2020, the Opus Dubai will open officially to guests of the ME by Melia hotel – which, if it is anything like the practice's Morpheus Macau that completed in 2018, is certainly set to enthrall. And with 12 restaurants, a rooftop bar and 56,000 sq ft of office space inside it, the building will no doubt become a new attraction for Dubai.

INFORMATION

zaha-hadid.com

They say that Dubai is a city where anything is possible, so perhaps the notion of enjoying a classic New York City barbershop experience on a trip to the beach is nothing unusual. At the latest outpost of Akin – a high-end UAE-based barbers – customers can now follow up a dip in the sea with a haircut, beard trim or straight razor shave.

Located in The Beach development in Dubai’s Marina district, the barbershop has a surprisingly small footprint – just 38 sq m in total. For its architect, Jonathan Ashmore and his UAE and London-based studio Anarchitect, this lack of space and beachside location posed a welcome design dilemma.

‘Our brief for Akin was to challenge the traditional barbershop while maintaining the familiar functionality and enhancing the social dynamics and experience for guests of the shop,’ explains Ashmore, who also designed Akin's original shop on the city's Sheikh Zayed Road.

‘Given the project's close proximity to the beach and the year-round Dubai sunshine, contextually we wanted to create a bright, fresh and crisp feel to the space without losing the rich association barbers have to craftsmanship and detail.’

Taking contextual inspiration from lightweight beach structures, the studio wrapped the small space in a solid ash frame that creates a sense of height and lightness while defining new but permeable boundaries. Built to accommodate the four barber stations, the structure is designed to be adaptive so that it can be replicated in each new Akin location, where it can be reconfigured to best suit its context. As well as barber stations, it can accommodate retail displays, an entrance door, shelving, a waiting bench and also a panelled wall system.

At The Beach outpost, the structure's contemporary ash design is pleasingly contrasted with more traditional barbershop features such as parquet floors, monochrome mosaic tiling and heavy duty barber shop chairs. 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Anarchitect website

Hitting just before new years fitness resolutions become less resolute, Warehouse Gym has opened a new location in Dubai Design District. The three-year-old, purpose-built mecca – known for its dedication to the design community, including startups, entrepreneurs and established international brands – is prime real estate for a visually exciting workout zone.

The interiors architects – VSHD Design, led by Rania Hamed – aimed to appeal to ‘the design savvy community’, and took their queues from brutalism, using locally cured concrete bricks and flooring, resilient to heavy use. The whole space, clad in this atmopsheric grey, will develop an appealing patina over time. Accents of gold-hued copper add a voguish polish, while a 17m long glass window invites visitors in from The Block – the adjacent recreational facility featuring a skate park and basketball court.

Straying from the usual design-world inspiration bank, Hamed and her team looked to underground fight clubs to toughen up the otherwise fairly clean-cut aesthetic. Imposing concrete columns are left exposed, and a giant graffiti mural spans one wall.

The facilities, squeezed into the somewhat awkward 600 sq m space, include a gym floor, juice bar, cycling studio and circuit training factory. The unit was once carved up into three separate retailers, so Hamed and her team had to overcome the disrupted spacial design by completely rethinking it. They created a sense of unity by rotating the design around a central glass box housing the cycling podium, in which (from a distance) cyclists appear to levitate while pedalling.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Warehouse Gym D3 website

Four years on and the UAE has managed not just to inaugurate, then nurture and develop a fine annual Dubai Design Week, by international standards, but to encapsulate under one giant emotional umbrella all that is of cultural significance in the contemporary Arab world.

With a junket of journalists being flown in from all corners of the globe, Dubai Design Week this November became the opportune moment to launch the Jameel Arts Centre by London-based Serie Architects, the first non-profit non-government owned museum for contemporary art in the UAE, as well as the first Fikra Graphic Design Biennial in neighbouring emirate Sharjah. Art Jameel has been a supporter of Islamic arts since the 1990s through weighty venues such as London’s V&A and the Met in New York. And now, Jameel finally has its own physical home, with a second to follow in Jeddah in few coming years.

Last year saw the opening of the minimal Etihad museum – Etihad translating to ‘unification’ in Arabic – which through modern means explains the history of the Emirates themselves in the 1970s. There was also the long-awaited Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre in Abu Dhabi.

Next year we will witness the Museum of the Future, already taking hold under the Emirates Towers, an extraordinary feat both architecturally and content wise, with a 3D-printed skin. There is a push in the Dubai to have all buildings 3D-printed within a very short time. For the 2020 Expo, it is cited that police will be seated atop man-driven drones. Technology is king in the UAE and the local success of the Global Grad Show during Dubai Design Week is indicative of a place at the vanguard of neoteric thought.

Aside from new visions for the Emirates, many real stars this year at Dubai Design Week have been the people who have helped boost the bedrock of Dubai and the Emirates contemporary culture. Included are director of Jameel Arts Centre, Antonia Carver, previously director of Art Dubai, and designer and curator Khalid Shafar, whose earlier work Wallpaper* exhibited at ‘Middle East Revealed’ in collaboration with Dubai Design District (d3) in London in 2014. Both Carver and Shafar are very good communicators, and after all, isn't art and design all, really, communication?

