Bigger and Wackier - 4th March 2014

Cityscapes in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai up the coast are “must sees” of modern architecture.  Put them high on your bucket list, advises Paul, just back from visiting friends in Abu Dhabi.

Parts of the cities look like an architects’ playground, with buildings of every shape and colour, and all big!
Paul’s favourites in Abu Dhabi were the circular Aldar building  and the Grand Mosque.  This is truly enormous, with 82 domes, 12 ton chandeliers and the world’s biggest (50,000 sq ft) single carpet.  You wouldn’t want to lease it with a full reinstatement obligation at the end of the term.

Cruising along the main drag into Dubai in his friend’s open top Mustang, through a corridor of futuristic skyscapers, Paul felt like he was Catnis in the Hunger Games being ridden into the Capitol.  Dubai of course has the tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa.   Paul couldn’t get on a tour but reports that it is truly stunning from the outside and quite enough to admire without touching!

Whole new high rise business, leisure and residential communities are in development around Abu Dhabi and on its Islands, not to mention multi-billion pound palaces and huge infrastructure projects.   It’s a dynamic – and wacky – place.

…And finally, it’s a little known fact that people in Dubai don’t much like the Flintstones… but those in Abu Dhabi Do!