Gulf News    November 22, 2009    By Mishaal Al Gergawi

From the onset everyone seems to be an endorser and a proponent of vernacular architecture and design, yet most people find themselves retracting once they realise the amount of time and effort which is required in order to begin developing a direction.

When charting history, it is very problematic to assume when things began. While geniuses are born of simpletons, life is a continuous thread of interlinked tales of frustrations and successes.

I may part ways with, what is now referred to as, architects and historians of heritage but I frankly do not believe that our architecture begins and ends at Bastakiya; if anything Bastakiya is the product of an innovative period in Dubai's architectural history. To accept that it has now become the default reference to Dubai once people ask what we have beyond ‘the burj and burj' is simply inaccurate.

Think of the early childhood years of a boy. Think of the family photo album where everyone looks at that boy and says ‘he was always so good with Lego' or ‘we always knew he was a smart boy'. Everyone is proud. It is cute and endearing. In some way, the boy — grown up now — doesn't think of his childhood much but his parents and family like to show off how he was a smart little chubby boy relative to the man he's come to be now. That is how we place Al Bastakiya and Al Shindagha in Dubai's history.

Think of the adult years of this boy and think of the family photo album again. Everyone looks at pictures of his wedding, his MBA graduation and building his first house. Everyone is proud. It is charming and engaging. The — once a boy now a — man considers his present proof to prophecies of his childhood; his Lego is his house now. That is how we place Burj Al Arab and Burj Dubai.

Fast forward?

We never ask ourselves of the things that lie in between the villages by the creek and the burj(s). Did we just fast forward? Was there a red button that read ‘upgrade'? Where do we place Al Maktoum Hospital, Intercontinental — now Radisson SAS — and Sheraton Deira, the now late — Al Nasr Cinema, Al Mulla Plaza and the Dubai Petroleum Building in Jumeirah which writer Sultan Sooud Al Qasimi, spoke so eloquently about a few weeks ago? Do they get any recognition? How about a mention? Are we perhaps ashamed of them … or just intimidated by them?

Is it a grey, not necessarily dark, period in our life which our PR agencies can't quite place? Too many questions remain unanswered; I will attempt my own response. In Dubai, we often change from such subjects. In fact, we collectively have come to ignore them.

We do live in denial. Today, Burj Dubai Downtown boasts itself as the centre of the city but do we not remember when Gucci's flagship store was at Maktoum Street or was it always at the Emirates Towers Boulevard? In our mind, we do not remember the days of our fathers but only those of our grandfathers. In our mind, we are selectively nostalgic.

This architectural puberty, if one could call it that, with all its attempts and failures, mistakes and collisions, ideas and realities, represents the formative years that shaped an era. Somewhere in between this period they had skipped through adolescence, no one minded.

This monument of a man quickly changes the subject without acknowledging his past. Who wants to see the ‘awkward stage'? Who wants to reminisce about the times of uncertainty… when we were in many ways like everyone else and didn't make headlines. Now we are acknowledged for our achievements and close peers are observing our every move.

Why would we not look to our past and embrace our ‘awkward stage'? Wasn't that what made us great? Weren't the awkward blemishes and cracking voices exactly what made us who we are today? Why would we not acknowledge it? Why can't we build on the past… the not so distant past?

Reconnecting to it again by way of documentation and research is paramount to developing a school of architectural thought that excels not only in its global forms but, more importantly, in its local functions.

Until this happens, the Burj Dubai, a monumental feat beyond any form of debate, could very much swap places with London's 30 St Mary Axe, better known as the Gherkin. In a similar fashion to our male protagonist above, appreciating the adolescent stage of a city is key to understanding its trajectory.

Mishaal Al Gergawi is an Emirati commentator on socio-economic and cultural affairs in the UAE.