‘UAE Design Stories’ exhibited in Dubai was the third incarnation of the project spearheaded by Emirati Khalid Shafar, following Milan during Salone del Mobile and London during the London Design Festival. The Dubai offering is an extremely considered collaboration with select designers commissioned to create pieces inspired by a longstanding Emirati children’s magazine, Majid Magazine. With the subtext, ‘Designed for Littles, Ours and Others’ the pieces shown were unusually un-child like in appearance until explained, and all possess commercial feasibility.

The ‘Dana’ bench by Aljoud Lootah, who also exhibited at Downtown Editions, was inspired by the curly hair and earrings of Dana, a comic book character. Meanwhile ‘Pop’ by Alia Bin Omair is a colourful lollipop night light that separates from its base, inspired from a lollipop puzzle in the comic. ‘Seesaw’, a sophisticated low level bench seat – Majlis style – by Abdulla Almulla is a seesaw when converted.

There is a thoughtfulness and compassion to Emirati design today and a great sense of ‘group’ and heritage, reminiscent of Memphis with its playfulness and collaborative spirit. Neighbouring countries in the Gulf and within the entire MENASA region also enjoy the platform Dubai Design Week offers via Abwab – Arabic for gateway. The Saudi and Kuwait pavilions took the limelight this year, the latter through the tireless work of young Kuwaiti metal worker Kawther Alsaffar with her work Desert Cast. Alsaffar continues to sand cast most recently using architectural motifs of her region and a work force of casters whose tradition requires new tolerances.

At the brand new Editions section within Downtown Design, the more commercial arm of Dubai Design Week, fledgling and established Emirate-based designers exhibited alongside counterparts from Jordan and Palestine. In five years since even the possibility of Dubai Design Week was first discussed, business is clearly booming, moreover, its the stories that reign supreme and commit clout to culture.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Dubai Design Week website

Ten galleries, four tons of rock and 33 species of desert plants have made their way onto the Dubai Creek at the newly opened Jameel Arts Centre. The institution is the first art centre of its kind in the Gulf, designed by UK-based Serie Architects, it is both independent and non-profit.

Serie Architects based the 10,000 sq m space on the model of ‘Sha’abi’ low-cost governmental housing, a configuration of low colonnade buildings that reflect that idea of rooms circling a courtyard. ‘Sha’abi’ was also the focal point of the 2016 UAE Venice Architecture Biennale, and Christopher Lee who spearheads Serie Architects chose this design as an ode to this public 1960s and 1970s architecture of the city. ‘It acts as a background structure for life of the centre to unfold, without disappearing from view’, he says.

Wondering around the modest three-storey white aluminium and concrete structure evokes a sense of Palm Springs purism with the seven desert gardens, brought to life by landscape architect Anouk Vogel, peppered amongst the buildings and the piercing blue skies as backdrop. It is only the neighbouring Palazzo Versace hotel and skyline on the horizon of the Jaddaf Waterfront that quickly draws us back to the fact that this is the forever contrasting urban concourse of Dubai.

Inside, the multiple levels of gallery space enable a dynamic journey that takes the visitor from the expanding library and research centre past ceiling-height windows that frame the Jaddaf Waterfront and up to a rooftop that currently holds an artificial botanical garden by Kuwait-based Alia Farid and Aseel AlYaqoub.

The Jameel Arts Centre opens its doors with a flurry of shows, including ‘Crude' curated by Murtaza Vali that explores the oil industry as a magical agent of social, cultural and economic evolution across the Middle East. Outside, the institution is celebrating the first open-air art park in the Gulf too, the Jaddaf Waterfront sculpture park by UAE-based ibda design who present a host of works that explore themes of nature and transformation.

Director Antonia Carver describes this waterfront retreat as an honour to Dubai as a crucial port city. ‘Our first permanent space, Jameel Arts Centre ushers a new phase of development for Art Jameel', she says. ‘The collaborative, innovative approach of the architects sets up Jameel Arts Centre to fulfil its mission – to present dynamic, thought-provoking exhibitions, act as a hub for educational research initiatives and continue to engage partnerships with local, regional and international artists, curators and organisations.’

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of Serie Architects

In 2015, Dubai Design Week launched with the aim to make a mark on the design world. Four years on and it appears to have ignited an exciting cultural movement in the region, described by Rawan Kashkoush, head of programming at Dubai Design Week, as an ‘Arab design renaissance’. By its second edition, Dubai Design Week doubled in size and last year the city felt well and truly anointed as a new creative capital as locals celebrated the opening of the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi and OMA’s first Dubai project on the hip Alserkal Avenue, Concrete art space.

It hasn’t stopped there. During this year’s event, the first contemporary art institution – Jameel Arts Centre – opens in Dubai, plus the Middle East gains a graphic design biennale inaugurating in the neighbouring Sharjah, and the D3 design district – just a developing project four years ago – now has 85 per cent occupancy. We scoured the 230-plus events at the fourth edition of Dubai Design Week to bring you the unmissable highlights...

Fikra Graphic Design Biennial

More than 20 countries have been invited for this inaugural graphic design event. The brainchild of Fikra, a graphic design studio and education platform, it is an opportunity for Middle Eastern practices to make an impact on the global graphic design scene through the exhibitions, performances, workshops and more. The old Bank of Sharjah is the location for the showcase, a 1970s modernist unused block that is transformed into a fictional and temporary ‘Ministry of Graphic Design’ by T. ZED Architects for the event.

