I’ve been in Dubai for the past two weeks and will head homeward in a few hours. I’m feeling sentimental and a bit melancholic about leaving. So much happened here starting 12 years ago. Nostalgia hit me last evening as I walked along Sheikh Zayed Road snapping photos; there were exciting memories about our first few clients and projects this market.
It began in 2003 at the twin Emirates Towers (photo 1). This is where we met NORR Group, who would become our first client in Dubai. They gave us a small “test project” – mechanical noise control consulting for Al Fattan Tower. This is one of the iconic twin towers (photo 2) defining the skyline of the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR), a waterfront community located against the Persian Gulf in the Dubai Marina area. We obviously passed the test because on our second Dubai trip NORR Group added us to their team for a larger project – AV consulting for The Avenues Mall in Kuwait (photo 3), now the 2nd largest mall in the world.
I believe it was on our third trip that we met with developer, Nakheel Properties, and were selected for acoustical and AV consulting on their Gardens Mall project, now called Ibn Battuta Mall (photos 4&5). The mall design has six major themes created by Seattle-based Callison to celebrate the travels of 14th century Arabic explorer Ibn Battuta. At the time, the project was referred to as “the longest mall in the world.” Wikipedia has some good photos of the mall’s six courts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta_Mall). Our contract was directly with Nakheel Properties although we worked extensively with Hill International (project manager).
We met with developer, Emaar Properties, within the same timeframe to discuss Burj Dubai, the skyscraper later inaugurated as Burj Khalifa. We were initially retained only for acoustical consulting. In due time, our scope of work expanded to include AV and ICT (information and communications technology) design for the entire building. We were now solidly on the radar of architects, engineers, contractors and developers in Dubai. The team included Turner International Middle East (project manager), NORR Group (architectural supervision) and Hyder Consulting (engineering supervision) along with Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) – the project’s design architect.
Home to the world’s first Armani Hotel & Residences, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world at 2,722 feet! I get a “buzz” every time I see it in person. I visited the Armani Hotel and snapped some photos (6-8) on the first day of my present trip. A few days later, I had dinner at a restaurant where I could watch the fountain show (9) and take a nighttime shot of the tower (10). A final snapshot of the needle-like structure (photo 11) during last evening’s walk along Sheikh Zayed Road enhanced my nostalgia.
Another early win was Capital Towers that opened as the Monarch Office Tower and Monarch Hotel, now the H Hotel Dubai (click on photo 12 to see the towers at the far right). We were selected for acoustical and AV design by Hill International (project manager) and RMJM Architecture Middle East. Soon we began receiving many RFPs from companies in Dubai and elsewhere in the region. By 2005/2006 we were working on the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi (Grand Mosque, photo 13) as well as Texas A&M College of Engineering at Qatar Education City (QEC) in Doha and Carnegie Mellon University at QEC (photos 14&15).
These important projects and new client relationships created a series of experiences that defined my life for several years. As I pack my bags for the trip home, a little bit of Dubai will come home with me. Goodbye Dubai. I’ll be back soon.
1 Emirates Towers
2 Al Fattan Twr (left)
3 The Avenues Mall
4 Ibn Battuta Mall
5 Ibn Battuta Mall
6 Burj Khalifa
7 Armani Hotel & Res.
8 Armani Hotel & Res.
9 Burj Fountains
10 Burj at Night
11 Burj Khalifa
12 Monarch/H Hotel
13 Grand Mosque
14 Texas A&M, QEC
15 Carnegie Mellon, QEC
David Marsh,
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Tom Defrange,
Glenn Johnston
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Jerrold Stevens,
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