Treasures of the past
In the heart of the desert lie the United Arab Emirates' most astonishing treasures: tombs dating back thousands of years. The most impressive of these are the Jebel Hafeet Tombs, the oldest of which date back to 3700 BC. Each tomb is surmounted by walls that gradually slope inwards to form a protective dome. Inside, the burial chamber, either round or oval, is built from rough-cut local stone. Access is gained through a hole drilled in the wall at ground level. On the island of Umm An-Nar, some of the surrounding walls still bear traces of sculpted decoration, often depicting animals. The tombs found on the site of the legendary caravan city of Mleiha, in Sharjah, differ somewhat in their structure. The burial pits are covered with wooden beams, palm-leaf mats and a layer of plaster, then topped with a massive monument made of mud bricks, sometimes mixed with harder gypsum bricks. These towers, with their mouldings and crenellations, were built to house the spirit of the deceased: the djinn. The Emirates' landscapes are also dotted with forts and watchtowers. Although their origins go back much further, most of those that have survived date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The archaeological site of Hili is home to superb examples of this defensive architecture, with circular towers and mud-brick walls up to 3 m thick. The Al Hili oasis is also home to the Bin Hadi al Darmaki house, one of the finest examples of fortified tower-house architecture, with its rectangular enclosure, crenellated square tower and round watchtowers. This type of fortified residence can also be found in the Al Jimi oasis, but here we know that the purpose of these towers was to watch over the shari'a, the point of access to the water supply system. These oases are, in fact, inseparable from a water architecture that is still impressive today for its ingenuity. Falaj refers to an irrigation system that involves tapping into groundwater at a distance and conveying the water via a network of underground and above-ground aqueducts. The Bindaa Bint Saud site provides a complete overview of this ingenious system. Forts were also built alongside these fortified houses. Qasr Al Hosn is Abu Dhabi's oldest fort. Its plaster cladding (made from lime, sand and crushed shells) glistens in the sunlight, earning it the nickname "White Fort". But one of the greatest is Al Jahili Fort in Al Aïn. It features all the hallmarks of this type of defensive architecture: a square enclosure with high walls and circular towers whose structure narrows as you approach the top. The whole, of course, is built in mud brick. In Dubai, Fort Al Fahidi was built in 1787 to protect the area from foreign invasion. Its walls are made of a mixture of coral stones, shells and sand, its ceiling is made of palm trunks and its towers all have specific functions (storage, firing platform...).
Traditional architecture
In winter, nomads used pyramid-shaped portable tents with a central pole supporting the structure, which was itself covered in animal skins; while in summer, especially in palm groves, they built airy arish or barasti-type houses entirely woven from palm leaves. In coastal areas and oases, house walls were made of fossilized coral cut into blocks, glued with a mixture of clay and manure combined with plaster; while in the heart of the towns, houses were built with blocks made of mud. From a structural point of view, these houses are governed by two key points: respect for privacy and ventilation. They have few openings to the outside, most often in the form of moucharabiehs, and are organized around a central courtyard onto which all the rooms open. For ventilation, in addition to a ventilated roof made of beams and palm leaves, many houses had a wind tower, known as a badgir, an ingenious ventilation system resembling a four-sided chimney with vertical slits at the top to catch the wind, its interior being separated into different ducts to separate upward and downward currents and, through an interplay of pressure, evacuate hot air and let fresh air in. The most important space in these houses is the majlis, whose name literally means "place to sit". This is a cultural and social space where guests are received. The rest of the rooms are for family use only, such as the gallery or porch (al-liwan) overlooking the inner courtyard, which in turn brings light and ventilation to all the rooms in the house. In terms of decoration, elegance is the order of the day, with colorful floor carpets, intricate wooden lattices on the windows and wooden doors carved with motifs borrowed from Islamic vocabulary. Among the finest examples of this vernacular architecture in Dubai, don't miss the Heritage House and, of course, the Museum of Traditional Architecture. The abandoned village of Al Jazirah Al Hamra, in Ras Al Khaimah, is also a must-see. In Abu Dhabi, fine examples can be seen in the Al Qattara oasis and on Delma Island, where the Al Muhannadi Mosque boasts an astonishing prayer hall with a flat roof built from wooden poles, palm mats and woven reeds covered in plaster. The mosque has always been the main landmark of the city. Originally, cities consisted of a surrounding wall, providing protection from the hot desert winds, and were laid out on a square plan divided into narrow, shady lanes lined with low buildings. Dubai's Bastakya and Deira districts have preserved this atmosphere. At the heart of these medinas, the souk also plays an essential role. A sort of city within the city, it is made up of narrow streets flanked by stores, and often features a high wooden roof to protect it from the sun's rays. The Souk Al Kabeer , with its openwork wooden arches, the Souk de Bur-Dubai and the Souk Naif in Deira are fine examples. Centuries-old buildings, souks and mosques have inspired contemporary architects. In Abu Dhabi, Norman Foster designed the World Trade Center Souk with its modular panel roof, whose octagonal shape is directly inspired by Arab tradition. Mosques also maintain this link between past and present, as illustrated by Abu Dhabi's gigantic Sheikh Zayed Mosque, with its 82 domes and 1,000 columns of gold and marble, watched over by 4 107-m minarets combining the Mamluk octagon, the Ottoman cylinder and the Fatimid golden glass mosaic. In Dubai, the Jumeirah Mosque, the city's largest, with its two minarets and large central limestone dome, is a reinterpretation of Fatimid mosques, where high arcatures and rich decorative motifs prevailed. As for the Al-Farooq Mosque, nicknamed the "Blue Mosque", it is a copy of the famous Istanbul mosque of the same name!