‘I would like to think of it as un-defining graphic design – challenging preconceived ideas of the discipline but providing an unexpectedly broad array of graphic design works, concepts and initiatives,’ says Salem Al-Qassimi, founder of Fikra. The exhibition is divided into creative sections that reflect the hierarchal structures of a government including The Department of Mapping Margins and The Department of Dematerialising Language. Pictured: Brexit: Why Did It Happen? by Paula Minelgaite, 2017. Read more here. Courtesy of Obaid Al Budoor

9-30 November; Bank of Sharjah/eLseed Building, Heart of Sharjah, UAE

Circadian Light Synthesis by Anarchitect 

Offering a reflective moment at one of the entrances of D3 is Anarchitect’s clay pavilions, inspired by the human circadian rhythm. The Dubai and London-based practice is investigating the effect of sunlight and temperatures on our body clock with two structures: one is aligned with the sunlight with rotating fixtures and another is dictated by artificial lighting. During sundown, the pavilions also provides a unique photographic frame of Dubai’s ever-changing skyline, including its most powerful architectural monument; the Burj Khalifa.

Dubai Design District D3

Global Grad Show

The Brendan McGetrick-curated show includes 150 inventions that ‘accelerate change and improve lives’, by graduates from 100 different universities on show. Chile, Hungary, Jordan and Pakistan are represented for the first time this year and projects are picked based on innovation in technology, equality (with no hierarchal difference between universities), universal design and impact on the world. The show is bought together in an installation by New York-based SO-IL who have created painted fabric 'mountains' that visitors can walk around to discover the works.

‘Graduates today are faced with daunting truths such as climate change, automation, and mass migration,’ explains McGetrick. ‘Each of these projects offers a restorative solution; an idea of how to make human-scale changes with the hope of bettering humankind as a whole.’ Pictured: creams and cleaning agents by Mirjam De Bruijn from Design Academy Eindhoven that arrive concentrated to be mixed with water at home, an alternative to the usual 80 per cent water that can be found in these products.

Art Dubai Group, Building 6, Dubai Design District

Jameel Arts Centre

The 10,000 sq m space by UK-based Serie Architects is the first contemporary arts space of its kind in the country. Combining ten gallery spaces, an arts library and resource centre, seven desert gardens, event spaces, a restaurant and shop, the cultural spot is a multidisciplinary addition to the Jaddaf waterfront, overlooking the Dubai Creek. ‘We are excited to launch our first dedicated space, here in the United Arab Emirates,’ says Antonia Carver, director of Art Jameel. ‘Jameel Arts Centre is set to not only expand the public's engagement with our extensive collection and library but also present museum quality exhibitions in partnership with local, regional and global collaborators.’ The centre opens with multiple shows including Crude, an exhibition curated by Murtaza Vali that explores the history of oil in the Middle East. Read more here. Photography: Mohamed Somji

Jameel Arts Centre, Jaddaf Waterfront

Abwab by Architecture + Other Things

Five pavilions by interdisciplinary platform Architecture + Other Things rise up for the the fourth edition of Abwab – the Arabic word for doors. The structures that pepper a centre space in D3 are realised in natural materials including timber coated in recycled newspaper pulp and fallen twigs and house works dedicated to regional practices from Kuwait, Beirut, host country Dubai and Amman.

Dubai Design District D3

Downtown Design

The trade section of Dubai Design Week had a new addition this year; Downtown Editions, an area of the fair dedicated to UAE makers that formed as part of a merging of the Design Days Dubai that used to take place every March. Highlights include snippets of designs from Casablanca Design Week and Amman Design Week, plus a selection of work by emerging talents who have taken part in a year-long residency with Dubai-based Tashkeel producing the collection Taween. Elsewhere, interior design studio Roar (previously known as Pallavi Dean Interiors) realised a graphic and vibrant installation for Sharjah-based Oasis Paints, capturing the essence of its factory with pillars that mimic large paint drums.

Dubai Design District D3

INFORMATION

Dubai Design Week is on view 12-17 November. For more information, visit the website

Moving away from the cookie-cutter luxury properties that have defined Dubai’s hospitality scene in recent years, Form Hotel is a breath of fresh air for a city whose industry could very well be on the turn.

Catering to that well-travelled, style-savvy digital nomad, the property offers an individual, authentic, localised experience, but takes it a step further with curated list of amenity, service and experience add-ons that include architecture or food tours, basics like bathrobes, or luxuries such as private butlers and turndown services.

The design, by global outfit Architecture-Studio doesn’t stray from the brand’s concept, with an understated, low-key look featuring bespoke furnishings in muted timber, brushed brass and marble.

Located in the city’s Culture Village, downtown Dubai, with its profusion of shops and restaurants, is a 10-minute drive away, but if you’re looking to stay in, the hotel’s restaurant serves an all-day healthy menu with dishes like the zen bowl with quinoa, avocado and rocket.

