Mike Davis - Sand Fear and money in Dubai

     Mike Davis starts by introducing Dubai as a complete paradise, “you are glued to your window. The scene below is astonishing” ,”you gasp at the even more improbable vision ahead” and “rubbing you eyes with wonderment”. He describes it in such detail you almost feel that you're there and with statements like that you want to be. At first you wonder what is so evil about this place. Paradise maybe but evil? Well greed is an evil and it seems Dubai is fueled by it. “$5,000 per night room” that's basically my uni fees for the year, blown in a night. Where does it stop when the stakes are so high?

     “Mulitbillionaire Sheik Mo” says “I want to be number one”. Number one at what? Spending the most money? Building the biggest... everything? Does that make you number one? Is is this just a case of small dick syndrome? Its never going to hide his small cock. I think we are getting our first glimpse of evil here. A place for money hungry oil barrens to whom money is toilet paper. But when money is no issue what else can you do? Once you've bought a football club, got a fleet of 50 cars and got houses in every major city around the world, where do you go from there? Well you might as well build an entire city. Why not if you have a near in-exhaustive income? Though I don't think Dubai will ever be classes as a number one city, only a cesspool for the rich and famous.

     I do though enjoy that Dubai pushes the boundaries for Architectural wonderment. “Dubai may be considered the emerging prototype for the 21^st century”. Prototype is a very good word here. It's a model for future cities. Tried and tested methods. Some may work well and be implemented across the world, whilst others will fail and be cast into the desert sands. I wonder how long this will last though. When the rest of the world has learnt from Dubai what will happen then?

The Communist Hypothesis - This crisis is the spectalce: What is the real? - Alain Badiou

      Spectacle indeed! To choose one word to sum up the economic climate this would be it. Everybody was looking, waiting, hoping for it not to happen but it was always going to happen - I mean it had to happen. If the property market grew exponentially by the time i wanted to buy a property it probably wouldn't be able to happen.
      Badiou describes the entire performance as if it were an action film, like Independence Day. You see the spaceships coming, blocking out the sky, everybody watches, some people know what's going to happen. They have the inside knowledge and are holed up in some underground bunker. But for the rest of us? Nope, we are obliterated by the plasma ray and what little is left of the survivors have to pick up the pieces. If you were a major character in the film you survived without a scratch but us extras (if alive) are missing family members, limbs and of course our homes.
      Badiou says "I trust them,  I have every confidence in the firefighters", but do we have a choice? You or I have never and will never decide the fate of a bank. Who does? What does? The banks, to me, are the aliens. "Unreal economy" What would happen if the alien computer that controlled all the spaceships was destroyed? Would this be our Independence Day? Maybe then we'll see a "real economy".
      "Irresponsible", "irrational" and most importantly here "predatory". Preying on the human beings basic need to have his or her nest. Paid for by a mortgage that can't be afforded, for a house that 30 years ago wasn't worth half of that mortgage value.
      "A system that hands the organisation of our collective life over to the lowest instincts, to greed, rivalry and unconscious egotism". Pretty much, the government knew of the alien attack, did nothing to stop it. And then when it happened, somehow pulled billions of pounds out to help the economy. Why was this money not already in the economy? If there were enough houses at a reasonable price to buy there wouldn't have been a ridiculous growth in housing prices and there wouldn't be a mortgage problem. Why didn't they spend this money doing that years ago? There's never any prevention with the government. Just action after the crisis has happened and ignore it until it becomes a real problem.
      Badiou says "all this came about because tens of millions of people are in such low incomes that they cannot afford anywhere to live. This is the real essence of the financial crisis is a housing crisis". He then goes on to say "the only desirable outcome of all this is the hope that the real will still be what it was before the crisis". God (if there is one) no. Back to what? Over priced homes I can't afford? Just so you can live in or near the city. If this is the real then I don't want to be part of it. But in some ways it is too late for me. I'm already stuck in London, with debt I can't repay anytime soon. Or is this playing into the hands of the bank and the government, so I just get my comfortable desk job? Screw that I'm going to fly my spaceship into the mothership and send them a big fuck you. For "the real" is what you make it.

Zaha Hadid - Intelligent Life

      Despite Zaha's different style or "non-style" as the essay says her practice is based "in an area of London that bears the scent of Dickens". I found this interesting as I would have imagined her practice all working in a place that is something out of a sci-fi film but no. She has no works that have taken place in London! I believe this shows a certain amount of ignorance of those that allow the London landscape to be constructed, with its many rules and regulations of what can and can't be build. This also shows the importance of London to the architectural world because despite not have been given the opportunity to create her own office in London she is still here. Is London the Architectural capital of the world?
      Her 200 minions crammed into the practice, not talking to each other, almost plugged into their machines. Why is it that if you work for a well known architect you almost have to sell your soul? You just have to be a working zombie so you can get a good name on your C.V. Is this even good architectural experience? Architecture is not just drawing, communication is just as important, if not more. As there are no clients and no jobs without communication.
      Zaha is a woman, one of few famous female architects and probably "The Female Architect". This is something that she uses to her advantage. Her designs being almost "fashionable", like the latest handbag or shoe. It makes me wonder how long she'll be "in-fashion" for. Is she a classic that stands the test of time or just what's in season at Primark?
      The press is just a "PR machine". Jonathan Meades is very critical of this but isn't that what every Architect wants/needs? Publicity. Without the press, how are your workd shown to the world? How is your name advertised?
      Zaha claims she is "not much of a reader of anything other than magazines". This maybe, she sees the importance of the press and has to trawl through all the magazines to get inside the presses mind. Its not like she admitted to reading a load of Nuts magazines. I'm sure they are of importance to her profession and as i have already mentioned, the press is what keeps her work fashionable. For when they lose interest would be the possible downfall of the great Hadid.
      "A city, A city". Can an architect design an entire city from scratch? The idea of a hadidopolis, even though I would agree there are a lot of out of date and vacant buildings that need to be brought into this century, I don't believe a complete answer can be provided by one person. Cities are the result of years/decades of evolution. When an architect tries to design a city the result is one person's view and therefore does not cater for all types/kinds of people. The idea, i believe, of a hadidopolis would never be a city, it would just be a sanctuary for the rich. Also would the interest in her work remain if all the buildings were made by her. Surely what makes Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid is the difference of her builds to others!
      I found this article good as an incite into Zaha Hadid, but found the writer some what of a bitch. He definitely put his own emotions first in a somewhat diva way, almost competing with Zaha. He has been very selective in the parts of the interview he has used, and has moulded the interview so that we perceive Zaha how he wants to. I would like to find out the real "Intelligent Life" of "The First Great Female Architect".