Customer Reviews

Architecture in the Emirates (German Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Length:: 0:27 Mins

I've always been fascinated by Dubai's architectural growth.

This book is a showcase of some of the finest and spectacular architecture in Emirates. 20 architects are featured, under them a few buildings.

Some of the buildings include Dancing Towers, Pentominium, Strata Towers, Burj Al Arab, Opus Office Tower, Manhal Oasis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and many others.

It's hard to review an architecture book so I've included a video.

Here's the product description from the book jacket:

The small emirates and states located on the Gulf, at the eastern edge of the Saudi Arabian peninsula, are building new cities in the desert at an astonishing rate, from Bahrain to Doha, and south to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Comprised of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain, the UAE is an oil-and-gas-rich region that has experienced an unparalleled architectural boom in recent years. With a dizzying array of ultra-modern towers popping up throughout the area, it's no surprise that the Gulf region has attracted many of the world's most prominent architects, including Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Jean Nouvel, who are all designing groundbreaking projects for the ambitious Cultural District project on Saadiyat Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi. With these and many more remarkable, large-scale projects recently built or in progress, the Gulf emirates are perhaps today's top architectural hotspot.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I just received this book today and I was ready to read it with great expectations because of the exceptional architecture in the Emirates. Unfortunately,I was instantly discouraged. The text is in tiny, cramped, black fonts printed on dark green paper. It is illegible without a very bright light. I had to struggle just to read one single paragraph of the introduction. After flipping through the pages hoping to motivate myself, I soon put this handsome book on the table for good: every single chapter has the same problem! There is no relief from a thoughtless book design with no consideration for the reader.

I doubt that I will ever look at this collection again because there is more to architecture than pictures. I am not an architect myself, but I like to learn about the program and intent of the architect. The thought of giving away this poorly designed book to an architect bothers me.

The book has a good overview of several different developers' projects within the Emirates. It reviews a variety of different architectural styles but I was slightly disappointed that it skips over many of the iconic supertall skyscrapers being developed within Dubai and Abu Dhabi. If you are considering buying this book because you saw and admired Dubai's tallest buildings, this is not the book for you. Rather, this book is aimed that those with an interest in individual and one-off style buildings. I would say that the book is best for people residing in the Emirates who have an interest in a wide variety of architectural styles that will be popping up around the Emirates and gulf in the next few years.

I know nothing about Architecture, but I love it.

I mean, I love watching nice buildings and knowing what's beyond them -who made them, how, etc.-.

So, this GREAT BOOK -as all Taschen publications- allows you to travel to the Emirates without even moving from the coziness of your living room.

If you like architecture you'll love it -and i you know, even more-.

A great book for those who like to know more about this fantastic paradise of zillion bucks buildings...

As of Monday November 8th, 2010 if you order this book you will not get it but you will receive "The Caine Mutiny" in its place. It happened to me twice. I contacted Amazon about it but I don't know when they will correct the problem.