ADDRESS

Al Jadaf, Dubai Canal

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

London-based designer Es Devlin has just been announced as the winner of the large-scale competition for the design of the UK pavilion at the upcoming World Expo, set to take place in 2020 in Dubai. The awardwinning creative, who has also been behind world class events such as the London Olympics closing ceremony and recently staged a poetry-spouting neon lion in Trafalgar Square, has created a structure centred on British expertise in artificial intelligence and space, entitled ‘The Poem Pavilion'. 

Few commissions are more prestigious than the those where a designer is called to represent the creativeness and business sense of a whole nation; the World Expos have been a playground for architectural experimentation ever since their introduction in the 19th century. More recently, Thomas Heatherwick's ‘Seed Cathedral' in Shanghai and Asif Khan's 2017 pavilion in Astana are key examples of temporary structures with a permanent place in the collective cultural memory. 

Working with her signature combination of light and technology, the artist conceived the pavilion as a device that will be set up to transmit a ‘message to space’. Each of the Expo’s anticipated 25 million visitors will be invited to contribute to the message, making this a truly collective effort.

‘The idea draws directly on one of Stephen Hawking’s final projects, “Breakthrough Message”, a global competition that Hawking and his colleagues conceived in 2015 inviting people worldwide to consider what message we would communicate to express ourselves as a planet, should we one day encounter other advanced civilisations in space', says Devlin. ‘What if the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 becomes a place where visitors from all over the world take part in a collective global project that showcases British expertise in A.I. technologies and poetry while transcending national identities?'

Devlin will work with brand experience agency Avantgarde, who will take on the project's production. Structural engineers Atelier One and award-winning sustainability engineers Atelier Ten will also be involved in bringing this ambitious design to life.

The design is inspired by British expertise in artificial intelligence and space

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of Es Devlin

When it comes to extravagantly monumental projects, Dubai’s urban planners have always cleaved to the notion that ‘bigger is better’. Which goes some way towards explaining the World and Palm projects, both of which can literally be seen from space. Equally, with such a benign top-down attitude towards largesse, it’s only fitting that architects of independent projects have felt encouraged to also dream big. Such as P&T Architects’ work on the Five Palm Jumeirah.

Set on Palm Island, the 468-room pleasure dome is designed to amaze and impress, beginning with a colossal glass-cubed arrival zone that measures 15m by 15m around which are stacked white angled balconies; and continuing with an 80m pool that laps down the central axis. By contrast, Yabu Pushelberg has created intimate interiors by layering geometric patterns and volumes to create cocoons of light and shadow. The colours of the Arabian Sea are referenced in the mood-board of materials and furniture, particularly in the bedrooms which feature geometric marble floors, bas-relief headboards and mosaic tiled patterns. Similarly, the spa is a visual treat with back-lit glass perforations enrobing each white cubed treatment room.

Equally unexpected are Maiden Shanghai, a light-filled room that pairs views of sky and sea with roast duck and dim sum; and the Yabu Pushelberg-designed Quattro Passi where chefs Antonio Mellino and Giuseppe Pezzella serve up the cuisine of the Amalfi coast. 

ADDRESS

No. 1, Palm Jumeirah

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

A design competition has been launched to find the designer for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and the anticipation is already rising. Past pavilions have been created to wide acclaim by architects, artists and designers such as Thomas Heatherwick, Asif Khan and Wolfgang Buttress – all of which have gone on to win multiple awards for their bold expo designs. Now, the Department for International Trade is about to offer this chance to a new team or individual who will create the best proposal to represent the UK in the upcoming world expo, set to take place in Dubai between 20 October 2020 and 10 April 2021, under the theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the future’. We caught up with UK commissioner general Laura Faulkner to discuss the competition. 

W*: What is your vision for the Expo 2020 Dubai UK Pavilion? 
LF: My vision is that we will create a Pavilion which is stand out, exciting and unique. It will showcase the very best in British design, creativity and innovation. The UK has been the recipient of a number of awards for its designs and Pavilions at previous World Expos in Milan and Shanghai and at the recent specialised Expo in Astana and we want to build on our successes. The UK Pavilion will provide us with a platform to promote all that is great about Britain at an important time when we are building future global relationships and will form the centrepiece for the ‘Global Britain – Innovating for a shared future’ campaign, our theme for Expo 2020 Dubai. 

W*: Who would you like to see participating in the competition?
LF: We want to get the widest possible response to the tender to ensure we can meet the brief. We are looking for a stand-out idea delivered through a holistic design approach – across multiple disciplines. We are welcoming submissions from established designers as well as newer and smaller teams. This is a fantastic opportunity for any and all designers. The winning design team will benefit from instant international recognition.

W*: Could you tell us a little bit about the site of the Expo, and specifically that of the UK Pavilion? 
LF: The Master Plan for the Expo site was developed to create a physical and engaging environment which embraces the vision for the event and incorporates the theme for Expo, ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and the subthemes, of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability which will be represented in the three districts of the Expo site. The site covers 4.38 square kilometres, just 3 per cent land area of an entirely new city (Dubai South) being created in legacy. The new city will be linked to the new Al Maktoum International Airport, set to become the world’s largest and busiest airport carrying in excess of 250m passengers a year with links to Jebel Ali Port and a short distance from Abu Dhabi International Airport. The UK will be participating with a large Pavilion, situated in the Opportunity District. The UK has selected a Pavilion location which will see a high footfall of visitors and VIPs making it easily accessible and very noticeable to all Expo visitors. The design of the UK Pavilion needs to reflect this excellent location and become a landmark that all visitors want to see. It is expected that as part of the ‘Global Britain – Innovating for a shared future’ campaign the UK will run a comprehensive events programme from the Pavilion and therefore conference space, back of house facilities and catering facilities will be required to enable this. The event space and restaurant should have their own dedicated entrances that allow access without having to go through the full Pavilion customer journey.

