City on the Gulf: Koolhaas Lays Out a Grand Urban Experiment in Dubai
By Nicolai Ouroussoff
image: Rem Koolhaas’s vision for a development in Dubai mixes the bold and the nondescript. Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
It has been 12 years since the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas [Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design] unleashed his concept of “the generic city,” a sprawling metropolis of repetitive buildings centered on an airport and inhabited by a tribe of global nomads with few local loyalties. His argument was that in its profound sameness, the generic city was a more accurate reflection of contemporary urban reality than nostalgic visions of New York or Paris.
Now he may get a chance to create his own version. Designed for one of the biggest developers in the United Arab Emirates, Nakheel, Mr. Koolhaas’s master plan for the proposed 1.5-billion-square-foot Waterfront City in Dubai would simulate the density of Manhattan on an artificial island just off the Persian Gulf. A mix of nondescript towers and occasional bold architectural statements, it would establish Dubai as a center of urban experimentation as well as one of the world’s fastest growing metropolises.
[The New York Times, March 3, 2008]