Under Construction - Berlin 06.10.2010

Enjoy the View

Michael was invited together with the team of "Ebner and friends (EF)" to participate in the this years 12th Intl. Architecture Exhibition in Venice. The Biennale gives an overview about the status quo and work of contemporary Architecture  worldwide and exists out of several Pavillions and Areas in which around 200 Architects from all over the world present their entries. EF was invited

Biennale Awards

The international Jury or the 12th International Architecture Exhibition has decided to confer the official awards if the Architecture Biennale as follows:

Golden Lion for for the best National Participation to the Kingdom of Bahrain 
(Curators : Noura Al-Sayeh, Fuad Al-Ansari, 
 Commissioner : Ministry of Culture and Information, Bahrain)


The motivation of the International Jury :
Given the range of vast urban developments that Kingdom of Bahrain could have been tempted to include in this Exhibition, the jury was impressed by the choice, instead, of a lucid and forceful self-analysis of the nation’s relationship with its rapidly changing coastline. Here transient forms of architecture are presented as devices for reclaiming the sea as a form of public space: an exceptionally humble yet compelling response to People meet in architecture, the theme proposed by Exhibition Director Kazuyo Sejima.

This was the first year that Bahrain had participated in the affairs in Venice. In a statement, the nation’s culture minister, Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, said that the nation had hoped to "portray in an objective way a segment of our urban landscape, sharing with you the challenges, which lay ahead of us in the hope that a shared debate can be raised."

It was exciting to see, in a world of parametric architecture, a project which was very poetic by transferring history and culture from Bahrain to Venice. The Architects demounted the fisher-huts in bahrain, rebuilding them in Venice. Visitors can sit in the huts, a storyteller reports about the history and the present of Bahrain and the Gulf joining the guests in the huts. A really very impressing work. Congratulations to Noura, Fuad and their team.

Golden Lion for the best project :  junya.ishigami+associates, Japan
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement : Rem Koolhaas
Golden Lion in memoriam : Kazuo Shinohara

Spy and Spy - an outside view to Heidelberg by an Insider

Born in Heidelberg 52 years ago, i spent app. 35 years in this town (Pfaffengrund and Boxberg), before I left Heidelberg to live in other parts of Europe and Asia. Frequently I come back, but mostly, for whatever reason, I do not stay longer then 3 - 5 days in the city.

politics and markets

it seems that the crisis of the world-economy does not stop. the european union is forced to support greece with a huge amount of money. one of the reason seems to be, as said by officials from europe, to prevent a domino-effect on other countries like spain, portugal or italy, which obviously also face serious economic problems. greece with 177 billions of debt's seems to be manageable, italy with 1.077 billions for sure not. the claim of 

Rain of Light

On April 15th, several students from "building construction class" visited the Mock-up dome of Jean Nouvel's Museum Project in Abu Dhabi / Saadiyat Island. The group have been invited by the Abu Dhabi developing group "TDIC", which is responsible for the whole development of Saadiyat Island.

When entering the Dome it was highly interesting to see, that the concept of Nouvel, which he showed very impressing in his renderings for the project, works in the 1:1 scale as perfect as in the drawings. The light, an integral part of Nouvel's idea, penetrates the skin of the Dome and creates an unique light-atmosphere, which can only be found in this country, due to the almost slightly sandy air. The game of light and shadow on the groundfloor, created by this penetration, is marvelous to see, especially its spatial and geometrical changing due to the move of the sun.

The PR text describes it and the mock-up above:

"A key design element of the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be its great dome, 180 meters (almost 600 feet) in diameter, floating above a cluster of buildings and waterways. Perforated by interlaced patterns, the dome will let a diffused light filter magically into the spaces below. The prototype, 6 meters (approximately 20 feet) in diameter, is being used to test the play of light and shadows on the site prior to fabrication of the final structure"

New Al Manakh

The follow-up issue of Al-Manakh was launched. 140 authors contributed to the book with interviews, analyses, infographics, reports etc. There are 4 main-chapters :

- Crises and Crises

  deals with the economic crisis and the reaction of the Gulf

- Vision

  deals with the planing of the region in several fields for the future

- Cohabitation

  deals with the culture and its integration into cities and the dynamics of urban living

- Export Gulf

  deals how the Gulf is exporting products such as urban models, social, political and economic influence.