W*: What makes Dubai special in the history of World Expos?
LF: Expo 2020 Dubai is the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region (MEASA), and the first Expo to be hosted by an Arab nation. The Expo event will run from 20 October 2020 until 10 April 2021. Expo is expecting to host 25 million visitors, with 70 per cent of them coming from outside the UAE – the largest proportion of international visitors in Expo history. At the crossroads of East and West, the UAE is the ideal location to host a World Expo; with the ambition to create an exceptional platform for the global community to come together to address critical issues and explore pioneering solutions that could improve the lives of generations to come.

W*: What is the role of design and architecture in a World Expo? 
LF: Since the very first Expo in 1851, until the present day, World Expos have showcased the world’s best and brightest. The very first World Expo, The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry took place in the Crystal Palace, in London. It was an amazing exhibition space and designed and built for the Expo. It became a showpiece for revolutionary new techniques in cast iron working and plate glass manufacture that revolutionised construction. The legacy of the first World Expo in 1851 still remains today, in the area now known as Albertopolis in London, which is home to some of the most world-famous museums. Each district of the Expo site will differ from each other. They will have an architectural expression which will be identifiable by the different materials, colours and patterns used in the district. Every pavilion on the Expo site will be an iconic building symbolising its own subtheme and providing visitors with an immersive experience. Each participating nation has the opportunity to display the very best in their architecture and design capabilities through their Pavilion, something which the UK excels at. 

W*: What will inform and influence your decision in choosing the winning entry? 
LF: The design is being procured via a design competition run through the official EU tender process. This process includes input from an external panel of judges with specialist expertise. The criteria are clearly set out in the tender documentation. Once registered, you can search for the opportunity via “DN320589 Dubai Expo 2020 – UK Pavilion Design Competition”.

INFORMATION

For more information visit the Dubai Expo 2020 website and the competition’s website

When tasked with creating chef Sean Connolly’s brasserie in the expansive top floor of architect Janus Rostock’s dhow-shaped Dubai Opera masterpiece, Jeremy Bull, founder of Alexander & Co, made a calculated decision: sink it. 

Designed in partnership with fellow Australian multi-disciplinary practice, Tribe Studio, aquatic themes flow between the conjoined main restaurant, bar areas and outdoor rooftop terrace serving premium grills and global seafood delicacies. ‘The experience is like floating through an ocean sea bed; unusual and surreal, with shards of daylight falling upon the corals of the furniture and reflecting from the scales of the enormous vaulted ceiling tiles,’ explains Bull. 

Referencing the soft pink banquette leathers and faint pearl grey matt and glazed finishes of the oyster shell-like sails above, textures, colours and patinas were considered with exacting precision.

Sea kelp-green velveteen lounges and an immersive dappled blue wool carpet float atop sandy-hued marble floors upon which curvilinear cult 20th-Century furniture originals are poised. Custom-designed masterpieces include a brass mobile light batten with disc nodules inspired by floating driftwood and a suspended Merino wool tentacle sculpture. 

ADDRESS

Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

It seems Dubai has lofty ambitions when it comes to trying to establish itself as a creative hub on the international design trail. Having launched its own design week a few years ago, the third edition took place last month and attracted 60,000 visitors, 50 per cent up on last year. The six-day event, anchored around the vast 15.5 million sq ft D3 design district – the second of three building phases currently underway, led by Foster & Partners – offered up a host of exhibitions, installations, a programme of over 100 talks, which included a keynote discussion with Sir David Adjaye, a tradeshow and an international graduate event.

Exhibitions that unearthed new regional talent were a highlight. At ‘ABWAB’ (which means ‘door’ in Arabic), a showcase curated by the festival’s head of programming, Rawan Kashkoush, served up the work of 47 designers from 15 countries, who are creating contemporary design mostly made employing traditional techniques or materials rooted in the region. The event was held within a freestanding, temporary pavilion made from discarded mattress springs by Dubai-based Fahed & Architects. Also of note, ‘Middle East Design Now!’ a new nomadic collection, founded and curated by Wallpaper* editor-at-large, Suzanne Trocmé. Having held its debut at this year’s London Design Festival, this extended show examined the work of 12 emerging designers from six countries including Kuwait, Jordan, Tunisia, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco.

High profile international brands were in attendance too. Czech-based glass specialist Lasvit collaborated with local designer Khalid Shafer on Silent Call, a light sculpture inspired by the domed roofs of five well-known mosques, each of which lights up in sequence according to Islamic prayer times within different time zones. The fine white lights represent people making their way to or from each mosque. Swarovski, which has had a showroom in the district for some time, was celebrating its 10 year relationship with London-based design duo Fredrikson Stallard by presenting Prologue, a circular sculpture, four metres in diameter, featuring over 8,000 amber crystal droplets attached to a steel frame.

