Mayne warns Dubai set for ‘ecological disaster’
10 October 2008
By Phil Clark, Anna Winston
Pritzker Prize winner blames a lack of control by city’s political class
Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne has predicted that Dubai will become an “ecological disaster” if development there continues in its current direction.
In a dramatic speech delivered on Tuesday to the World Architecture Congress’s Cityscape Dubai conference, the US architect said the private sector’s dominance in the Gulf state had led to a lack of joined-up planning and that this — combined with the immense speed of development — would lead to a major crisis in the future.
The intervention of Morphosis founder Mayne, who won the Pritzker in 2005, coincided with this week’s unveiling of proposals by Dubai’s leading developer Nakheel for a 1km-tall skyscraper by international architecture firm Woods Bagot.
“It is not going to work on may levels, from social to infrastructure and ecological”
Thom Mayne
In his speech, Mayne compared Dubai’s public transport plans with the development of Los Angeles in the 1960s, claiming the “political class” had no control over the built environment.
“There is no connected tissue,” he said. “It might work today, but the prognosis is not good for the future.
“It’s not going to work on many levels, from social to infrastructure and ecological. It’s going to be a disaster in ecological terms.
“The political class is no longer in charge of cities… which means there is no planning. Los Angeles is a prototype for that. The private sector rules. It takes hours to get downtown in LA as there is no public transport.”
Former RIBA president George Ferguson hailed Mayne’s intervention.
“Thank God a star architect has spoken out on this issue because too many are willing to pander to Dubai,” he said.
“It’s a disaster area if all [architects] do is add eco-bling to their buildings instead of dealing with the fundamentals.
“It’s a transport nightmare, it’s an energy nightmare. It is absolutely bloody terrifying.
But directors at Woods Bagot insisted that it and other similar firms were at the forefront of a radical improvement in Dubai’s development.
London-based managing director Stephen Reinke admitted that some “reconstructive surgery” might be needed to fix the mistakes made in the past.
But he added: “Our clients are all embracing good urban design, solid planning principles, and the view that sustainability must be absolutely part and parcel as we approach the design challenges we face.
“Sustainability isn’t just about whether you’ve got a good air-conditioning system that doesn’t use a lot of energy, it’s also about building communities that can be sustainable.
“We’re quite encouraged by the clients and the patrons that we have, and their willingness to embrace these principles.”
Woods Bagot plans world’s tallest tower
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The 1km-high tower, by developer Nakheel, would dwarf the 818m-high Burj Dubai, designed by SOM’s Adrian Smith, and currently under construction.
Part of a 270ha development known as New Dubai, the 200-storey building is expected to cost £21 billion and take
10 years to construct.
Instead of a single core, the developer has announced that the skyscraper will have four cores “inspired by Islamic patterns”.
Funding is expected to come from a combination of “pre-sales of land in and around the tower, then project funding”, according to Nakheel chief executive Chris O’Donnell.
Readers' comments
Bravo that man! A major round of ethical applause is well deserved for breaking the polite silence. It must have been so obvious to everyone that Dubai was suicidally overdeveloping. What a pity overdevelopment of flats in tall towers was not criticised and halted in this country on the same grounds over the past decade. We too have infrastructure problems and ecological disasters waiting to bite us in the bum.
Sure the environment is important and if we sort that problem then we can happily keep raising skyscrapers and building banana shaped islands to house bored sports stars and business executives who need to hide their earnings from the tax man. The near slavery - construction workers paid a pittance, sleeping 20 to a room with passports held by employers until air fares are paid back in full shouldn't stand in the way of such dazzling progress.
Mayne complains on system, giving advices, but still - he will materialize his few tenders in Gulf region. I would love to know what of his approach and systems has changed, concerning the given system and place where he is to intervene. Gulf govements acquired development plans of all sorts. Another theme is how these plans are made and who made them. Same as with Mayne: copy and paste of old practice from their own, destroyed enviroment. Oh, and another thing: When you say: "political class is no longer in charge of cities", this is true everywhere in the world except here. Only here you can trace at least who are the members of the class.
The supposed trouble Dubai faces kind of goes hand in hand with this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/middleeast.construction
Mr. Mayne is right. There is no overall coordination. Each developer works and thinks only in the confines of his development, not taking into consideration the surrounding areas, traffic, social and environmental impact of the development on the city as a whole. The examples are too numerous to list - in fact, ANY development has the same problems. Respect to Woods Bagot, but - as accomplished town planners, how do they propose to handle the traffic in the proposed kilometer high tower area? It is already congested at peak hours, so another kilometer of the buliding with entourage is not going to help. Oh, yes, the metro and the water traffic ... sorry, I forgot the vision of RTA. Until a master plan exists, and the developers HAVE TO work only in its envelope, thigs are going to get only worse. But, some are learning - look at Abu Dhabi. Infrastructure first, buildings later. Not so hard to implement, but can't be sold off plan ... pity!
Its about time someone within the respected international community voiced the very real debacle that is Dubai. Unfortunately once again the abundance of money and lack of forethought seem to dictate the direction of Dubai. Cities like Phoenix and LA have taught us that building large monuments will not remedy the problems of de-centralized cities.....in each of these cities there is no there,there! Now as an afterthought these cities are faced with the task of delicately threading connective tissue into the already existing urban fabric throough infrastructure, pedestrian interaction and public destinations. If Dubai doesn't go belly up after the US cuts its reliance on foreign oil then I foresee Dubai struggling with the same problems that many US cities are currently trying to address.