Monday, October 26, 2009

Is Kuwait 'Out-Blanding' itself into Irrelevance..?

Two views of 'ordinary' residential streets in 'ordinary' neighbourhoods. Left - Benalmadena in Spain, right - Salwa in Kuwait...


Greeting from Gold Coast in Queensland Australia... (Slight) Apologies for the somewhat harsh title, but that query above arose when arriving in Brisbane late last night, where the first impression of the city (roughly the size of Kuwait City) was how clean and, call it, 'well mannered' (attentive/ conscious) it was in comparison to where my trip originated. It's easy sometimes to forget, to paint over the cracks, in regards to how shoddy and awkward Kuwait is, or can appear, in comparison to other world cities. Being exposed to a place that functions also performs as a reminder about the effort it takes to make something seem effortless.

The heading aims not to be facetious or derisive, but is posed as a genuine question which is partly catalysed by one of the image captions in a recent post (click here for a link to the post - second image under the sub-heading 'Car-less Transport') as well as some of the issues discussed recently in the local press. The former point referring to the somewhat, perhaps narcissistic, tendency of erecting lustrous towers as iconic symbols of achievement, whilst forgetting that it is usually the space in between a city's buildings (the more communal areas) where her accomplishments are eventually judged; the latter being in reference to the impression of late where it seems like Kuwait's neighbouring nations are progressing with leaps and bounds (the Dubai Metro, KAUST) whilst Kuwait seems to be dragging its feet (leaking sewage plants and other stalled infrastructural projects).

There are some very pleasant, working, even inspiring, urban places in Kuwait, but these are unfortunately few and far between. Too many, both commercial and residential, neighbourhoods suffer from a lack of thought and consistent, overall as well as detailed, planning and implementation. Too often their conveniences are prioritized according to the vehicles that occupy their streets rather than the individuals (a city's flesh & blood) who actually use them.

It's strange, but coming the Brisbane made me angry about living and working in Kuwait, a place with so much potential, heart and talent, yet a place which simply hasn't been able to pull itself together to take advantage of its inherent endowments. I'm becoming upset about the lost opportunities of Kuwait City, perhaps it's time you should too - we shouldn't let this city 'out-bland' itself into irrelevance. Let's begin developing the morsels of budding potentials it still has and make them into something unique, something we can be proud of, a city we are not ashamed to introduce to newcomers, a locale where the notion of 'home' transcends beyond the four walls of our dwellings... It's not all bad, very few things seldom are, but actions by all of us who inhabit it need to be taken sooner rather than later... Let's start with small steps, small day to day interventions which aren't too intimidating or difficult to do (walking to the local co-op instead of driving, opening windows during the cooler seasons as an alternative to AC, petition for the empty lot next door to become a neighbourhood garden) and built from there. With a bit of perseverance those grains of actions and interventions will eventually pile up and hopefully result in something more.

Why shouldn't/ can't Kuwait be a place that inspires?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Extraordinary Ordinary - Straycats...

Paw marks on a car window...

This is the first post from a series of future submissions dealing and exploring various, seemingly mundane and everyday features and occurrences found in Kuwait which, nevertheless, retain an inherent thrill, and enriching and unique quality, that's very specific to Kuwait. This inaugural post includes images of urban stray-cats, which seem to permeate most commercial as well as residential areas in Kuwait. In comparison to stray-cats elsewhere, the felines here seem surprisingly well-kept, well fed, and well behaved, with shiny manes and they have a decidedly relaxed, laissez-faire, attitude to their bipedal compatriots with whom they share the urban vernacular...








Monday, October 19, 2009

Urban Precedents for Kuwait...

Streetscape in Manama, Bahrain... (Photo by Paul Brady)

Some former blog entries (click here and here for examples) provide reasons for why it would be a good idea to implement a more pedestrian friendly and less car dependent set-up in Kuwait. In this submission some suggestions of precedents from various European cities are given for what this might actually involve. Features that could easily be adapted into the local context. The aim here is not only to provide some examples of how to expand the repertoire of what transport (ferries and water-taxis, rickshaws, bicycle lanes, etc.) and public places (streets, squares, neighbourhoods...) might entail, but to hopefully aid in initiating some discussion and thought regarding what the optimal solutions might be, and how to go about realizing them. A summary of some of the main instances are listed below.