The tradeshow, Downtown Design, held by the D3 waterfront, was also the largest edition yet with 150 exhibitors (including brands such as Baccarat, CC Tapis and Lladro) on offer.

The Global Grad Show was another high point of the week. Curated by Brendan McGetrick, this year’s focus was on sustainability and empowerment and showed some 200 forward looking prototype projects from graduate designers from 92 universities from 43 countries. One example – and winners of the inaugural Progress Prize – was the Polish design duo, MIKO+ who designed a collection of jewellery that acts as a brace for those with wrist injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome.

The newly installed head of design at Art Dubai Group, William Knight, a former director of London’s 100% Design and the deputy director of the London Design Festival, sums up. ‘It was an outstanding week, which made a positive impact on everyone that visited events and the city itself. The event demonstrated the creativity and commitment of Dubai’s creative community and its supporters.’ 

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Dubai Design Week website

Since its inception three years ago at the inaugural Dubai Design Week, the Global Grad Show has proved itself to be one of the weeklong event’s most successful concepts.

It gathers together the most promising design talent from schools across the globe with a sharp focus on projects that are designed to make a positive social or environmental impact.

From trainers knitted from algae, to a device that unnervingly highlights the extent of UV light damage to the skin, the projects are as diverse as they are ambitious.

This year, the Global Grad Show grew considerably in size, moving from its former ground floor space in one of the district’s glass office buildings to its own dedicated tent. Inside the vast white structure, design and technology graduates from almost 100 design schools across 43 countries and every continent were organised across a snaking layout divided into three sectors: empower, connect and sustain.

‘Global Grad Show is trying to enlarge the vision of innovation,’ says its curator, the independent writer, editor and designer Brendan McGetrick. ‘I think no matter what you do when you graduate, one thing that’s really important is to really deeply engage with an experience outside of your own, because that’s what’s good design is.’

As well as its new larger location, this year saw the introduction of the Progress Prize, an international award that will be awarded to one Global Grad Show exhibitor each year. This year’s winning design was selected by a global jury made up of industry leaders including Noah Murphy-Reinhertz, Nike's NXT Space Sustainability Leader; M+ museum curator Aric Chen; and UK-based design critics Hugo MacDonald and Edwin Heathcote, to name just a selection.

The inaugural prize went to a jewellery collection that also acts as a brace for those with wrist injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome. The gilded pink brass and mineral acrylic composite pieces are designed by Polish design duo Ewa Dulcet and Martyna Świerczyńska, both graduates of the Domestic Design course at the School of Form in Poznan, Poland.

Highly commended pieces included a system of kitchen utensils to aid the blind designed by Kevin Chiam from the National University of Singapore; Royal College of Art graduate Reto Togni's Reagiro wheelchair, with its novel steering system that allows the user to control the movement of the chair through the upper body rather than through braking and pushing; and, from New York's Parsons School of Design, Sungmy Kim's Nonliving Stakeholders – a programme that encourages people to view objects as people and consider their experiences in order to combat the problem of excessive waste.

‘Because these graduates are all in their twenties, they’re really having to address problems that are going to be happening in the next 20 to 30 to 40 years,’ explains McGetrick. ‘The problems are very real to them, so they deal with them differently. That’s something that I think is really important to have access to. We're going to need some fresh thinking in the world in the coming years.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Dubai Design Week website

Name a Middle Eastern brand. Fifteen years ago, the world had only heard of one: al-Qaeda. How times have changed. Today, we have airlines, including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad; hotels, like the Jumeirah, Rotana and Address chains; developers, notably Emaar, Damac and Nakheel, the company behind Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah; telecoms outfits, such as Orascom and Etisalat; and shopping malls – Dubai Mall is the most visited place on earth, attracting 80m shoppers a year who generate sales of more than $4bn.

Dubai itself is now a brand: the outward-looking, socially liberal and religiously tolerant capital of modern Arabia – the local answer and antidote to al-Qaeda. ‘This city is amazing, what it does for people, for Muslims, for the world,’ says Mohamed Alabbar, looking out over the skyscrapers that rise from the dusty desert scrub like giant exclamation marks of prosperity and modernity. Never heard of Alabbar? You have and, actually, you’re a fan – if, that is, you’ve admired or visited the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, shopped at Dubai Mall, or stayed at one of the Armani hotels in Dubai or Milan. His firm, Emaar, the largest developer in the region, which has built 50,000 homes and dozens of hotels and shopping malls, created them all. And that’s just the start. With architect Santiago Calatrava, Alabbar is building an even taller tower than the Burj Khalifa – the $1bn Dubai Creek Harbour Tower. Slender and flared at the bottom, he describes it as the Middle East’s answer to the Eiffel Tower.

