The Extraordinary Ordinary - Own Time, Private Moments by the Shoreline..

We all sometimes need a bit of 'own time', something, especially for us urbanites, that can be difficult to find both the time as well as a place for. The aren't many parks here in Kuwait, at least of the type which would allow for these types of occasions to take place (they're usually a bit too regimented and sparsely laid out to support such happenings). The beach, however, seems to be such a place. There is something about a large body of water, with its shifting tides and subtly rippling surface tones and patterns, that inevitably seems to soothe even the most distracted or hyper-active mind, provide a context for private contemplation, and just allow for the non-planned to pan out...

The included photos were taken both in Kuwait as well as Sharjah...

'We learn everything from history - this doesn't mean we have to duplicate it'...

This fine dictum of the title above was stated by the Finnish architect Juha Leiviska a few decades back (similar statements have been made by others, but this is the only one I can recall the author of)... It formed as both the catalyst and a encapsulation of the spirit in which this project was pursued. For this final project the students, all Graphic Design majors, were asked to:

A) Explore a feature, tradition, design, ceremony etc. which they consider to be an inherent component of Kuwaiti or middle-eastern culture...

B) Define it, understand it, and...

C) ...Develop a contemporary, more updated, rendition of it which needed to include a text or presentation component as well as a 'designed' element...

Images of some of the results, accompanied by brief project descriptions, are shown above and below...


Top and above - An updated rendition of Sadu weaving, here appropriated into the format of Op-Art. The disc is made from a rigid plastic sheet roughly 30 cm in diameter...


Above and below - A dessert where 'gahwa' (Arabic coffee) is combined with an Italian pudding to form something unique and also, flavour-wise, quite delicious...



Above - A project exploring the key role formerly occupied by the 'Al-Kandary' - the 'water bearer', who used to deliver water to various residential quarters. Here the, now often forgotten, role and value of water in this region is reconfigured as a carry-with-you water bottle which precious content can only be accessed by unwinding a long paper strip containing a narrative explaining the extended effort that was required in the not too distant past to get sweet-water to Kuwait (it was usually imported by boat from Iraq)...


Above and below - A study which aims to update the three key forms of calligraphy into a more contemporary format, here realized by interpreting various 'pictorial' male and female names through the appropriated typographical mediums...



Above - An updated and novel use of henna as a natural means for cooling the body, along with it also functioning as a way to decorate the (now both male and) female extremities...


Above - A research project into the role of dates in regional culture. The cover is made out of dried leaves from a date tree...


Above and below - This project takes various both everyday practical as well as more celebratory outfits from Kuwait's past and reinterprets them in a contemporary context. Some of the outfits were modelled on small hand-made rag-dolls...



Above and below - A project that examined and documented traditions and uses of 'Bukhour' - middle-eastern incense, which can be used not only to change the ambiance of a space through a fragrance but also as a way to perfume one's body and clothes (achieved by letting the aromatic smoke pass through one's clothes). The final hand-in included a number of 'peel-and-smell' (seen below) samples of various bukhours and oudhs...


Unfortunately this was the last class I taught at KU... I wish all my students, both present and past, the best of luck with all their academic and other pursuits... Remember, focus, persevere and don't dilly-dally...

Censoring the Censored (A Storm in a Tea-cup)...

Image from a Kuwaiti news-stand, showing examples of the inconsistency in censoring various women's magazine covers. The magazine to the left has its shoulders blackened out, a body part the three right hand magazines show. On the other hand the side of the chest and armpit have been censored in the second magazine from the right, an area left exposed in the cover to its left. The magazine to the right shows shoulders, upper arms, chest as well as her abdomen...

Today I was informed that the project exploring censorship in Kuwait (featured earlier in this blog) has provoked an angry reaction by some of the powers that be at Kuwait University. I apologise for that, the intention with the project was never to cause offence - its aim was to explore a particular aspect of Kuwaiti culture which, particularly in the context of various art and design related practices (particularly within graphic design, the major of all the students in the class) is of significance.