Shared Streetscapes


As counter intuitive as it might sound, there are some very successful precedents of areas where pedestrians and vehicles share a space. Some of these have been carefully planned, as in various applied examples found in Holland and elsewhere, other are a bit more organic and ad-hoc, as those found in Rome. They all, however, accept the ambulatory (pedestrian) dimension as a fundamental fact on the ground. Something which is still somewhat lacking in Kuwait.


Above and below - A pedestrian crossing and street in Rome, an ad-hoc pedestrian and driver shared space...



Ferries and Boat Taxis


Kuwait City is wrapped around a bay, which in its shape would lend itself perfectly for sea-faring transport. Yet, as it stands, to my knowledge there isn't a single ferry or boat-taxi service available in Kuwait (beyond the more touristy ferry to Failaka island). Water transport is a fantastic way to get around and, considering the daily 'jam-jarring' on most of the city's traffic arteries, it probably could also be quicker. And what could be better on the way to work than enjoying the sea-breeze whilst savouring a freshly-squeezed orange-juice or a just brewed cup of tea (as is the habit in Izmir, Turkey).


Views from the Izmir water-bus...


A freeloader on the roof...


On a more ambitious note it might be interesting to consider developing an inland canal network for Kuwait, perhaps taking its cues from those done in the UK and Holland a century or two ago. These would not only provide a pleasant and cooling urban intervention, but could also increase the land value of any properties flanking such waterways. They could also provide alternate means for transport of both people and goods as well as a natural way to cool down adjacent areas.


Left - A small (cooling) water channel flanking a main pedestrian path at the Alhambra, Spain. Right - a canal in London's Little Venice...


Car-less Transport


Those usually classified as pedestrians fall, in fact, into a number of sub-groups. These secondary categories, which can be defined according to their travel speed, distinguish those that walk, from the joggers, skaters, roller-bladers, and bicyclist - all viable means for getting around. There are whole cities, such as Copenhagen, which are designed around the use of the bicycle where they, as means of transport, are given priority over cars. New York, London, Singapore are cities which are planned and built around the notion of pedestrian movement.


Split sidewalks in Helsinki, where the pedestrians and bicyclists each have their own, clearly demarcated, lane...


There are alternatives means to the car for getting around. Beyond some of the ways listed above, re-thinking and improving existing means and facilities can make a substantial difference. Updating the buses, the bus-stops, and the logistics of how their routes are organized could make a substantial contribution to resolving the current traffic crisis, or just cleaning up the street level surfaces and paraphernalia would make a big augmentation to how the city would be used and perceived. A modern city's image is about more than its (shiny) towers. The impression it gives, its mien, is made up of the collective assembly of all its various elements - availability, ease and quality of transport, its urban plan, its cleanliness, its safety and reliability of services, the availability and variability of stimulation, are some of the elements that contribute to a city's success...


Regardless of how shiny and bright the towers in the distance might be, the streetscape remains the main venue through which we move within our urban environments. With its potholes, garbage, broken or missing curbs, random street-works, arbitrarily parked cars, the 'facts on the ground' remain somewhat bleak in Kuwait...


The (underground) central bus-station in Helsinki, which forms an extension to a n adjacent public square and linked shopping mall. The buses are accessed through a set of automated gates, somewhat similar to those found in an airport. The bus schedules can be viewed on a large light-board (as seen on the right hand image above), which also tells you to which gate you need to go (image above on the left)...


Lit street signs in Vilnius provide clear and easily noticeable means to orient yourself in the city's, occasionally maze-like, old-town...


A path up to a open town square in Helsinki. Sometimes there is no need to improve what is already there...


