Posted on 03.03.07

March’s issue of Identity includes an exclusive interview with Frank Gehry, Zaha hadid, and his first Middle East interview, Tadao Ando! Exerpts:

ID: And in keeping with your approach to architecture, the building itself is a work of art?

FG: I didn’t say that.

ID: But you see architecture as art?

FG: You know, the problem with saying that is that it’s a loaded thing to say in today’s context. One of my artist friends ‘poo-poos’ architecture because you have to put plumbing in.

ID: Has your Middle Eastern heritage, being born in Baghdad, influenced the design in any way?

ZH: Of course you are an Arab and therefore you bring some things with you but it also depends on what your value system was when you were growing up. It’s not necessarily about the formal language of the Arab Muslim world, but of course you bring some of these things with you - maybe ideas of fluidity of landscape, the idea of dunes, not necessarily in this case, but these often influence me in other projects. Obviously, you carry your heritage with you.

ID: You obviously design with end users in mind, Beyond that, are you designing for a UAE context or for an international audience?

ZH: It doesn’t matter. The idea with public projects is that anybody can go to them, so you really have to think about music space, how music sounds, and about an identity that could work for a veriety of different people.

ID: Could you describe the key elements of the design and what you hope it will reflect?

TA: The main key element is the sea itself. The building floats over a vast water court that visually merges the site and the sea, reinforcing the maritime theme of the museum. I hope the presence of the water will reflect the importance of the history and past traditions of Abu Dhabi and its relationship with the sea.

ID: How would you want the public to view this work?

The museum is comprised of an exhibition space below sea level and a building volume above sea level. Through this composition I would like the public to physically experience and feel the importance of the sea, not only as a tradition to be preserved, but also as an opportunity to discover a new spatial experience. I hope this experience will bring some level of consciousness among the museum’s visitors about the importance of preserving the enviroment and history, which I believe will be a challenge of the 21st century.

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