Life in the street takes on a different intensity than the uptown areas, here the traffic is slow, there is a constant stream of people walking, milling around, buying, selling. This area of city is absolutely alive! the road arrives into Bastikiya, the old part of Dubai, situated along the creek. Historic buildings are restored and are enjoying a new lease of life as heritage hotels, restaurants, one of which has a camel standing outside, a stuffed one admittedly, next to a chalkboard sign advertising healthy camel burgers. Wandering through the narrow streets, punctuated with wind towers on the corners of blocks, it is easy to see that Masdar City, although distinctly modern has its roots in the historic Arabian city. In a courtyard, another camel, happily alive and resting on the ground, well groomed and in traditional dress, as though ready to head off on an expedition across the desert, I wonder if he knows his friend has been converted into burgers.
Across the road, past the iron railings of the rulers court, and there is the creek, the old port made famous to the international audience by Michael Palin on his TV series ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. Slightly less busy with working dhows now, well they are working, but earning their living in a different way, many are floating restaurants, others are what is termed pleasure craft, taking groups of tourists around the Creek. A boat trip is a great way to view the city, a pink jellyfish pulsates near the surface as the boat heads out from the jetty, and heads upstream on past the Dhows that are floating restaurants, heavy timber built vessels, varnished, with windows set into what would have been the cargo hold, then a kind of verandah created on the deck. The creek is actually quite a wide waterway, probably akin to the River Thames as it passes through Central London, although here the south bank and north back are reversed, South being the Jumeirah side is a park, with the palaces, and the quayside is lined with palm trees, North being the Sharjah side, which has a far more of a working feel, concrete blocks tell of a city largely developed in the 1970s following the formation of the UAE. Glass towers form the later additions, and compared with Dubai these are relatively small scale, in the order of 20 - 30 storeys. Above the blocks and towers the flight path into Dubai International Airport is drawn by a constant stream of planes descending and eventually disappearing beneath the blocky skyline.
As the boat takes a leisurely cruise, the sun begins to set creating silhouettes of the towers around the business district, Burj Khalifa now completely visible for the first time today, glimpsed between passing the dhows, and once again Big Ben, or rather its replica tower, the name Big Ben actually refers to the Bell within the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament. But here it is a prominent silhouette on the Dubai skyline. At the Creekside Park, cable cars transport visitors over the treetops, giving them a view of the private yachts moored along private pontoons. Passing beneath the highway, the boat can go no further, as the creek is crossed by a floating bridge that blocks the way and the creek becomes more of a shallow lake. Traversing the North side of the creek gives a different perspective, the layering of the city becomes apparent, boats against trees, against 1970s blocks with their roof mounted neon signs, against the 2000s glass towers against the setting sun. A working dhow passes by with the sound of its thumper diesel engine carrying across the waves, along with the splashing of a constant jet of water that is used to cool it.
The sun glints off the glass facades of the blocks, and the skyline on both sides starts to form dramatic silhouettes against the yellow sky, blocks, signs, minarets, giant golf balls. The water is absolutely alive, water taxis dart across the creek, whilst others take groups of visitors on tours, filming the entire experience on iPads, others plugged in to their phone trying very hard not to notice life going on around them. Heading downstream images from Calvino’s Invisible Cities form in the mind, only the gondolas are dhows, and this is no longer a working waterfront, more of a museum waterfront. Cormorants roost on the top of red pilings. The names on some of the hotels tell a story of a different time before this young nation was formed, the George Hotel a clear example.
Back on dry land and wandering through the souk on the museum waterfront, vendors selling trinkets to tourists, silks, watches and the standard issue T shirt thats says ‘I love Dubai’. The narrow streets go the Souk are enclosed by a roof supported on timber pointed arches, associated with a completely different architecture in Europe. On the quayside more of the restaurant and hotels in the restored buildings, along with museums, galleries and a ‘Traditional Architecture House’ new interventions besides the block paving, are tented shade structures, playgrounds and street lighting, and occasionally Burj Khalifa appears in the distance, a reminder of how much Dubai has transformed from its origins in a fishing village on the creek.
The full story is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble published by Xlibris - Do We Need ARCHITECTS?
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