‘My doctor is quite concerned. He tells me: “Mohamed, you’ve done one tower, please slow down.”’ But the billionaire won’t listen. In fact, he’s doubled down. Next to the new tower, he’s creating another vast shopping mall, part of the $60bn development of a new 6 sq km district, called Dubai Creek Harbour. Alabbar is also moving from bricks and mortar into clicks and mortar. He has just bought a 4 per cent stake in Yoox Net-a-Porter, run by Federico Marchetti, for €100m. The two men will extend Net-a-Porter to the Gulf. Neither Yoox nor Net-a-Porter has a website in Arabic or dedicated distribution in the Middle East, even though the region accounts for 5 per cent of the $220bn global luxury market. The joint venture will be 60 per cent owned by Yoox Net-a-Porter and 40 per cent by Alabbar through his family office, Symphony Investments. Alabbar, along with other prominent investors in the region, is also investing $500m to launch Noon, the Middle Eastern answer to Amazon. Saudi Arabia’s state- owned Public Investment Fund is matching him dollar for dollar to create a $1bn start-up.

‘Noon will be Amazon, plus, plus, plus. It will sell up to 20m items – home and garden, electronics, high-street fashion, even groceries,’ he says. To help him expand further in technology, Alabbar has also set up a $1bn fund to invest in other start-ups, ‘in healthcare, education, marketplaces, banking, a lot of stuff ’. Put simply, Alabbar is becoming the world’s most high-profile modern Arab entrepreneur: Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, Federico Marchetti, Vittorio Radice and Rocco Forte rolled into one dishdasha. ‘No, no, no, no,’ the 60-year- old laughs, pretending not to enjoy the comparison. He is doing it for money, of course. ‘My quarterly results are everything,’ Alabbar says. ‘I make a lot of money for shareholders.’ Emaar’s assets are valued at more than $45bn. He believes e-commerce will grow fast in the Middle East, even though many brands are still struggling to recover from the economic slowdown in the region, sparked by the fall in the oil price. ‘E-commerce is the way to go. It is not even 2 per cent of the overall retail market. That’s the good thing! We believe it will grow to 15 per cent – $70bn,’ he says.

The region boasts 200m young people who are tech-savvy, he points out. He is not put off by taking on giant incumbents, such as Amazon. ‘This is our market. We know it well,’ he says. ‘We operate in 22 countries, with 22 rules and regulations. It is easier for us.’ That’s one reason Marchetti has partnered with Alabbar. Nor does he think that building a vast new shopping mall, to add to the giant one he already has, will prove a misstep, given his predictions for the growth of e-commerce. The trick, he says, is to build urban, integrated malls that give people lots of reasons to visit – not just shopping. ‘We have never built stand-alone malls. All our malls have our kingdom around it.’ Dubai Mall is part of Downtown Dubai, an Emaar development that also includes the Burj Khalifa, the Armani Hotel Dubai, Emaar’s flagship Address hotel, Vida and Manzil hotels, and the world’s tallest performing fountains. ‘They all help each other to live,’ Alabbar says. The mall itself features as many restaurants, cinemas, galleries and family attractions as shops.

‘You have to mix it up,’ he says. The new Dubai Creek Harbour mall will feature high-tech augmented reality entertainment. ‘Your kids, my kids are going to die for this. It’s the most amazing entertainment system in the world and it’s all because of this goddamn technology.’ But Alabbar’s myriad ventures are not just about cash. He wants to reshape the software – the people – of the Middle East as much as he is reshaping the hardware – the buildings and businesses. He aims to nurture Generation M, a new cadre of ambitious, young Muslim entrepreneurs and consumers who will cast off the religious and cultural shackles that have for so long held back the Middle East. ‘When I started in business, I was doing it to run away from poverty,’ he says. ‘But as time has gone by and I’ve got comfortable, I’ve starting asking: “What are we doing for the young guys and young women? For our future?” It is our duty to present Generation M to the world – worldly, happy, positive, embracing all cultures and religions. No bad stories. Muslim, modern and relevant. I want to demonstrate to the world that we, as Arab people, are not the source of only bad news: we can create success.’

When you meet Alabbar in one of his vast homes – with the Ferrari in the garage, his $60m Bombardier Global 6000 jet a phone call away and a new rose gold Rolex on his wrist – it’s tempting to see him as just A N Other Emirati of noble lineage who leveraged his gilded connections to hoover up the new opportunities in the fast-growing United Arab Emirates. But his line about escaping poverty is true. He grew up dirt poor, one of 13 children in a palm-leaf-roofed house with no electricity, near Dubai Creek, the ancient pearl-trading centre. His mother was a homemaker, his father a ship’s captain. When the ruling sheikhs visited the area, ‘I used to push my back to the wall,’ Alabbar says.

‘Now I speak to the Sheikh every other day.’ He did well at school and won a UAE government scholarship to Seattle University, where he studied finance and business administration. After graduating in 1981, his first job was as a manager for the Central Bank of the UAE in Abu Dhabi. ‘I got married and had my first child. But I was restless. I wanted to do more.’ In 1987, the Dubai government posted him to Singapore for five years to run Al Khaleej, a government-backed investment outfit. ‘Singapore’s discipline woke me up. I liked it. I’m that type. I learnt to be positive, organised and not to hesitate. I learnt speed. I have no chairs in my meeting rooms. I like stand-up meetings.’ Returning to Dubai in 1992, he created the Department of Economic Development and wrote the first 10-year strategic plan for the emirate as it began to diversify into transport, real estate, logistics and tourism. ‘It was a time for change,’ he says.