However, beyond the fact that I feel it's a bit of a storm in a tea cup (as, after all, even the included images are 'censored', albeit in a different manner than what can be observed at local news-stands), if this type of benign exploration and research can't take place in academia, within the confines of a university (amongst the brightest of bright in the nation), where can they? The images included in the piece show nothing that can't already be seen at any news-stand in Kuwait (as can be witnessed by the image from a Kuwaiti news-stand above, and the images from local newspapers below) and, actually, improve and provide alternatives to the way in which censoring can be achieved. They were also done within the confines of the censorship regulations of Kuwait, sourced from the Kuwait Ministry of Education, and have passed all relevant authorities in the UAE, where the magazine in question is published.

It has to be re-emphasized, all the featured images in the article remain censored - they just achieved the the censoring in a different, more designed and less intrusive, way...

I also have to emphasise that the decision to do this project was done solely by me. The responsibility of its theme and outcomes are mine alone. No other staff, let alone any of my students, are accountable for its conclusions.

It would be interesting to hear what you think about this. Feedback on this issue would be appreciated...


... And some pictures from some of today's Kuwaiti newspapers...

KU Student Work Featured in Canvas Magazine...

Some of the work produced by my students has been published in the latest issue of Canvas Magazine's Canvas Guide... The project featured aimed to find an alternative or better way to achieve the aims, and perhaps even question the validity, of the 'black blotch' censorship currently practiced in Kuwait... The Canvas piece can be accessed by clicking on the included images, and a related piece featured earlier on this blog can be accessed by clicking here...

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Addendum 06/01/10 - I've been informed by powers that be at Kuwait University that due to the, what some consider 'delicate' nature of the images featured in the article ,they would have to be 'neutralized'... Thus included below are (done as a favour to a friend) the now re-(or double) censored images from the Censorship project...

SAM St. - Adjacent Peripheral Plots...

Two open areas, currently used as parking lots (but why not one day as, say, a place for a Organic Farmer's Market, or Second-hand Furniture Market - places that lend themselves for strolling, something this proposal aims to encourage...

A few additional panoramas of some of the plots adjacent to SAM (Salem Al-Mubarbak) Street, which introduce their own challenges and potentials to the development of the area. SAM St. and its surroundings contain so many interesting and unique qualities which are difficult to find elsewhere in Kuwait. As a district it still, even after some extended demolishing, a distinct character of its own that, as it stands, is hanging by a thread - if too much additional demolishing is done a threshold will at some stage be breached beyond which what this neighbourhood still currently is, will inevitably be lost...

The musings on this blog about SAM Street are an attempt to understand what makes this area so special, and an initial shot at proposing how what it has could be developed to accommodate a viable future...

The included panoramas start at the Eastern end of the proposed pedestrianized zone and move westward, towards the 4th Ring Road. The parking lot at the western end (by the large ad billboards) hasn't been included as I forgot to photograph it properly...

Please click on the images to enlarge them...

The demolished back lot behind the Educational Book-store...

Above and below - Two views of the demolished open area - one looking from, the other towards, SAM street - located roughly halfway down the proposed stretch of the SAM Street pedestrianized zone...

The paved central square between this stretch of the street's two U-turns...

Kul 'am Wa Antum Bikhair - Gott Nytt År - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta - Happy New Year...

Happy New Year Everyone... May the coming year be a merry one, and tomorrow, may your morning after the night before be like the day before the night before...

The Extraordinary Ordinary - Dry Mud (Sharjah)...

There are those who claim that watching paint dry is, at best, an acquired taste. There's something to be said though, for pictures of dry or drying mud. The patterns that result from this dehydrating process are a sight for, at least some, sore eyes, forming indigenous/ regional incarnations of Tapies...

The pictures were taken during a recent trip to Sharjah a day or two after some heavy rains.

Season's Greetings...

An illustration of a 'Snow Bird' (Avis Nix in pseudo-Latin), done with the aid of my daughters...

Season's greetings to you all... May the coming year bring you fortune, friendship and fun...

SAM Street Proposal - Let's Start by Bringing a Tram line to Kuwait...

