Lobby Design

This is a lobby design that I did for the tallest building in Sharjah located next to the Kasbah district in Buhairah.

Eagle Five Plaza is the tallest building in Sharjah.  It looks over Buhairah and Kasbah the two most wonderful places in the United Arab Emirates.

The views are breathtaking.  This is a place where you want to spend all of your time.  Everything is within a walking distance.  Restaurants, cinema, parks, shopping malls, health clubs, amusement park etc.




The idea behind the lobby is to create a feeling of nature as the skylight looks up into an open network of palm trees.  The feeling is that the building is just not there.  You are magically transported to your apartment with the high speed elevators.



The is a view to the front of the lobby.  The canope is stainless steel and is an extension to the wooden trusses in the lobby.


Close by there is the KASBAH which is featured in the panoramic photo next.


The lobby floor is a series of circles, a fishing boat bottom and eagle claws that lead to the elevators.  There is a small resting area with a water screen video projections system.

At night the skylights dim and the star come out.

A lot of effort went into this project.

DESERT CONTAINER CARAVANS

DESERT CONTAINER CARAVANS

SOMALI PIRATES DISTURBED BY REPORTS

DUBAI - Arab Bedouins in the Arabian peninsula are reviving the historical desert caravans. Taking advantage of the high interest rates for shippers plying the waters off of the Somali coast, several Bedouin entrepreneurs have started offering container shipments by camel caravans across the desert from Dubai ports to ports in the Mediterranean.

This has somewhat disturbed Somali pirates as they feel that it is a clear violation of international shipping norms and they plan to protest the move with representatives in the next Gulf Cooperation Council meetings planned for later this year.

When asked why camel caravans and not trucks, Abdullah bin Kamal of Kamal Desert Caravan Lines stated, “Trucks need roads and the trips are much longer, drivers are expensive and diesel is not cheap, so we have a market niche.”

He also stated that unfortunately they have yet to solve problems with the camels sinking into the sand with the heavier containers and are looking into a special sand shoes, similar to snow shoes.

Filthy Drinking Water Delivery Truck

Who would have guessed that this filthy truck was a delivery truck for water that somebody should drink.  I thought it was hilarious that such a manager of a bottled drinking water company would allow such a negative image to exist in his/her company.

The main reason I noticed this truck was because he cut me off.  I never used this water and I don't think I ever will.  I can only imagine how clean their factory is!

Designs the Collect Dust

There are hundreds of these mini air-conditioned bus stations dotted around Dubai and all of them are looking quite shabby and they have only just been installed.  It seems that the design is a real dust trap.

It is obviouis that curved aluminium structures are not easy to clean.  In a matter of one day they can be cacked with dust.  If you combine that with a high level of humidity then you really get ugly dust stains.

Designs briefs should require that the objects be able to look and stay clean a certain period of time.

Safari Zoo Resort

This is a project that I had worked on ages ago. The Dubai Zoo is still on hold. You can see the presentation (click here).

PARK AND RIDE

I noticed that the free street side parking intended for creek park outside our project near gate #1 at creek park is full of cars every morning up until around 6pm. I surmise that the two new banks that have opened up across the street need plenty of parking as their underground garage most likely will not accommodate the number of car wielding employees, or that the landlord is charging for each spot, which is typical in Dubai.

Another possibility is that people are learning to Park & Ride, either the bus which passes near by (I doubt it!) or with a friend (more likely).
The idea is good. Why not create park and ride locations throughout Dubai and allow people to pool to the more congested areas. You could park your car and take a bus or metro to your office.

Dubai Metro

I've noted that the Metro work in Dubai is moving along at a rather fast pace. It is a very refreshing feeling to see such professional high quality public work project being conducted in the GCC. There is such a contrast in the way things are done by contractors. Almost all of the safety precautions have been taken to ensure that the public at large will not suffer injuries due to ongoing works.

The neat thing about thing about the Metro is that it is not cutting Dubai into pieces like other metros in the USA. To save on cost light rails have not opted for the elevated or underground tracks in many major US cities.

Portland Oregon is one example. The light rail there has litterally cut the city into several part. So many neighborhoods are now cut into two becaues the light rail passes through at ground level and had to be fenced off for safety.



Whether or not the Metro actually provides a traffic solution is questionable. In the late 50's the mass transit systems in the US were on their way out. Cheap vehicles and the increasing number of roads made it impractical to rely solely on the trains and busses. You were poor if you had to take the bus or train. Eventually in many cities the trams and trains were discontinued. Only busses remained as they were the most car-like in that they were flexible and could be rerouted to meet changing demands.

Now that there is financial pressure on drivers in the form of parking, fuel charges etc. there is an incentive to use mass transportation (MT) to get to work. Even considering the time it takes and there is a savings when comparing parking fees and fuel costs. Maybe even time is saved considering that traffic jams dont effect a train system.

In spite of all of the cultural differences that a metro in Dubai will face with respect to the change from complete freedom to train schedules.

The presence of stiffling traffic jams will make Dubai metro a success. As long as this condition remains then the metro will be used, however, as soon as the traffic problem is solved by more and better roads the metro system will suffer. Why take a train if there are no economic benefits. Car's are cheap, fuel is not expensive and if the traffic moves then there is also no time savings. What do you do when you get to the end of the line....walk? Take a taxi or a bus?

Dubai Metro needs traffic jams, high road fees but moreover, it needs better coverage of dubai and not just down a few arteries.

The park and ride model is quite successful. If there were large parking garages where people could leave their car and take a metro to pick up their car where they could continue their journey then that would be a great incentive to take the metro. As it is there is not so much consideration for parking in Dubai. How do you get to the train, and how do you get to your final destination from the closest station. The RTA (Roads Transport Authority) needs to resolve these issues. More busses, mabe smaller with very short shuttle routes. They should have dedicated lanes. Fewer taxis and more mini busses, or taxis that have known desinations like a bus with the option to have up to three independant people as passengers.

RTA could have a premium lane that can be used for a daily fee of lets say DHS50 all day long. Using the same Radio Identification Tag to monitor the use of these lanes or better yet a roof mounted bar code where cars can be scanned more accurately.