The book looks into the last 2 years in this region, the height of the boom - the depth of the crash.  The impact of the international financial crisis on the Gulf has changed the world’s perspective of the region. But the real dynamics are much more complex than generally perceived. In documenting the crucial transformations in the Gulf, Al Manakh: Gulf Continued develops a new, deeply researched and nuanced viewpoint on the tenacious growth of the Gulf region.

The publishers are :

- Archis        www.archis.org

- OMA/AMO www.oma.eu

- PinkTank   www.pinktank.ae 

- NAi            www.nai.nl

www.almanakh.org

Masdar City

Due to the efforts of my colleague and friend, Dr. Jihad Awad, some students and faculty members had the chance to visit “Masdar City” in Abu Dhabi. Masdar is under construction at the moment, the goal is to create a “zero carbon city”. The introduction to the project was given by Juergen Happ, a german architect and partner of the british office “Foster + Partners”.

                                          Student's group

The first project as a result of the Masdar Initiative is a new six million square meter sustainable development that uses the traditional planning principals of a walled city like the city of Shibam in Yemen, together with existing technologies, to achieve  a carbon neutral  and zero  waste  community.  Masdar responds to the urban identity of 

                                           Top: Shibam , Masdar City

Abu Dhabi while offering a sustainable urban blueprint for the future. Launched in 2007, it is an ambitious project that will attract the highest levels of international expertise and commerce, providing a mixed-use, high-density city. The programe

Funds for Nakheel and Dubai World

Due to their outstanding contribution to the development of Dubai and the UAE, the Dubai-government decided on a USD 8 Billion injection for Nakheel, and USD 1,5 Billion for Dubai world. 

Many investors will be very happy to hear these news for the reason, they were invested in projects which are, due to the worldwide financial crisis, on hold. These projects will now be completed which creates more value to the Emirate at the same time. But it will not change the problem that there are as good as no new projects in the pipeline. On the other hand side it seems to be a good decision to finish running projects first, before turning to new developments. 

The "brand" Dubai was essentially driven by the implementation of the vision of its leaders, leading to a new urban development, which has not be seen in the world before. As far as the existing problems are under control the Emirate should not miss to turn back to its former strength which was, and still is, admired worldwide. For sure the principles have to change, but there are still a lot of challenges which can be tackled in the future leading to further successful, unique and worldwide outstanding urban developments.

Krisen und Konservative

die kleidervorschriften, speziell in den malls von dubai sind, schon seit einiger zeit, strenger geworden. jetzt wurde ein paerchen verurteilt (4 wochen haft, danach erfolgt die ausweisung), welches sich in einem restaurant gekuesst hat und dabei von einer emiratischen frau und ihren kleinen kindern beobachtet wurde. ein anderes paerchen wurde ebenfalls beim austausch eindeutiger sms "erwischt" (4 wochen haft), welche der ehemann der betroffenen beim scheidungsprozess in dubai als beweismaterial vorgelegt hatte.


es steht ausser frage, dass man als gast eines landes die moralischen und ethischen vorschriften einhalten und auf die befindlichkeiten der gastgeber ruecksicht nehmen sollte. interessant ist allerdings die frage was zur strikteren auslegung der hiesigen, geschriebenen und ungeschriebenen, gesetze gefuehrt hat und weiterhin fuehrt. ist es die alte weisheit, dass krise immer die konservativeren kraefte staerkt oder haengt es vielleicht damit zusammen, dass abu dhabi politischen druck auf dubai ausuebt um auslaendische, westliche, investoren und touristen nach abu dhabi zu locken indem man die gleichen vorschriften zukuenftig dort liberaler auslegt ?


man fuehlt sich etwas an die geschichte sharjah's erinnert, ein vor der finanziellen unterstuetzung von saudi arabien sehr liberales emirat. heute verfolgt sharjah eine konservative politik. es ist z.b. das einzige emirat in welchem alkohol weder verkauft noch getrunken werden darf. andererseits gilt sharjah heute als kulturzentrum der vae und veranstaltet alle 2 jahre eine der erfolgreichsten kunstbienalen weltweit.