Contemporary effervescence
In the 40s and 50s, with the unprecedented boom in oil revenues, the Emirates entered their first phase of development. Dubai even had its own architectural firm in charge of planning! But when you see the buildings of the time, such as the Municipality Museum, which housed Dubai's first city hall, or the Maqta customs building, which controlled traffic on the new bridge to Abu Dhabi, you can't help but smile at their modest size and natural, local materials.. they almost seem like the last of the Mohicans, compared with the giants of glass and steel that have sprung up since the 80s and 90s, when the Sheikh Zayed Road was created to link the Emirates and serve as the backbone of their super-metropolises in the making. (To this road will soon be added Etihad Rail, a 1,200 km railroad linking the emirates from Ghweifat to Fujairah!) It is of course Dubai and Abu Dhabi that have the most incredible achievements, and there are so many of them that it's impossible to mention them all. But we can point out a few must-sees! In Dubai, don't miss : the Burj Al Arab, which rises like a white sail inflated by the wind and offers a breathtaking view of the famous Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago of villas rivalling in luxury; the panoramic towers of the Marina, the world's largest artificial marina; the Emirates Towers, two symmetrical towers dominated by the shape of a triangle borrowed from Islamic motifs, clad in glass and silvery metal, with a silhouette over 300 m high; the Infinity Tower, whose 73 spinning floors represent the DNA of the Emirates; or the ME Dubai, the only hotel in the world entirely designed by Zaha Hadid, whose silhouette of a melting block of ice will leave you breathless! And let's not forget the now-legendary Burj Khalifa, the centerpiece of Downtown Dubai, towering 828 m above sea level. Reaching for the heavens, these towers nevertheless attempt to reconcile gigantism and human scale by rethinking their base, opening them up to shops and creating vast esplanades. In Abu Dhabi, it's impossible to miss the Capital Gate Tower, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most inclined tower (18 degrees of inclination, after all!); the Al Bahar Towers, with their double skin resembling the trunk of a palm tree and their mobile exterior facade that rotates according to the position of the sun; the Viceroy Hotel, with its spaceship silhouette; or the Emirates Palace, with its 1 million m² of decorative debauchery. But some of Abu Dhabi's most emblematic achievements are not towers! Zaha Hadid designed the superb Sheikh Zayed Bridge, with its steel arches undulating like dunes. The United Arab Emirates pavilion, designed by Norman Foster for the Shanghai Expo, has become a major cultural space and offers a stunning architectural transposition of the Emirati landscape. And France's Xavier Cartron designed the monumental Qasr Al Watan, a veritable Versailles of the Middle East, with its 2,300 rooms and 100,000 m² of decorations in gold, marble and precious woods. But it is of course Saadiyat Island that attracts the most attention today. An island of museums, it is also a cluster of starchitects! Jean Nouvel designed the Louvre Abu Dhabi, spread over 55 buildings reminiscent of traditional low-rise houses, all protected by a sublime dome, a complex geometric structure composed of 7,850 stars superimposed in 8 layers, whose perforations filter the sun's rays, creating a shower of light. It will soon be joined by Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a structure composed of a series of asymmetrical cones inspired by traditional wind towers; Norman Foster's Zayed National Museum, whose steel wings recall those of the falcon, the Emirates' emblem; Tadao Ando's Musée de la Mer, a streamlined structure inspired by dhows; and the Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Center, with its sculptural forms designed by Zaha Hadid.
Building for tomorrow
A land of infinite possibilities, the Emirates have become a land of architectural experimentation. Dubai Media City, for example, has been planned using algorithms and QR codes to determine the most suitable layout for its component parts. This Smart City also has ecological and sustainable ambitions, notably by seeking to improve mobility solutions, a major challenge in sprawling Dubai. These issues were at the heart of the World Expo, which ran from October 2021 to the end of March 2022. The event was organized around three key themes: opportunity, mobility and sustainability. Expo city Dubai is still the place to imagine the architecture of tomorrow! Big names in architecture have made their pavilions permanent: grimshaw Architects imagined the Sustainability pavilion as a kind of holistic experience, calling on all the senses and organized around a landscaped trail; Norman Foster designed the Mobility pavilion, aiming for excellence in green architecture; Santiago Calatrava designed the United Arab Emirates pavilion, whose shape is reminiscent of a falcon taking flight... and there are many more architectural treasures to discover! Alongside the exhibition, Dubai unveiled other astonishing projects, such as Santiago Calatrava's Dubai Creek Tower, which is expected to reach a height of... 980 m! Taking the shape of a lily flower ready to bloom, this tower is set to become the city's new emblem. Abu Dhabi is also imagining the city of tomorrow, as with Masdar City, the first eco-responsible city designed by Norman Foster. The aim is to become the first city with zero carbon emissions and zero waste, thanks in particular to renewable energies. Designed on the model of traditional cities (it even has a wind tower!), this ideal city still struggles to exist, but it remains, despite everything, the symbol of a growing awareness of environmental issues. Norman Foster is also the leading figure behind the Dubai Design District, dubbed d3, which has enabled Dubai to join UNESCO's Creative Cities network. The architect was involved in the planning of this new innovation hub, where he conceived the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation. This is where architecture and design are reinvented, as at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial... where Norman Foster also designed the luminous House of Wisdom Library and Cultural Center. But writing tomorrow also means acting today. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have thus decided to better control, or even limit, new construction and to promote projects for more humane and sustainable cities. In Abu Dhabi, the Al Fay Park, which reintegrates biodiversity into the heart of one of the world's largest cities, is a fine example!
