ARCHITECTURE BECOMING A GLOBAL CLICHÉ

Ar. Palwasha Amanullah

Icon: 1. An image, figure, or representation; a portrait; an

illustration in a book; image in the solid status.

2. Eastern Church, A representation of some sacred personage, itself regarded as sacred, and honored with a relative worship. (from Oxford Dictionary)

“Iconic: An incitement to spend money” (Anon 2004)

Manhattan skyline 1902 - Park Row Building at center Architect: Robert H. Robertson (April 29, 1849–June 3, 1919)

Modern Skyscraper Buildings - Distinguished Icons

Park Row Building Flatiron Building Woolworths Building Chrysler Building Robert H. Robertson Danial Burnham Cass Gilbert William Van Alen Opened-1899 Opened-1902 Opened-1913 Opened-1930

What would the pioneers of modern iconic skyscrapers make of the architecture in today’s global era?

Architecture becoming a global cliché

• Departing from the standard analysis of “iconic”, the paper develops a framework within which an architecture icon in our world is analyzed based on the literature of capitalist globalization.

• The argument for the paper is restricted to an understanding of

how architecture can be labeled as iconic;

• to explain the dominant role of iconic architecture as a symptom of change to promote new urbanity in cities.

• How iconic buildings arise as signifiers of economic success by serving the interest of capitalist globalization?

• In a transnational capitalist society an architects dream is to curate exhibition spaces, with an intension to build the most challenging forms of architecture iconicity.

• In a similar fashion, iconic architecture strives to turn more or less all public spaces into consumerist spaces.

• In this context, Globalization is creating a world of movement and mixture which is leading to “Homogenization of Architecture”

Frank O. Gehry

Guggenheim Museum – Bilbao – Spain Guggenheim Museum – Abu Dhabi – UAEFrank Gehry, 1997 Frank Gehry, 2017

Iconic Structures in the Middle East

Sheikh Zayed Mosque- Abu Dhabi

Burj Khalifa- Dubai

Palm Jumeirah- Dubai

Record breaking mega projects in the region

Kingdom Centre- Riyade Saudi Arabia Bahrain trade centre- Manama Bahrain

Record breaking mega projects in the region

Future Conceptual Trends in Development of Iconic Structures in our Country

Thank you!