Speech at UoS

Michael was invited to deliver a speech at the School of Architectural Engineering at the University of Sharjah. The presentation with the title "in the most general sense, a dynamic system is a tuple" dealt with the situation in Dubai since 2008. A projection "Dubai 2030" showed Michaels idea to develop mathematical models, based on the science of systems-biology, to create a generic city-model and its architecture for the future of the artificial situation Dubai.

Friday Morning

Its Friday Morning, 07.00 am. Time to meet the guys from Harley to have the obligatory Friday morning breakfast ride.

Today its going to “Khasab”, Terry tells me. Well, its a 1,5 hours ride when doing it alone, 3 hours when you join the group. Not to mention the procedure at the Oman-border which can take another hour easily. I think, I am not in. 

Klaus tells me his gearbox is broken, he will get back home and then having breakfast at the  “Mariott Courtyard”. I like this idea and Fritz, a hard working guy in his own garage, will join us as well.

At breakfast we are talking about family, friends, Harleys. And about Dubai. Fritz is living in a gated community he tells us. He liked to live there for the last 4 years, but now things changed. The rental prices are reduced. His villa was AED 330.000 per year. Everything was fine. Nice people, fancy cars in the Neighborhood. Meanwhile you can get the villa for 160.000 we learn from him. Now all the normal people move into the community. Huge families, a lot of noise, children playing on the road. And a lot of Corollas and Sunnys. Dubai really has changed, he says. He wants to leave back home as soon as possible. Buying a farm in the mountains. Get rid of all this. I tell him that cities need this Melange, it adds quality to live. And especially Dubai needs it.

Its 11.00 am. Breakfast is finished. “Are you in next Friday ?” “Most probably yes” Klaus says and Fritz will join us as well. Hopefully its not Khasab, its really to far for a Friday ride. 

Dubai-The Sustainability of operative artificial Systems

(translated from german, published in the scientific book "Umbau 25", Technical University Vienna, 2010)

This essay should be understood as one which looks into the wide field of the “sustainability discussion” from a slightly different point of view, an architectural and socio-cultural one, less then a technical one.  To reach this outstanding goal of a sustainable UAE, we have to start to analyze the condition of the entire society, its tradition, its culture and its challenges in a multicultural environment. We have furthermore to look into a future, which can not be compared with developments in the past in other cities worldwide.  

Until 2007 it was unthinkable for all people living in Dubai that the development of the city would soon come to a sudden breakup, like it happened midyear 2008. The vision

Remarks * to Michael Schindhelm, former director at the cultural authority Dubai, in the german press

These remarks are based on interviews and articles Michael Schindhelm gave to i.e. "financial times", "washington post", "der spiegel" and others, and on his book "dubai-speed". we were asked by several people to answer these interviews and articles and to show our point of view about the situation in Dubai at the moment. its not about a struggle, its more about the same experiences people have when they come to this country and its different interpretation.

Michael Schindhelm in his apartment at

Sheikh Zayed Road

Many things about Dubai could be read in the last weeks in the german press. Especially the former director at the “Dubai Culture & Arts Authority” of the Emirate, Michael Schindhelm, mentioned a lot of things regarding his work and his failure as the director of this institution in german media. In general the question could be asked,

Raimund Abraham, 1933 - 2010

Raimund Abraham, one of the great architects of our time has died in Los Angeles. He was a powerful creative force in architecture and a dedicated teacher .

Raimund Abraham graduated in 1958 from the Technical University Graz, Austria. He taught as a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. In 1971 he moved to New York where he taught as an adjunct Professor at the Pratt Institute and at the Cooper Union New York.

Raimund Abraham died due to a car accident on March 4th in Downtown Los Angeles.

It is time to mourn our loss, but also to be grateful that such a unique soul lived among us (Lebeus Woods).

A generic something

This essay by Michael was published in the book "form defining strategies", a book about experimental architectural Design. Edited by Asterios Agkathidis, Markus Hudert und Gabi Schillig

Beyond doubt the use of digital technology in architecture led to a simplification of workflow, especially in the pragmatic execution of an elaborated design. On the other hand side these developments had resulted also to an absence of identification and readability. By intensive dealing