Shading and Cooling


There are an abundance of precedents for how the ambient temperature of a place can be improved, most of them realized with some careful contextual planning (laying out routes according to local breezes, planting shading trees, building size and orientation, etc.), but also some semi-passive applications such as having a channel with running water along the curb of a pedestrian path, or even, as can be seen below, covering a whole high-street with large shading canvas to lower the ambient temperature below...


A covered shopping street in Malaga...


Shaded shops in Manama (Photo by Paul Brady)...


Ivy covered courtyard in Izmir...


Tree shaded paths. Left - the steps leading up to the Acropolis (with the architect Greg Lynn in the foreground). Right - the path leading up to the Alhambra.


A tree shaded parking area at the Alhambra...


Small Town Squares


A small town or neighbourhood square should act as an extension of ones private space. It should, in its domesticity, form a 'nook', of sorts, in the urban plan of a neighbourhood which is predominantly designed to perform as an extension of the day to day activities of a city – a place where the children can safely run around whilst still being passively supervised from the neighbouring buildings (a rendition of Jane Jacob's ideal), a place to have a short breather and some time for one self, a place eat ones lunch or have a picnic, or just somewhere to meet up for a chit-chat - that also could have the flexibility to be used for neighbourhood parties, a small concert, or an ad-hoc movie night...


A small neighbourhood square in Vilnius...


Local 'domestic' squares in Benalmadena (Spain), and Bargo (Finland)...


Local Conveniences


For a neighbourhood to function it needs neighbourhood conveniences, quick, evening and late night spots, a small food-stall, coffee-shop and convenience store, a laundry and dry-cleaning, a hair 'saloon' (salon), and perhaps a news-stand and a bakala. Somewhere one can quickly run when in need of a bottle of water or a shaving-kit, without having to use a car to do so.


A neighbourhood shop in Izmir...


A bakala (local shop) in Kuwait...


A kiosk in Helsinki...


The Value of Well Designed Details and their Considered Execution (pride in the everyday)


From the smallest to the largest, all elements in our urban environments need to be thought through regardless of scale. An overall appreciation and quality of life can partly be achieved by applying care and high expectations in the way everyday things are realized. This might entail, for example, that equally high expectations and craft are applied in the realization of a gas-station as to the building of a museum, or the same degree of consideration is given the design of a neighbourhood for diplomats as the extended quarters of the labour-force that serve them. This doesn't necessarily mean such undertakings would results in similar designs, but that the same level of thought and consideration is given, regardless of design brief.


A, very beautifully detailed and accurately realized, soffit at a road-side gas-station in Latvia...


Door-knock at the Alhambra...


Stone paving in Helsinki...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Drawing Workshop at the KU AAD...


I teach a class in Contemporary Art at the Art & Design Department of Kuwait University. Earlier in the week we conducted a drawing workshop with the students. (who are all in their final year of Graphic Design). Strangely enough they've never done anything like this before. The workshop consisted of seven points, which lasted ten minutes each.

The seven drawing points were:

1.
To draw a picture (a portrait of Dorothy Parker) from memory. The students were allowed to observe the photo for one minute, and draw their mnemonic impression for nine minutes...

Two mnemonic interpretations of Dorothy Parker...

2.
To do a 10 second, 30 second, 2 minute and 5 minute drawing of a landscape...

Intense concentration during the 10 second drawing...

3.
Copy an image from Gray's Anatomy (the book, not TV series) using colouring-pencils and another medium of their choice (pastels, crayons, thick markers, water-colours, collage, etc.)...

Two renditions of the same drawing, represented through two different mediums...

4.
Draw their impression/ rendition of a monotonous surface, in this case a framed section of a window-shade...

The students were asked to draw the inside of the, A4 size, taped area...

5.
Attempt to copy an image (a geometrical painting by Malevitch) with their 'wrong' hand, i.e. a right handed person had to use their left hand to do the drawing, and vice-versa...

Drawing with their 'wrong' hand...

6.
Interpret what they felt (through haptic means) into an image. The students inspected (felt up, without peeking!) an object in a bag which they could not see, and drew what they felt...

