Books To Read About Architecture in the Gulf
Architect, researcher, and associate professor at Zayed University, Roberto Fabbri, joined us on the afikra podcast to talk about Kuwait’s architectural transformation between 1949 and 1989 which he co-wrote a book about and we think anyone curious about the subject should pick up a (hefty) copy of. We also asked him to provide us with a reading list for anyone interested in learning about the architecture of the GCC region — both past and present. Here’s what Roberto suggested to start with.
Kuwait Tansformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life, Farah Al-Nakib
This book “connects the city's past and present, from its settlement in 1716 to the 21st century, through the bridge of oil discovery. Al-Nakib traces the relationships between the urban landscape, patterns and practices of everyday life, and social behaviors and relations in Kuwait. The history that emerges reveals how decades of urban planning, suburbanization, and privatization have eroded an open, tolerant society and given rise to the insularity, xenophobia, and divisiveness that characterize Kuwaiti social relations today.” (via Stanford University Press)
Planning Abu Dhabi: An Urban History, Alamira Reem Bani Hashim
A detailed look at development in Abu Dhabi since the discovery of oil in 1960. Using archival research, key interview and spatial mapping, Alamira Reem “investigates the role of planning consultants, architects, developers, construction companies and government agencies; examines the emergence of comprehensive development plans and the policies underlying them; and assesses the effects of these many and varied influences on Abu Dhabi’s development. She concludes that, while much still needs to be done, Abu Dhabi’s progress towards becoming a global, sustainable city provides lessons for cities elsewhere.” (via Routledge)
Building Sharjah, co-edited by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi & Todd Reisz
“One of the most engaging and thorough examinations of the history of modernization in the United Arab Emirates. Nearly 600 images from dozens of sources, mostly unpublished until now, in addition to more than 60 featured projects and newly commissioned contributions from 17 writers chart how modernist ambitions came together to engineer a global city.” (via Building Sharjah)
Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai, Todd Reisz
“Showpiece City recounts the story of how Harris and other hired professionals planned Dubai's spectacular transformation through the 1970s. Drawing on exclusive interviews, private archives, dog-eared photographs, and previously overlooked government documents, Todd Reisz reveals the braggadocio and persistence that sold Dubai as a profitable business plan. Architecture made that plan something to behold. Reisz highlights initial architectural achievements-including the city's first hospital, national bank, and skyscraper-designed as showpieces to proclaim Dubai's place on the world stage.” (via RIBA books)
Demystifying Doha: On Architecture & Urbanism in An Emerging City, Ashraf Salama & Florian Wiedmann
“This is a comprehensive discussion on contemporary architecture and urbanism of Doha as an emerging regional metropolis. It provides a critical analysis of the evolution of architecture and urbanism as products of the contemporary global condition. The book concludes by suggesting a framework for future studies of the city as well as for investigating the future of similar cities, setting out an agenda for sustainable urban growth, while invigorating the multiple roles urban planners and architects can play in shaping this future.” (via Routledge)
Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War, Lukasz Stanek
“Featuring an extensive collection of previously unpublished images, Architecture in Global Socialism draws on original archival research on four continents and a wealth of in-depth interviews. This incisive book presents a new understanding of global urbanization and its architecture through the lens of socialist internationalism, challenging long-held notions about modernization and development in the Global South.” (via Princeton Press)
Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf. Manama since 1800, Nelida Fuccaro
“In this path-breaking and multi-layered account of one of the least explored societies in the Middle East, Nelida Fuccaro examines the political and social life of the Gulf city and its coastline, as exemplified by Manama in Bahrain. Written as an ethnography of space, politics and community, it addresses the changing relationship between urban development, politics and society before and after the discovery of oil.” (via Amazon)
Designing Modernity: Architecture in the Arab World 1945-1973, George Arbid & Philipp Oswalt
“This book is the result of a fascinating investigation by international experts into the influences of modernist architecture in the Arab world. Ten case studies provide the foundation for a thorough exploration of the relevant cultural-historical, sociopolitical, climatic, and demographic aspects. Questions concerning the region’s reciprocal relationship with modernist architecture in the period from 1945 to 1973 are investigated through the biographies of selected buildings and building complexes from Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco.” (via Nai Booksellers)
Modernism in the Middle East, Sandy Isenstadt and Kishwar Rizvi
“Focuses on the development of modern architecture in the Middle East. Ranging from Jerusalem at the turn of the 20th century to Libya under Italian colonial rule, post-war Turkey, and on to Iraq, this title looks around the historical encounter between the politics of nation-building and architectural modernism's materials, methods, and motives.” (via Scheltema)
New Arab Urban, Harvey Molotch and Davide Ponzini
“Shining special light on Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha—where the dynamics of extreme urbanization are so strongly evident—the authors of The New Arab Urban trace what happens when money is plentiful, regulation weak, and labor conditions severe.Just how do authorities in such settings reconcile goals of oft-claimed civic betterment with hyper-segregation and radical inequality? How do they align cosmopolitan sensibilities with authoritarian rule? How do these elite custodians arrange tactical alliances to protect particular forms of social stratification and political control? What sense can be made of their massive investment for environmental breakthrough in the midst of world-class ecological mayhem?” (via NYU press)
The Arab City: Architecture & RepresentationAmale Andraos and Nora Akawi
“Moving beyond reductive notions of identity, myths of authenticity, fetishized traditionalism, or the constructed opposition of tradition and modernity, The Arab City: Architecture and Representationcritically engages contemporary architectural and urban production in the Middle East. Taking the “Arab City” and “Islamic Architecture” as sites of investigation rather than given categories, this book reframes the region’s buildings, cities, and landscapes and broadens its architectural and urban canons. Arab cities are multifaceted places and sites of layered historical imaginaries; defined by regional and territorial economies, they bridge scales of production and political engagement. The essays collected here investigate cultural representation, the evolution of historical cities, contemporary architectural practices, emerging urban conditions, and responsive urban imaginaries in the Arab World” (via Columbia GSAPP)
Modern Architecture Kuwait 1949-1989, Roberto Fabbri; Ricardo Camacho & Sara Saragoca Soares
“From the late 1940's at the inception of the oil exporting industry, via political independence in 1961, through to the late 1980's when Kuwait was invaded, the city-state experienced an etraordinary social and civic transformation, deeply inscribed in its built environment. The old coastal town was radically tranformed through architecture and urban planning in the process of gaining wealth and automomy. Important foreign and local architects found here the possibility to expand their professional horizons and the challenge to ompose an entire city, creating important examples of Late Modern Architecture during these four decades. This publication is based on several years of multidisiplinary research, featuring a repertoire of more than 150 buildings, all fully illustrated and analyzed in order to understand the dymanics of change and innovation they represent.” (via Arch Daily)