‘I took on new government partners and brought in people who would work day and night, people who had pride in our city.’ Alabbar left government to found Emaar in 1997, with $50m from his and his associates’ savings. The government took a one-third stake in the firm in return for the allocation of prime commercial land to the company. As originally featured in the May 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*218) Not everything Alabbar touches turns to gold. He has lost hundreds of millions of dollars on investments in the US and Algeria. ‘I made a few mistakes. I lost face,’ he says. An electrical fault sent his 63-storey Address hotel in Downtown Dubai up in flames on New Year’s Eve 2015-16. And his deal with Armani to open branded hotels in the Burj Khalifa and Milan has made rather more money for Armani than for him. But so much of what he has tried has worked that he has earned his status as the poster boy for modern Arabia. He chalks up his success to playing by his own rules. ‘I am a maverick. I do strange things,’ he says.

When rivals were taking on huge levels of debt in the go-go years between 2000 and 2008, he refused. ‘I don’t like banks, I don’t like borrowing. I was in Asia during the 1997 crisis. I got hit right in the eyes. I was slaughtered. I can never forget that.’ Alabbar’s refusal to borrow heavily meant that, unlike Nakheel, Emaar didn’t need a state-backed bail-out when the global financial crisis sent property prices in Dubai tumbling by 50 per cent. His iconoclastic streak extends to politics. He provoked a public spat with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, when he jetted off to Israel to try to cut deals to build homes in Palestinian territories. The UAE does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

He also pushes the limits of ‘taste and decency’ in the Middle East. He welcomed Agent Provocateur into Dubai Mall although many locals regard its window displays as revolutionary at best, revolting at worst. When the store opened, one Emirati woman came in only to spit on a poster of a woman in stockings and suspenders. It is now one of Agent Provocateur’s highest-grossing outlets globally. It is Alabbar’s latest political move that has most surprised observers: he attended Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington DC in January. ‘We have to watch this guy,’ he admits. ‘The ego is the problem.’ But he thinks the US president’s decision to focus attention on Muslims – largely through his clumsy attempts to ban travellers from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the US – could generate a positive outcome for Generation M.

‘What’s happening now will shake us. We need to sit down and talk. And it’s happening. Americans are beginning to go to mosques to ask: can you tell me about this Islam? Jews and Muslims are marching together in America because they are all against anyone who does not respect the American way of life and the constitution. I am going to go to Donald Trump and kiss him on his head!’ He sees business benefits, too. The harder it becomes for Muslims to travel to the US, the more they will opt to live and work in Dubai. ‘If Muslims feel uncomfortable and insecure going to some places, if people say, “I don’t want to go through the hassle about getting visas”, then this is the place they go.’ The more Dubai benefits, the more Generation M will benefit. If that’s what happens, the joke will be on Trump. You get the feeling Alabbar will enjoy that.

As originally featured in the May 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*218)  

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Emaar wesbite

Alserkal Avenue – the Dubai arts district filled with galleries, hip eateries, a black box theatre and design shops – was once the site of a marble factory. Now, it's home to Concrete, the first building in the United Arab Emirates designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. When OMA received the commission a few years back, they were given a simple directive: 'To make that space multipurpose, to enable that building to live multiple lives, because today no space serves only one purpose,' recalls Vilma Jurkute, the director of Alserkal Avenue. 'A museum is not just a museum, a gallery is not just a gallery. They all accommodate so many other initiatives as part of their program. The idea was to create that space for Dubai.'

OMA delivered, transforming an existing warehouse into a 1,250 sq m multipurpose venue. 'We took a shape that was already existing, and then we looked at the behavior of what can happen in that building. We focused on that,' said Rem Koolhaas, the co-founder of OMA. Concrete can be used for everything from a museum-quality exhibition to a yoga studio to a concert hall where multiple events can be held at the same time thanks to a series of rotating walls. 'There is four of them and they have the ability to divide the space into two, three, or four and conduct four different events at the same time,' said Iyad Alsaka, the lead architect on the project.

Unlike the flashy buildings of Dubai – the most famous being the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab – Concrete takes a more minimal approach in tune with the architecture of the surrounding warehouses of Alserkal Avenue. 'The development of shape was not a very productive future, and it made the office switch to performance,' said Koolhaas. A translucent double polycarbonate was used for the facade, which features four enormous pivoting walls that double as entryways. The three other exterior walls consist of a sprayed concrete with integrated mirrors for a sparkly finish. 'The front was very intentional; we wanted to achieve a continuation of the inside space to the outside,' said Alsaka. The interiors feature sweeping 8m high ceilings, walls composed of concrete cladding and skylights that bring natural light into the space. Tucked away in the back is a green room that takes the concept quite literally by covering it in green velvet, and prayer rooms.

The space’s inaugural exhibition is 'Syria: Into the Light', a survey of Syrian art presented by the Atassi Foundation, on view until 3 April. 'It’s about showing that the region has art history, has talent,' said Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, patron and founder of Alserkal Avenue. Expect to see a myriad of other happenings, exhibitions, talks and concerts over the next few months.

'Over the last decade, Alserkal Avenue has grown and evolved organically with the arts and culture scene of the United Arab Emirates,' said Alserkal. 'The introduction of Concrete marks a new milestone as part of the cultural advancement of the region.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the OMA website and the Alserkal Avenue website

ADDRESS

Concrete
1 Street 8
Dubai

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS