Tall Identity...Lost Sustainability
Yasser Mahgoub and Anas Al-Omaim
Yasser Mahgoub is As-
sistant Professor of Archi-
tecture, Department of
Architecture, College of
Engineering and Petro-
leum, Kuwait University.The phenomenon of building tall and high rise buildings is sweeping all cities in the
Middle East. They are all trying to build the “highest,” the “tallest,” and the “biggest” struc-
tures — recognized as such throughout the world. Dubai, for example, in addition to
its numerous tall buildings along Zayed Road, is about to finish constructing the 800+
meter high Burj Dubai designed by SOM that will become the tallest building in the
world when completed. This trend in Dubai initiated a temptation for other Gulf cities,
including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, to spread vertically as a sign of moder-
nity and power. Kuwait is allowing the constructing of several tall buildings in its down-
town reaching 100 floors. It has plans
to build the 1001 meter-high tower in
its proposed Silk City project, merely
to compete for the tallest building in
the world title. Cairo is constructing
a 70-storey tower designed by Zaha
Hadid overlooking the Nile. The con-
struction of tall buildings is an at-
tempt to attract the attention of the
rapidly globalizing world.
Tall buildings present a challenge as a new building type that did not exist in traditional
architecture of the region. While some attempt to wrap them with elements and fea-
tures borrowed from traditional buildings, the majority of tall buildings constructed
in Middle Eastern cities are comparable
to skyscrapers found in other parts of
the world utilizing the same materials
and construction technologies. After
Dubai received world attention due to
its massive architecture, some raised
the question whether this architecture
is “healthy,” that is, whether it is envi-
ronmentally sustainable. As Al Sal-
lal puts it, “The active construction of
tall buildings in the UAE, as a result of the rapid growth of economy, goes in a fast
pace and has not allowed enough time to study and realize the adverse impacts on the
Anas Al-Omaim is an
architect and urban de-
signer. He has worked
in Kuwait, London, and
New York City.Figure 1: The future tallest towers in Gulf cities.
Figure 2: Kuwait’s urban environment, a mixture of
old and new and tall and short buildings.