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Photos of Dubai in the 1970s show the birth of the modern city

(CNN) – Dubai’s skyline is dotted with record buildings. From the tallest building in the world – the 828 meters (2,716 feet) Burj Khakifa – to the tallest hotel in the world – 356 meters (1,168 feet) high Gevora Hotelambitious architectural projects city ​​residents.

These buildings are designed to give Dubai a reputation for architectural splendor, part of its pursuit of international recognition – now exemplified by the World Expo it hosts during the year. next month.

However, Dubai’s desire for attention is not new. The desert city began its journey into an architectural eye-catching site in the mid-1970s, when construction began Dubai World Trade Center, according to architect Todd Reisz, author of “The Showcase Cities: How Architecture Makes Dubai.”

He is the curator of the exhibition “Off Center / On Stage”, which will run until mid-February next year at the Jameel Arts Center in Dubai. It introduces and recalls an older Dubai at the time it began its transformation into the city it is today.

It includes photographs taken between 1976 and 1979 by British architects Stephen Finch and Mark Harris, who were involved in visualizing, designing and delivering the city’s future, both are affiliated with John R. Harris & Partners, the British architecture firm behind the 149-meter-tall (489-foot) World Trade Center.

This photo of Dubai World Trade Center from 1977 - stamped into a postcard - was taken by Stephen Finch, the tower's principal architect.

This photo of Dubai World Trade Center from 1977 – stamped into a postcard – was taken by Stephen Finch, the tower’s principal architect.

polite Stephen Finch

Reisz said the “On Stage” in the exhibition’s title alludes to “the fact that the city has actually had a stage for decades. It’s used exhibitions and displays as a way to promote the city itself. and also to entice people to come and live there, to invest in it. That’s how the city can really grow.”

He added that as early as the 1960s, the Dubai leadership was promoting it in international newspapers, trying to convince people that this was the city of the future.

Move across the river

As visitors enter the exhibit, they are greeted with a sweeping view of Dubai Creek. Less than 200 years ago, Dubai was a small fishing village and Creek was just an estuary. By the 1960s, it was a designed canal, one of the city’s first large-scale infrastructure projects, undertaken to develop Dubai’s reputation as a major commercial hub.

“‘Off center'” refers to the fact that the city has for decades been centered around Dubai Creek, says Reisz. “Dubai Creek is this defining geographical entity that allows people to orient themselves. In the 1970s we began to see that there was a gradual but unstoppable movement away from the Creek, particularly towards the Abu Dhabi border.

“It didn’t start with the World Trade Center but the World Trade Center complex is really the moment where this dynamic is really defined so the city is moving away from the center.”

‘Looking ahead to what’s to come’

Reisz says many of the photos depict people who are directly or indirectly involved in delivering Dubai’s future – from service industry workers to taxi drivers. Although, this future is always changing.

He added: “There has always been a feeling that Dubai is like a big sign saying, ‘sorry, we are working to create something bigger.

“Many times people are looking more towards what is to come without looking back at how we got to where we are today. That, for me, is really important to show off. Dubai is not It’s a city that rises from the sand, it’s a city that goes up for people. People who have made decisions in their lives to contribute to the city in some way.”

The men in this 1977 Dubai Creek photo are looking towards the City building under construction. "You imagine maybe this is their second or third time in Dubai and they saw the bigger Dubai City building every time they came ashore," Exhibition curator Todd Reisz said.

The men in this 1977 Dubai Creek photo are looking towards the City building under construction. “You imagine maybe this was their second or third time in Dubai and they saw the bigger Dubai City building every time they came ashore,” said curator Todd Reisz.

Library John R.Harris courtesy

While writing “Showpiece City”, Reisz discovered the pictures, which are Kodachrome slides, a means of recording in color. “Even in the middle of the day, colors are so saturated and engaging that you almost start to hear the image,” says Reisz.

While there are a few aerial shots, most of the exhibition photos were taken from the ground, giving visitors a sense of what it was like to walk through the city in the 1970s.

Reisz added: “Whenever I hear someone say, ‘there was nothing here before’, … I like to argue with them. I think it’s really important to understand that there’s always something. something there.

“Whether it’s the most sparse farming going on, whether it’s the trade routes that go through parts of the coast, whether it’s the settlements that were once there and were left behind. At a certain point, it is impossible to say that there is nothing there. . . There is always something.”

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