A student inspecting, interpreting and translating what they're touching into a drawing...

Some of the resulting interpretations of the haptically inspected object...

One of the actual surfaces the students inspected...

7.
Copy an upside-down line drawing. The students drew, as is, an upside-down line portrait (a portrait of the composed Stravinsky by Picasso)...

An example of an upside-down drawing...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Lines of Cleavage – Social & Urban Topographies...

The lines of cleavage crossing the human body, from 'The Tinkerer's Accomplice', by J. Scott Turner.

Human skin is criss-crossed by a meshwork of collagen fibres that indicate the strain lines borne by the epidermis. These lines, called the 'lines of cleavage', provide a map of the skin's tension. Cut across them and, as any plastic surgeon will tell you, the result will be a gaping wound that is slow to heal and will result in severe scarring due to the released strain carried by the fibre. If, by contrast, a cut is made adjacent or in between a set of lines of cleavage, only a minor, easily closed and non-scarring, wound will result.*

In a similar way the topography of a landscape has various 'lines of cleavage' running across its surface, perhaps the largest of these being the tectonic plates that define continents, but features such as canyons, rivers, cliffs, or various congenital conditions (deserts, marshlands, etc.) can also be included as elements of a more graspable scale of these topological and transitional formations. Understanding these before commencing on any form of development or urban intervention is important, as they inevitably will influence and impact any development. Fight these natural formations, and the result will, without fail, be awkward (and difficult and expensive to rectify) – build something that's compatible and harmonious with a landscape's characteristics, and the ensuing design will occupy its site with ease.


A dramatic geographical urban topography in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon can be seen on top of the hill...


But what if human interventions have already managed to 'cut across' these natural lines of cleavage? Within an already densely built urban context some man-made constructs, for better or worse, can also befit this analogy, as key highways, streets, and landmarks (buildings, parks, etc.) can also be used to demarcate a second layer of a city's lines of cleavage. So what could/ should be done with some of these unnatural interventions that have already effectively become the default condition on the ground? How could their 'scarring ways' be amended without necessarily removing them?


Above and below - Photos from Luxembourg, another example of a city that withing its borders contains dramatic topological variations...


There is, of course, also the 'hidden' topographies of a city where the various public and private spaces, patchwork of 'no-go' and 'safe' areas, social and cultural stratum, religious sects, tribes and family clans, etc. determine and inhabit their own urban landscapes. These entwined, normally intuitively taught and understood, matrices of usually hidden layers and partitions exist in every collective where the choreography of the, as the anthropologist Edward T Hall put it, 'Dance of Life' follow the guidances of the 'Silent Language'. These, mostly out of sight, socially prescribed but idiosyncratic, topographies also need to be considered in conjunction with any more grand urban engagement and intervention. Such man made, more psychological, lines of cleavage also define our cities and their tribes...


*More about 'lines of cleavage' can be found in J. Scott Turner's book The Tinkerer's Accomplice – How Design Emerges from Life Itself (2007) Harvard University Press.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Roof Top Paraphernalia...


Yesterday we moved from a flat with very limited views (predominantly blank walls of the opposing buildings) to a top floor apartment with, in my view, splendid panoramic views. On first impression, whilst watching over the neighbouring buildings, it's amazing the amount of stuff people have, store, leave, on their roof tops. The various types of AC units, water tanks, satellite discs, TV-antennas, laundry racks, defunct pigeons, servants quarters, etc. form a micro urbanism (a borrowed, and here somewhat misconstrued, term by Marrikka Trotter) and free-running topography in its own right. Highlights in this paraphernalia-landscape are the 'Eiffel Tower' antenna stands which seemed to have been a rage a few decades back and can still be found on many a roof top, particularly on older houses.

Water tanks and antennas...

Often the roof tops act as the private realm of the domestic labour force...

A view of the Eiffel Tower...

Three amigos...

Roofed water-tank...

Top view of a tent, palm and vine-covered (blooming) pergola...

A recently completed building near by...

Top and below - More antennas and discs...