liquiddesign: The "Finacial Mirage in the Desert"?

We all have seen the latest headlines regarding the Dubai World meltdown and the need for the capital city of Abu Dhabi to help stem the unease of their country’s potential financial collapse. Many have dubbed the United Arab Emirates, UAE, as the “Financial Mirage in the Desert”.

Is anyone really surprised? With the global economic downturn it was just a matter of time before that downturn would blanket the current king of development. Unfortunately the UAE was growing on the plan that the rest of the world would be buying and renting space, both residentially and commercially, from them. Liquid Design was in Abu Dhabi this time last year working on our portion of a $40 billion recreational lifestyle resort and community. To be honest I have never seen a project more ambitious than this one. Not only due to its extensive large scale mixed-use program, which was packed full of “one of a kinds” and “the world’s largest”, but the fact it was going to be built on a mountain range in the middle of the desert. Yes, I said mountain range; the Jebel Hafeet mountain range is located on the boarder of UAE and Omen.

Looking back on my trip I remembering sensing an underlying concern of, “have we as a county built too much to be sustainable?” But that concern seemed to be tempered with, “if we hurry up we can beat the other guy out of the ground and then he will be left holding the bag”. Classic developer 101….

So, needless to say our project was put on hold shortly after conceptual design. With the hope that once the world corrects itself the project will ramp up again. Our design responsibilities covered about $700 million worth of construction spread over 3 phases. Our piece includes 3 resort hotels, condominiums, retail, and the world’s largest man-made whitewater facility loaded with the latest technology. And yes, we were incorporating the latest “earth- green design strategies” for a holistic sustainable design solution. The program outlined above is only the tip of the “iceberg” for this larger than life project. Like all things in today’s world only time will tell if the UAE is truly a “Financial Mirage in the Desert”.