LAYER is pleased to bring to you its fourth and last newsletter for '06.

In this issue we bring to you Zaha Hadid’s design for the Dancing Towers of Business Bay Development in Dubai. “The towers incorporate avant-garde definitions of functionality and form that will not only create a distinctive landmark at Business Bay, but also symbolise a new phase in Dubai's architectural standards.”

LAYER would like to present Dr. Ashraf Salama's paper on Symbolism and Identity in the Eyes of Arabia's Budding Professionals. Dr. Ashraf Salama is Professor of Architecture and was the recipient of the first award of the International Architecture Design Studio, University of Montreal, Canada, 1990, and in 1998 he won the Paul Chemetove Prize for his project on Architecture and the Eradication of Poverty, a United Nations International Ideas Competition.

Layer would like to invite you to submit photographs and articles for forthcoming issues. (All submissions subject to review)

Visit us at www.layermag.com

The Ascent of Wind Power
is quickly emerging as a serious alternative not just in affluent areas of the world but in fast-growing countries like India and China that are avidly seeking new energy sources.

Economic zone plans polarise India
India's intention to set up a slew of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is being vigorously opposed by an unlikely combination of interest groups.

It's the world's most ambitous urban renewal plan.
Asia’s largest slum—a tag that refuses to go away although the shanty-sprawl is now pockmarked with numerous clusters of tightly packed-in apartment complexes and even a pair of under-construction 16-storey “towers”—is more upwardly mobile than ever before.

Museum addition comes at you from all angles
Daniel Libeskind makes a spatial statement in Denver. A building that contains and exudes art officially opens this week.

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Symbolism and Identity in the Eyes of Arabia’s Budding Professionals
Dr. Ashraf Salama

Excerpt:

Societies tend to re-evaluate the meaning and desirability of built environments rapidly. The search for an architectural identity, the rise and fall of ISMS (movements and tendencies), and the continuous debate on symbolism and character issues in architecture are derived from this fact. That search seems to be a preoccupation with countries that have cultural richness and multi-layers of history.

Architects as well as budding professionals in those countries find themselves dealing with a paradox needing to project a certain image of themselves through their built environment. This article reflects a view point on two recent students architectural competitions conducted in 2005 and 2006; the first was titled a memorial sculpture for Al Nakheel project in the city of Jeddah, while the second was designing a gateway on the road to Dammam. An argument is introduced in order to raise the questions of identity and seeing ourselves in architecture in light of the results of these two students’ competitions.

Read the entire feature here.

Zaha Hadid Architects– Business Bay Towers, Dubai

Zaha Hadid’s design for the Dancing Towers confirms the role of Business Bay Development at the very forefront of Dubai’s rapidly changing future. The three towers rise above the creek and project themselves as an icon for the surrounding developments and for the gulf region. The tower’s striking design creates a new presence that punctures the skyline with a powerful recognizable silhouette. The fluid character of the towers is generated through an intrinsically dynamic composition of volumes. The towers are inter-twined to share programmatic elements and rotate to maximize the views from the site towards the creek and neighbouring developments. The design quality of the towers to act as a symbol and icon extends beyond their scale and location. These qualities are derived from the boldness of the architectural concept, from the ‘choreographed’ movement that combines the three towers in one overall gesture and ‘weaves’ with a series of public spaces through the podium, the bridges and the landscape beyond.

Read the entire feature here.

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What Is Oma: Considering Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture
by Rem Koolhaas

There are few outside a circle of initiates who realize just how important Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) are for international architecture today. Arguably, Koolhaas/OMA is the most interesting architect from the latter half of the 20th century. But how well is this truly understood? Certainly in the Netherlands, OMA is known only for the Kunsthal in Rotterdam.

~What is OMA maps the fields where Koolhaas is active, not only showing his realized buildings but illuminating his perspective on the contemporary city and urbanity. The book describes with great clarity Koolhaas's role in architectural theory and the body of concepts wielded by him. Authors of international repute from beyond the province of architecture examine Koolhaas's work in the light of social and economic developments.

As a result, What is OMA paints an intelligent picture of the sheer range of Rem Koolhaas's architecture and its seminal role in the architectural world. It is the first book to approach Koolhaas's work from the vantage point of disciplines other than architecture and to explain it to the general public.

_ Copyright Amazon.com

Buy here.

Book Reviews for the following books
Yoshio Taniguchi: Nine Museums by Yoshio Taniguchi, Terence Riley
Archigram: Architecture without Architecture by Simon Sadler
Superstudio : Life without Objects by Peter Lang, William Menking
Eric Owen Moss. The Uncertainty of Doing by Paola Giaconia
Innovation in Sustainable Housing: Tango by Michael Webb
Constructing Architecture : Materials, Processes, Structures: A Handbook by Andrea Deplazes

and more here

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editor
Shikha Doogar

contributors
Biju Chirathalattu
Saira jacob
Shridhar Rao

production & mailer
Shridhar Rao