Designing Pedagogy Against Architectural Iconicity

When designing buildings within the cultural and socioeconomic context of Dubai, it is necessary to consider the propagation of iconic, Neo-orientalist architecture. This paper seeks to address several issues surrounding the ethics of iconicity within the pedagogical agenda of an architectural design studio. In formulating a fifth year, undergraduate architectural design studio focused on high-rise tower typology in Dubai, several questions became important to the framework of the studio: How could the students in the course better understand the proliferation of iconic architectural forms in Dubai and other rapidly developing MENA cities and strategize a methodology for designing in response to that context? What are the regulatory and socio-economic incentives driving the construction of iconic buildings, inspired by both Western and Neo-orientalist styles in Dubai that students should be aware of? When designing a building envelope for an extreme climatic environment, how can one eschew symbolic references and use the skin as a starting point in the formation for unit planning, program distribution and overall building form?

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.106.84

Volume Editors
Amir Ameri & Rebecca O'Neal Dagg

ISBN
978-1-944214-15-9