Mitchell...
of the importance of responding to local conditions. A prime ex-
ample was the National Bank of Dubai designed by John R. Harris
& Associates. Although the building no longer exists, photographs
reveal design strategies intended to integrate the building within its
immediate context without resorting to merely copying decorative
details from neighboring vernacular structures. The rhythm estab-
lished by the concrete frame structure recalls the recesses in the walls
of windtower houses, resulting in an intimately scaled building that
makes use of natural light to activate the facade. Other examples
from the early 1970s that exhibited sensitivity to issues of scale and context included a series of projects by Jafar Tukan,
the Dubai Police Headquarters by Cagdas Associates, and the Dubai International Airport by Page & Broughton.
While it is difficult to trace the beginnings of the emphasis on iconic
buildings that relied on reproducing vernacular elements at an exag-
gerated scale, it seems that the tendency was clearly apparent from the
mid-1980s onward. In 1984, John R. Harris & Associates initiated the
design of the Diwan of His Highness the Ruler of Dubai. Although
the Diwan complex demonstrates the restraint characteristic of the
office’s earlier work in Dubai, the reliance on visual references to his-
torical precedents indicated the influence of postmodernist tenden-
cies that were widespread in Europe and the United States in the early 1980s. The windtowers employed as purely visual
elements in the Dwan foreshadowed the proliferation of non-functional iconic elements across Dubai’s skyline in the
following decades. However Harris did maintain the concern for sensitivity to climate that was characteristic of his
earlier projects such as the Dubai World Trade Center.
The reproduction of vernacular elements soon gave way to increas-
ing scale and treating buildings as iconic statements intended to
attract attention through visual expression. Increases in land value
provided the incentive to build higher and the importation of new
construction materials and technologies made it possible. Buildings,
as a result of their visibility on the emerging skyline, became iconic
symbols of progress and evidence of prosperity. The free-standing
high-rises lining Shaykh Zayid Road represent one of the first mani-
festations of the competition for attention that has come to charac-
terize much of Dubai’s contemporary architecture. Throughout the 1990s, a number of projects illustrated the emphasis
on developing visually arresting forms that could compete for attention on Dubai’s skyline and in a global context. The
most well-known example is the Burj al-Arab hotel (WS Atkins) which, as a result of its isolation on an island and a de-
Figure 2
Figure 3Figure 4