Before the metro, before even the train line, we should introduce a tram-line to Kuwait. Not all of Al-Kuwait, but initially only a very select section of the city – SAM Street (Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya)...

A tram line would not only encourage, usually full-time, drivers to become (part-time) pedestrians by alleviating finding a parking spot, as it would be easy to park at one location and take the tram to another. It would also be a faster means of getting around as it would mostly be the sole occupant of the central, currently more or less unused, central island separating the lanes. Using this space would entail that some of the trees which reside in this space would need to be removed, but hopefully this could be achieved by simply relocating them to an adjacent pavement. Developing a tram line would also, as infrastructure projects go, be a undertaking that in scale wouldn't, economically nor effort wise, be too insurmountable a task and would provide both an initial incentive and test-ground to explore the value, the do's & don'ts, for similar or other alternative means of transport in Kuwait. It would also furnish SAM Street with a unique character that's distinct from any other locales in Kuwait and would befit and support it as a pedestrianized district. It could also easily be expanded or integrated into other complementary transport systems. Perhaps it's the type of catalyst the city needs to begin doing something instead of just talking (about doing something).

Above and below - Two mappings proposing the potential routes of the tram-line along SAM Street. Proposal A would mainly occupy the central island between the street's two lanes, whereas Proposal B snakes and loops around a bit more, providing a slightly less confrontational approach to both the street's pedestrian and vehicular traffic...

There's been some very constructive debates and proposals going on between this and the re:kuwait blog regarding how the implementation and detailing of Kuwait's urban plan could be improved. Much of it has focused on how to lessen our dependence on the car in everything we do in Kuwait.

A chart exploring the approximate speed a tram could advance along SAM Street. It also provides a suggestion for stops along the street...

I think some of the points made in recent re:kuwait posts by Barrak (click here and here to access these) regarding only concentrating on the development of SAM Street's narrower western end are valid ones, and the most viable place to begin such an endeavour. Supporting this, however, it can be argued that to simultaneously also keep in mind the surrounding and related areas down east from 'Old Salmiya', which currently is the more populous and active end of the street, needs to be considered, if only for the sake of balance. Connecting these two ends, through a tram or some other means, would strengthen the character of the area as a whole, and allow it to develop and hopefully thrive as a continuous collective rather than the set of separate piecemeal entities it presently reads as. Currently few people realize how close some of the key nodes are along SAM Street. Walking from the 4^th Ring Road end to the little junction point plaza by the U-turns takes about five minutes; walking from there to the Al-Salam building end takes another five minutes; continuing onwards it's only a five minute walk to Marina Mall (a stretch of road which could be even shorter if crossing the Hamad Al-Mubarak Street junction was made easier). From the Marina Mall down to the next large intersection, Qatar Street, takes about five minutes, and again it's only about a five minute stroll down to the Al-Fanar Mall. The last stretch of SAM Street from the Al Fanar to AUK requires again only an approximately five minute amble. Placing tram stops at about these nodes and junctions would allow one to reach all of the key locations along SAM Street within a few minutes stroll...

An illustration showing some of the key nodes along SAM Street, and approximate walking distances/ times between them...

Non-Shopping to Happiness (Expanding the Remit of SAM Street)...

Spending Money is not an Activity...

“...shopping should never be the main reason for coming into the city.”

These wise words were stated by the Danish architect and urbanist Jan Gehl who is credited with transforming Copenhagen into one of the most 'livable cities' and aiding in making its people amongst the happiest. Some of the greatest pleasures in visiting a new city is just meandering, walking around almost at random, making decisions on the spot and 'following ones nose' according to various interesting features that catch ones fancy – let (the corner of) one's eyes, ears, nose lead the way... 'Doing nothing' is a valid urban activity – chatting with friends, daydreaming, strolling, people watching... Shopping can be 'a' reason, but shouldn't necessarily be 'the' reason for visiting a city.

An analysis of existing and potential future locations for parking, something which would become relevant when transforming parts of SAM Street into a pedestrian zone...

Most mall designs in Kuwait seem to be based on the same business template – build a large shed filled with retail spaces, find one or two anchor tenants (think Sultan Centre and Debenhams at Souq Sherq, or Ikea and Carrefour at Avenues Mall), place them at each end of the design (or occasionally below, as in the 360 Mall), include plenty of parking, and 'Bob's your uncle' – things will take care of themselves... That's not the case anymore, as Kuwait has by now become 'out-malled' – the ratio between potential consumers and malls have reached, even for a shopper's haven like Kuwait, a point of supersaturation beyond which there simply aren't enough consumers to frequent them all. The result is, as can be witnessed by the row of more or less abandoned malls around the western end of SAM Street (Galleria 2000, Mariam Shopping Mall, Al Bustan, to mention a few)...

By re-designing this section of SAM Street the balance and intensity of the area would be changed - this would be needed to take into account in the development of the neighbourhood...

The formulae for an enterprising business cluster needs to expand and begin including a more enriched, multi-dimensional and varied recipe of urban elements into its design.

It also has to be emphasized, in response to a comment by 'Mark' who lives at SAM Street, left in response to earlier posts, that the aim with this exercise is not to necessarily demolishing the street's buildings, but to retain the qualities that make it special and unique in Kuwait - the scale, proportions, heights of its buildings and the varying width of the street (a version of 'Pimp-my-Street', if you will) only here applied with perhaps a bit more forethought, care, practicality and, hopefully, elegance and style... The idea is not to change the area, as it's exactly the inherent qualities of SAM Street which make it so appealing, but to, call it, 'update' it, to retain its idiosyncrasies whilst expanding its idiom.

Nooks & Crannies...

It's important that there are things to discover, things that surprise you, when walking about. A bit further down the road from the 'Old Salmiya' end of SAM Street, opposite the M&S store, there are a myriad alleyways filled with privately owned women's shoe-shops, jewellers, bakalas, clothing-shops and other bric-a-brac stores selling everything and anything that one might fancy. The casual richness and value of such places should not be underestimated. It is this type of a locale that should be emulated on some of the currently empty back lots adjacent to SAM Street. They should be made up of pedestrian alleyways with smallish shops, ranging in size from, say, 5 square meter kiosks up to 70 square meter workshop-shops – the idea being that it would built upon an encourage the development of SAM Street into a, as mentioned in some of the previous posts, 'creative neighbourhood', that, in conjunction with the proposed university/ design school (as discussed in a previous post - see link above), would allow for a whole support network for related activities to develop in this area. Small galleries specializing in displaying anything from experimental jewellery to performance spaces for theatre, dance, video art or any other more experimental public presentations. Small stores and stands displaying anything from mint & chili honey to various types of 'darabil' (cinnamon). Shops selling hand-made paper and hand-bound books. Coffee-shops with galleries in their back – galleries with workshops in their back – workshops with stores in their back – book stores with 'speak-easys' in the back... The place should include stores that exist only for a weekend, and shops which become permanent landmarks in their own right (think Collette in Paris, Rough Trade in London, or the Strand Book Store in New York). A place where new ideas can be tested, old ideas wilfully ignored, mediocre concepts improved, poor conceptions failed, and great endeavours expanded. SAM Street should be allowed to evolve into a real, multi-functional and inspirational, neighbourhood.

An illustration showing how an existing typology of 'alleyway' retail shops, located opposite the M&S store, could be appropriated and used as a template down East on some of the demolished plots adjacent to SAM Street in Old Salmiya...

Why not begin here with the, often talked about but seldom explained, revitalization of Kuwait as a cultural, social as well as commercial hub? Developing something multi-faceted such as this would benefit all stratum and paradigms of, both commercial and cultural, life in Kuwait. As nation building goes it's a minute step, but these types of endeavours need to be evolved one step at a time. It's a project that needs to be given time to bloom and prosper - gradual maturation and transformation of the SAM Street neighbourhood where worthy idiosyncrasies are allowed to thrive – unique things, regardless of purpose or context, are allowed to flourish and materialize...

The proposal takes advantage of the, already a while back, demolished plots adjacent to SAM Street to expand the remit of the urban brief, creating support areas in character aligned with the creation of Kuwait's first 'Creative Neighbourhood'...