Architecture differs because of the circumstantial differences between different areas of the world, partly that is, because of the diversity of culture that exists amongst humanity. As explained previously, architecture is designed to be a physical representation of ideals, and thats why it differs at such a large scale across the continents of the earth.
A region worth examining is the middle east, because of country like Qatar that has risen from economic and infrastructural obscurity to now being confirmed as the hosts of the FIFA World Cup in 2022, a world re known sporting event set to attract ‘close to half a million people from across the world’, according to reports.
‘Sports City Stadium’, an air-conditioned stadium designed for the FIFA 2022 World Cup by ‘Populous’ with ‘Aedas’
The regions growth in the past decade or so is largely due to the economic stability that encompasses the region, partly because of its sound economic investment but largely due to its seemingly infinite funds thanks to the supply of oil and gas.
“Qatar handed out £12.4 billion worth of construction contracts in 2010, which is expected to increase to £13.6 billion by 2012 and adds up to about £60 billion in total to 2015. And the World Cup-related construction has not even started yet. To cater for this huge influx of people, it is estimated that Qatar will invest around £37-£45 billion in hotel, leisure, tourism, sports, recreational and infrastructure projects.” (www.bdonline.co.uk)
Billions of money + an area in high demand (considering the amount architects currently working there – Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel to name a few) = the ultimate formula for a successful economy and amazing architecture.
With the well documented economic recession that has struck the majority of the Western countries (beside perhaps Germany’s), the economies in Asia have experienced a boom in terms of financial influx and investment. Outside investors have acknowledged this shift in power and are now, more than ever, branching their projects out into this region as it seems much more financially beneficial. Steven Humphrey, head of programme, cost and consultancy for Aecom in Qatar (formerly Davis Langdon), is also quite positive about the direction Qatar is heading in;
“Prospects are very good in the short to medium term,” he says. “Hotels, hospitality and new cultural projects have all been all proposed and planned. It’s not a hotbed like Dubai. The vast majority of development is for the country, not towers built to satisfy someone’s ego.”
Because of this recent move from economic equilibrium to economic boom, Qatar, and Doha in particular, has experienced a dramatic change in landscape design and the size and scales of Architecture within the region. Its primary focus however is to appeal to its citizens, in complete contrast to its neighbours Dubai whom are concerned much more with architectural publicity stunts. Qatar, according to reports, is ‘one of the fastest growing economies in the World’, but Professor Ashraf Salama, ‘Chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Qatar University’ argues that “Architecture is not about the pretty rendering you see in the office, it’s beyond that. It is interdisciplinary in nature, and is created in a field of tension between reason, emotion, and intuition”, i.e. there is much more to Architecture than simply designing, an emotional attachment to the area and its people is a must. Architects crossing the border and working on projects in Qatar have had to develop a cultural understanding of the area and appreciate extensively therefore the interest of its people, their culture, tradition and heritage. Humphrey adds, “They want sustainability and want practical, functional buildings. Clients want to see you face to face. It’s a very personal market and they need to understand you.” They want world class architecture but architecture that fits into context.
Moving onto Dubai and its architectural profile, it’s infrastructure is very similar to Qatar’s but its architectural interest is in futuristic design. Dubai’s image across the world is one of architectural beauty, in order to make the country a leisure resort – a major touristic force. Demand in tourism means an inflation in prices so it does make economical sense. Portraying the country in this light, “heavenly” in some peoples opinions, is something of great concern for the countries PR team and its leaders. Therefore, just like the tastes and interests of people differ from person to person, so does I suppose the social and aesthetic concern from country to country.
When I managed to have a conversation with a friends Uncle who has worked as an Architect in Australia and Italy I quickly learnt that architectural interest does differ, with him claiming ‘tackling the brief’ was of greater importance:
Imad Abou-Zeid (Occupation: Architect – Situated: Melbourne, Australia)
Q: “Have you ever worked on projects overseas, and if so what differed between projects on homeland architecture?”
