Explain the architectural heritage of the desert environment in the
UAE.
Answers
On the shelves are dozens of books, pamphlets and flyers, featuring pictures of wind towers, museums, art galleries and historic buildings.
Outside, it is a hot October afternoon, and the air conditioning provides a welcome respite, especially since Middle East Architect had spent the last ten minutes wandering the narrow streets and courtyards of Bastakiya. Lost, as usual, among the coffee shops, museums and restaurants of Dubai’s newest-oldest historic district.
It is fitting, since Bukhash is talking about climate, and the way in which the historic houses of Bastakiya are better able to cope with the heat and humidity than many of Dubai’s more modern buildings. The air conditioning may be needed on a hot autumn afternoon, but the thick walls and small windows of Bukhash’s office means it isn’t required all year round.
“It is important that with all that we call green architecture and sustainable architecture, that buildings should be suitable for the climate,” he says. “Look outside, we have sun 365 days a year so we should be exploring solar and natural lighting, and six months of the year we can use natural ventilation. We don’t need just to make glass blocks and towers and that’s it.”
He points to the walls, ceiling and windows of the room in which we are sitting. “This architecture that you see now was not developed in a few years. Over time they were thinking should I put a screen there or here? They were experimenting with things such as putting a small hole in the wall so the hot air will go out and new air will come in. They were thinking about the size of the wind tower, the height. A lot of it was trial and error,” he says.
Not that it was only the architects of the past that experimented with new ways of dealing with the climate; contemporary designers too are making some headway. The best of these projects, however, are those where scientists, engineers, architects and other experts work together to come up with real green solutions.
“I think Abu Dhabi is doing a lot of work with Masdar and so on with sustainable architecture. Many buildings in Dubai are coming up too. Madinat Jumeirah, some of the resorts like the Banyan Tree in Ras Al Khaimah, or Qasr Al Sarab in Liwa,” he says.
“These are taking both, considering both the traditional architecture and modern needs. A lot of architects are working on developing suitable architecture for the Gulf region. It will take a few years to develop, you never finish, but imagination and creativity are always there.”
Most of Dubai Municipality’s efforts have of course been in restoring buildings like the one in which Bukhash now has his office. Indeed, the former engineer grew up just a few streets away in a demolished part of the Bastakiya district that is now part of Dubai Ruler’s Court. Over the past 19 years the department has restored some 150 buildings, including forts, houses, Ajman Fort, Fujeirah and also financed projects in Syria and Marrakech, Morocco.
“In the 1970s people felt that if something was old we had to demolish it and get rid of it,” Bukhash says. “I think awareness started in the 1980s and now in the 2000s it is huge,” he says.
“Our work and the municipality’s actually increased after the financial crisis. Our budget is around 10 million dirhams per year for 15 to 20 houses; it is not costly. Now we are doing much more even, doing some mosques here and there, doing some public facilities.”
Bukhash is firmly on record on his feelings about some of the contemporary architecture of the Gulf, and particularly in Dubai. But just as the Municipality’s work has increased since the financial crisis, so too has awareness and quality amongst architects working in the UAE.
Architectural heritage in UAE is a key area of concern that needs to be look into as much as history of a people is concerned .
The building designs in India has been largely inheritance world wide
Many believes in the designs
Experts in Architectural department helps in learning of the process keenly
They teach others not only Indians but also other people from other parts of the world