“In the 2000s, the architecture of the UAE and the Gulf attracted international attention and widespread awe. This was epitomised by the audacity and the conspicuous opulence of luxury developments in Dubai such as the Palm Islands, arti ficial islands reclaimed from the ocean shaped in the form of palm trees; the 7-star sail-shaped Burj Al Arab Hotel (1999) designed by Tom Wright of Atkins, the highest hotel in the world; and SOM’s Burj Khalifa (2010) in downtown Dubai, the tallest tower in the world. In the academic architecture community, the attention-grabbing impudence of these excesses was compounded by Dubai’s upstart status as a new city that had risen out of the desert within decades — it was widely referred to as ‘a phenomenon’. It became the popular focus of urban studies and student research trips...”