A: “At the beginning of my career, I worked in Rome, Italy. I got my Part 1 and Part 2 qualifications there and decided to live there and work in the Italian industry. I ended up staying there for 5 years. I carried out two projects out there, my approach in designing didn’t necessarily change drastically because I still stuck to my principles but the bylaws and regulations that existed over there were different to those in Australia. Architecture is an art to live, you do not design just to design, you design something to live in and inhabit, and each population has its own way to live thus each sees architecture in a different way. When I moved to Australia, it was very strict in terms of designs, and what people were allowed to design. It’s not so much about culture and religion, more about blending in with the architecture that’s evident there as whole and the form that occupies the country.”
In order to grasp a greater understanding of Architecture thats differentiates at such large scales, and thats designed by firms overseas, I proceeded to investigate the Gardens by the Bay project in Singapore. This recent was a recent £500 million large scale project, assigned to create a ‘dramatic leisure destination’ that is relevant both to the citizens of Singapore and its tourists. Having had the pleasure of attending one of Andrew Grants lectures (founder of Grant Associates in 1997) talking to him about the project, its social and cultural considerations, this is what he had to say:
“For us, the challenge was how do we make something that’s very much of Singapore, yet at the same time we needed an idea that everybody could sort of buy into. How do we sort of start building around something that is very much unique, as well as concerned with landscape gardening, Asia as a whole and of course Singapore. The original sketch I did, using the orchid (Singapore’s natural flower), its very intelligent in the way it inhabits an area, its very adaptable, survives treacherous conditions, and blends into the infrastructure by absorbing the nutrients of the area. We wanted the project to grow out into the city, colonising it, the stems referencing to the paths, the earthworks referenced in the leaf structure, and the special gardens referencing the flowers. All these things gave us a collective idea of how we wanted to go about things in creating a clever and aesthetically pleasing design.
The idea was initially very difficult to comprehend, so we was very concerned with creating a credible argument for how we can sustain something as complex as this in a city environment. Blending the site, the buildings and the landscape (a unique environment) was of great importance. How could we use the landscape to sustain the built environment and the climate within the environment? Creating something with an atmosphere people will enjoy being in is something I think Singapore is only recently starting to get a hang of. We thought by integrating these structures, by sticking to lighting and sound and other aspects, as well as creating a place, in which people could go to eat and drink, would make people want to use the space. We believed this would make it really special.
The original part of the brief was to showcase and explore how they could use more colour in a landscape in Singapore, typical tropical landscape using more flowers and foliage. Red was used to show the cultural association of plants, highlighting the key cultural groups of Asia, Chinese, Indian and Western and whilst also considering at the sort of traditions and narratives that come from that. And the green talks about the significance of plants in the rainforest, exploring some ecological stories and the significance of the forest to 21st century culture. The Orange coloured aspects are the fusion of those themes.
I think throughout the whole project what we wanted to do was create a great experience, where you could walk through the individual gardens (pleasant spatial experiences) where you could dive in and learn a lot from these various different themes. Due to the large scale of the project, and the ever-increasing touristic attraction of Singapore, it was extremely important to create an area that’s relevant to the surrounding cultures, yet educational for the tourists so; whilst they’re having an enjoyable experience it can also be an educational one. One that would teach and inspire Singapore’s fruitful and vibrant culture.
At one level it is just about creating a really nice contemporary tropical garden experience, where you walk through a series of different spaces, get beautiful views etc. but one of the interesting things that we wanted to develop, we wanted everybody in Singapore to engage with the site, and what’s been really interesting is that since we’ve opened it’s actually become the favourite place for wedding photos in Singapore. Different cultural groups use these gardens in different ways. The theme behind it was based on plants in Chinese literature, Chinese arts and some of Chinas significant species.
We continually asked ourselves to what extent should we make it super futuristic, contemporary, and slick. Our starting point was to be very abstract, but when working with the client, and working with groups in Singapore, it became quite vital to use that sort of traditional reference to allow everybody in that sort of cultural group to come over here, so older people feel comfortable and children can learn. Its traditional aspects therefore became very important. Part of its popularity is in the blending of 21st century super scale graphics and this comforting traditional reference to Chinese gardens/Chinese plants.”
How have Architectural practices differed in their approaches to designs overseas and what are the reasons for this? 