Monthly Archives

June 2009

Barrak Al-Babtain 8
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Urban
June 21, 2009

Walking in Kuwait

Kuwait City has suffered from a lack of appropriate density ever since we abandoned the old mud houses and demolished the Soor. Large plots of land have been left vacant for decades. This was the Governments' way of buying property from Kuwaiti families and granting…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 2
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Architecture
June 20, 2009

Villa Berkel

Villa Berkel is a residence designed by Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter in Veenendaal, Netherlands. The site is surrounded by a dense wooded area that allows for plenty of privacy, but not enough light to make full use of its secluded nature. We will analyze the…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 5
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ArchitectureUrban
June 19, 2009

Architects in Kuwait

A problem that faces the general public in Kuwait when meeting an architect is understanding exactly what an architect does. People seem unable to know how to categorize an architect. Are they engineers or artists? When asked, most people assume that an architects job is…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 12
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Energy
June 18, 2009

Smart Electric Grid

Tarsheed is Kuwait's national energy consumption awareness program. Although well intentioned, I believe that the program alone will not solve our energy problem. This is evidenced by our recent need to import power from Qatar, which has agreed to supply Kuwait with 500 MW of…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 13
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Other
June 17, 2009

Innovation Inhibitors

Why is architectural and design innovation in Kuwait so rare? What is holding back architects and designers from expressing their full intent and exploring new ideas? We can't simply blame the economic crisis, as this poverty of innovation has been around for decades. Not since…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 13
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EnergyMetroUrban
June 14, 2009

Traffic in Kuwait

"KUWAIT CITY, June 12: MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei has forwarded questions to Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah on the preparation and implementation of action plans to address the worsening traffic problems in the country, reports Al-Shahid daily. Al-Tabtabaei argued the government should prioritize transportation…
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ArchitectureUrban
June 11, 2009

NY High Line

The High Line is an abandoned railway line in Manhattan. It was built in the early 1930s and has been unused since 1980. It used to transport cattle into the heart of the city. For more than a quarter century, the line was in a…
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Barrak Al-Babtain 13
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Urban
June 3, 2009

Defining Kuwait

What is urbanism? Why do we critique? What is Kuwait City? Before we begin deconstructing and analyzing Kuwait City we have to be able to clearly define the basic nomenclature involved. Our goal in re:kuwait is to broaden the discussion beyond the esoteric echo-chamber of…
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