Contemporary Aesthetics of Concealment for Dubai, UAE

Our studio explores migrant worker empowerment through vocational education in foreign contexts in addition to local customs governing construction in Dubai, UAE. The studio’s emphasis is on concealing a building within a building housing super cars and concealing vocational development and dormitories for migrant workers to increase their skills and to breakout of the chain of the Kafala system which exploits workers while making them indebted to companies that sponsor their employment. 

For students to understand the tension in a robust manner students are required to understand the notion of concealment in Dubai. Dubai has a population of 3.6 million out of which 10 percent of the people are indigenous to the UAE. Concealment is related to understanding the social fabric of U.A.E society and its relationship to capital. As Dubai has the largest disparity in wealth of any city, employing 122,000 migrant workers to 3,658,000 residents driving super cars allows for the exploration of a palpable tension between social structures and the cities infrastructure. The social structures are revealed in Deira, the old city of Dubai which maintains undertones of Islamic society. The complexities of the issues in this studio demand a rigorous, on-site evaluation of the topics the students are challenged with, as well as careful study of existing migrant worker housing in Ras Al-Khaimah and the infrastructure of Sheikh Zayed Road, with exemplary Islamic art and architecture including the Formula 1 Racetrack on Yas Island designed by Asymptote and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvelle.