Middle East Architect, 'All In Context'
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Transcript of Middle East Architect, 'All In Context'
TRUNK TOWERS
DONALD TRUMP’S LATEST PROJECT IS PALM JUMEIRAH‘S NEWEST ICON
TALL ORDERWind engineers add safety and comfort to supertalls
GOING FOR GOLDBeijing’s new buildings for the 2008 Olympic Games
and images © John Robertson ArchitectsAll sketches
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Architecture has always been my great passion in life. It’s as
much a hobby as it is a business, so it’s really no hardship to work
long hours and devote your life to it. From an early age I enjoyed
drawing buildings and working with Lego and things like that. It
sounds strange but it‘s always been what I wanted to do with my
life. I suppose the more I’ve gotten into it, the more I’ve enjoyed
it and the more I see and study buildings, I feel my own work
improves and matures.
I was 36 and I decided that if I didn’t start at that age, I prob-
ably would never do it, and I also felt I had suffi cient clients and
supporters who would back my own practice. I joined with John
Hurley [in 1993]—we were called Hurley Robertson Associates.
John sadly passed away [in 2004] so I continued under my own
name. Today we’re about 55 people, and we’ve got our main offi ce
in central London. The majority of our work is in central London
although we’re just opening an offi ce in Abu Dhabi, and we have a
representative in Dubai.
We’re working in India for a developer called ANC Infra-
structure and Developments. They’re an Indian developer who
JOHN ROBERTSON, CEO AND DIRECTOR OF JOHN ROBERTSON ARCHITECTS, ON CONTEXTUAL ARCHITECTURE AND THE
UNIQUE APPEAL OF ABU DHABI
1/ THE ATRIUM AT 10 QUEEN STREET PLACE2/ JOHN ROBERTSON
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has done a lot of work in Dubai and we’re
working in Chandigarh, Delhi, and looking
at something for another owner-occupier
in Kolkata. In truth we’re more in India
than in the Middle East right now.
Our work will grow in the Middle East.
The diffi culty we’ve had is that developers
are not particularly interested in commis-
sioning a London-based architect until we
have our offi ces open.
About a year and a half ago. It was
really a reconnaissance trip for us to gain
a little bit of exposure to the Middle East
market and so we could understand what
was involved. It’s looking very positive.
You hear different things about the
Middle East market. It is competitive, and
we are interested in that side of it. We’re
not afraid of that.
There’s obviously a lot of work on and
we want to position ourselves in the same
way as we have in London, as being a niche
practice that produces very high quality
work and takes on projects we think we
can deliver extremely well.
That’s been the success of our work
in London and Europe. We don’t go for
volume, we go for individual projects for
corporate and developer clients who relate
to our work and understand our work. That’s
what I’m keen to try and promote in the
Middle East.
What I’m interested in doing is trying
to produce architecture that really relates
to context and most importantly, has some
sort of reference to the Arab world.
We’re not just producing what I call
imported Western architecture. It’s got to be
that subtle blend of work which we can bring
to the market. That seems to be getting a
good welcome. We’ve been invited by quite a
3/ ENTRANCE HALL AT THE DAILY EXPRESS4/ THE ATRIUM AT 16–18 FINSBURY CIRCUS5/ MASTERPLAN FROM CHANDIGARH
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I’M INTERESTED IN PRODUCING ARCHITECTURE THAT HAS SOME SORT OF REFERENCE TO THE ARAB WORLD.
JOHN ROBERTSON, JOHN ROBERTSON ARCHITECTS
number of clients to submit RFPs and we’re
getting a lot of interest from some of the
major developers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for
our delivery service. These are the reasons for
wanting to get involved in the Middle East.
The other area we specialise in is pro-
ducing energy-effi cient offi ce buildings.
If it’s a speculative offi ce block, we’d put
more effort into how its space is planned,
how the core works, how the building grid
works, whether the fl oor plate is effi cient,
rather than whether it’s an iconic symbol.
I call it an empiric approach—it’s a
scientifi c base to the way buildings are
planned. We put a lot of effort into making
the fl oorplans effi cient, making sure the
column grids are orthogonal and we try to
design the building from the inside out,
rather than the outside in.
We’re intending to open in Abu Dhabi
and make Abu Dhabi our base. We have
quite a lot of interest from developers in
Dubai and had indifferent success about
winning some of the bids and getting a
presence. I feel more confi dent that for the
next generation of the work in the Middle
East, Abu Dhabi, rather than Dubai, will
be a centre that’s more in sympathy for the
work we want to do.
Everyone says they want iconic build-
ings, but the whole of Dubai, for example,
is full of iconic buildings. The result is that
they’ve created an architectural landscape
of no context.
Abu Dhabi is more contextual. If you look
at the buildings built in the 1970s oil boom,
they’ve built the city within an American-
style grid system so the traffi c seems to move
more freely, the boulevards are wider, the
cornice is attractive.
Abu Dhabi has learnt some lessons from
Dubai and has laid out a more coherent
masterplan wherein architects can work in
defi ned plots and produce buildings that
relate to the city in its context. Ultimately,
that makes it more of a coherent city to live
and work in, rather than Dubai, which is
very fragmented.
I feel that [Dubai] lacks an overall coher-
ent masterplan as to what the city is to be
about in 20 or 30 years time.
What interests me about the Middle
East is the challenge of ‘condensing’. Euro-
pean cities have developed over thousands
of years. Cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi
6/ FARRINGDON CROSSRAIL DEVELOPMENT
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WE’RE NOT AGAINST ICONS BY ANY MEANS. BUT WE DON’T THINK EVERY BUILDING NEEDS TO BE ICONIC.
JOHN ROBERTSON, JOHN ROBERTSON ARCHITECTS
are evolving over 20 or 30 years and
we’re interested in seeing how we can
help contribute to producing a contex-
tual masterplan both at the macro scale
for the city but also at the micro scale for
our buildings.
It’s the creation of context that inter-
ests me. It’s not just about producing
tall buildings or iconic buildings, it’s
about the spaces between buildings, the
landscaping—what I call the ‘sticky people
places’, where people meet.
These are the issues that are important
ones for architects to try and grapple
with. It will take time for these issues to
fully evolve.
We’re not against icons by any means,
there’s a place for icons in a city. But we
don’t think every building needs to be iconic.
If you look at European cities, their success
is that they have a lot of good ‘background’
buildings, both historical and modern.
It’s the relationship of these buildings to
one another and the landscaping, and to
what I call the ‘people places’, that makes
the cities liveable and enjoyable places to
be. Of course, if you add in some fantastic
iconic buildings, then you have centres of
attraction and architectural inspiration
that makes the city the rich city that it is.
If you go to Florence or Venice you have
some great Palladio churches in among
some very low-rise buildings. It’s that
blend that I think is something that needs
cultivating in the Middle East. I think the
preservation of any of the historic buildings
like at Bastakiya and trying to relate build-
ings of size and scale to their surroundings is
important.
7/ CONCEPT PROJECT AT THE PALM JEBEL ALI8/ OASIS TOWER, DUBAI9/ EAST ELEVATION OF CHANDIGARH MASTERPLAN
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THE SILO, ISLANDS BRYGGE,COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
10 QUEEN STREET PLACE,LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
John Robertson Architects (JRA) is an award-winning firm ofBritish Architects that specialises in undertaking major officeand residential buildings for corporate and developer clients.
JRA is expanding its architectural operations in the UnitedArab Emirates and is opening an office in Abu Dhabi toservice current projects in the region. The practice is bringingits experience of delivering major projects and its commitmentto a high-quality service to the UAE and is offering its servicesthroughout the Gulf region.
JRA’s portfolio of projects now covers city and urbanplanning and highly complex projects including headquartersoffice buildings, waterfront developments and major mixed-useschemes. The firm is working on a major new sustainableoffice and residential development in the South Harbour inCopenhagen for Danish developer Nordkranen and on a120,000 sqm business centre in Chandigarh India for ANCAN Infrastructure Developers. Further projects are underwayin India and Pakistan.
Within Central London alone the firm has completedabout 150,000 sqm of office space for developers, fundsand corporate end users. In addition to its work on majoroffice schemes the practice has completed more than1,250 homes in London in last fifteen years.
JRA offers a fast, reliable and professional service to ourclients that adds significant value to their property assetsand investments.
If you would like further information please contact:
John Robertson RIBA111 Southwark StreetLondon SE1 0JFUnited Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7633 5100Mbl tel: +44 (0) 7785 997045e-mail: [email protected]
Max Skjöldebrand RIBALevel 41 Emirates TowerPO Box 31303DubaiUnited Arab EmiratesTel: +971 (0) 4 319 7835Mbl tel: +971 (0) 50 528 9146e-mail: [email protected]
www.jra.co.uk
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