Category

Urban

Barrak Al-Babtain 3
0
Urban
October 15, 2010

City Traffic Alternative

That previous post by Jasem got me thinking about a solution to the traffic and parking problem within the city. Most of the cars that are driving around are actually people looking for a place to park. That's a fact. The problem is made worse…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 2
0
Urban
October 15, 2010

First Ring Road

Kuwait has grown over the past five decades with rapid speed. The growth was tied to its financial prosperity. During the first boom years of the independence days of the early 1960’s till the late 1970’s, Kuwait grew as a vast urban sprawl to accommodate…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 12
0
Neighborhood
October 6, 2010

Crowdsourced Activism

Wikipedia works because of the energetic voluteerism of a dedicated core of users. We can harness this same crowdsourced dedication in Kuwait to help improve our public spaces. Everyone has a camera-phone now, and most newer models have the ability of adding geotagging information on…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 0
0
Urban
September 21, 2010

Transit-Oriented Development

The video is from the always interesting Design e2 series and is about the way we can slowly go back to an urbanism that is human scaled. A city should be designed for people, not cars. Kuwait City has unfortunately developed into extreme automobile dependency.…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 3
0
Urban
August 15, 2010

Free Parking

If shawarmas were free, we would always have a shawarma shortage. Parking is free, that's why there's never any free parking spaces. Most people driving around are usually just looking for a place to park and would be willing to pay a fee to park…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 6
0
Urban
August 13, 2010

Why Skyscrapers?

Kuwait would have benefited from a stricter building height limit. When a city tries to spur development by removing height restrictions the result is usually the opposite. Landowners end up waiting to sell as prices skyrocket because of speculation. The few skyscrapers that get built…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 3
0
NeighborhoodUrban
August 1, 2010

Connecting Neighborhoods

A reader sent me an interesting request asking if there was a way to sort of stitch the areas of Kuwait into one connected fabric: "...the new trend in kuwait is to become more healthier, more active, more movement involved, so why not be connected…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 18
0
ArchitectureUrban
July 22, 2010

Al-Hamra Again

Al-Hamra tower is an iconic building and the tallest sculpted tower in the world. It will be, once completed, the most prominent feature of Kuwait city's skyline. This tower would be a touristic feature to Kuwait and an asset to the country's economy. We would…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 13
0
ArchitectureEducationOtherUrban
May 22, 2010

Al-Hamra Tower

Here is a documentary about the tallest sculpted tower in the world, which is the Hamra Tower. It is an interesting documentary and very informative. I thought of sharing it here since I've noticed that not a lot of people have seen it on youtube.…
Read More
Barrak Al-Babtain 6
0
MetroUrban
May 7, 2010

Thoughts on the Metro

We can't simply think of Kuwait Metro as an independent project. It should be seen as an integral element that is part of a multi-layered transportation network. For example, the small train that will be part of the Salmiya Park project should have easy access…
Read More