UAE architecture proposal has shades of Ken Adam about it!

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http://player.vimeo.com/video/123114641?title=1&byline=1&portrait=0&fullscreen=1

Fashioned by the high winds of the desert like a large dune this was being discussed at work today and everyone present all agreed it looked "straight out of a Bond movie". I didn't prompt this and was really pleasantly surprised to hear this comment mentioned among colleagues who are film fans but not specifically anyone who's really into Bond. It does bring memories of those grand amazing sets by the amazing Ken Adam.

It would take a good while to get completed to fit with the next filming on set for a Bond so I'd expect Bond#7 to have his debut here!?

Comments

  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,370
    Very cool looking and quite reminiscent of Ken Adam. Dubai has some incredible architecture. Would love to visit some day and perhaps Bond on a future adventure. Maybe he will stop at Meydan Racecourse as well :)
  • Posts: 11,425
    Who is it designed by? Looks like Zaha Hadid.

    I've suggested before that EON collaborate with a leading architect like Hadid to develop some really iconic old-school Bond sets.

    Ken Adam studied architecture rather than production design, and it always showed in his work. His sets looked like real buildings, no matter how fantastical, because he actually knew about architecture. He was/is a unique talent in his field and could undoubtedly have been a great architect in his own right.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited April 2015 Posts: 23,883
    That's a beautiful building. I agree that Dubai has some fascinating architecture. They have the budget to fund creations that would not be economically feasible in other places, and the vision to think big and without constraints. Singapore also has some impressive new designs. I read somewhere that they are working on an underwater hotel somewhere in Abu Dhabi (shades of TSWLM).
  • Posts: 12,526
    The exterior of this facility gave me flashbacks of The Phantom Menace when the ship had landed on Tatoine, I know I have spelt it wrong but I am too tired! I-)
  • Posts: 1,068
    @Getafix - If you click the video link I posted under the screen shots it's tagged with the project name and architects and shows you're spot on the money with Zaha Hadid Architects for Bee’ah Headquarters.

    It just looks like something a contemporary Drax or Zorin would be skulking in making dastardly plans.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    bondjames wrote: »
    That's a beautiful building. I agree that Dubai has some fascinating architecture. They have the budget to fund creations that would not be economically feasible in other places, and the vision to think big and without constraints.

    At the expense of some incredibly poor migrants and natives. People think the Conservatives are bad in the UK, ha, these guys are next level. The Middle East is a hell hole of inequality.
  • Posts: 11,425
    RC7 wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    That's a beautiful building. I agree that Dubai has some fascinating architecture. They have the budget to fund creations that would not be economically feasible in other places, and the vision to think big and without constraints.

    At the expense of some incredibly poor migrants and natives. People think the Conservatives are bad in the UK, ha, these guys are next level. The Middle East is a hell hole of inequality.

    Very true, but there's a reason those migrant workers are there in the first place - because it's even worse at home.

    The death toll on the world cup construciton sites is appalling.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited April 2015 Posts: 23,883
    RC7 wrote: »
    bondjames wrote: »
    That's a beautiful building. I agree that Dubai has some fascinating architecture. They have the budget to fund creations that would not be economically feasible in other places, and the vision to think big and without constraints.

    At the expense of some incredibly poor migrants and natives. People think the Conservatives are bad in the UK, ha, these guys are next level. The Middle East is a hell hole of inequality.

    No doubt. The two go hand in hand in a way. The Al Maktoum family have all that money to spend on glorious splendours for the world's rich precisely because their society is unequal with poor income distribution.

    As clients, they are first class though, because they let the architects create and execute their most dramatic visions with a very unconstrained brief (and nearly unlimited budget). So they are able to find solutions to construction problems that would not be possible elsewhere due to budget limitations.
  • doubleonothingdoubleonothing Los Angeles
    Posts: 864
    It doesn't particularly strike me as Ken Adam inspired. It looks more like it's taking its cues from natural shapes, such as shells. If anything, it's more Saarinen inspired.
  • Posts: 1,068
    See what you mean - it's more the drama of the interiors with the play of the light and scale of the bold shapes that are the cues I'm associating with Adam.
  • sunsanvilsunsanvil Somewhere in Canada....somewhere.
    edited April 2015 Posts: 260
    andmcit wrote: »
    See what you mean - it's more the drama of the interiors with the play of the light and scale of the bold shapes that are the cues I'm associating with Adam.

    I agree. At first glance it didnt scream "Adams", but some of the interiors evoke Ken's signature "circle ceiling" and dramatic angles.
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