Dubai’s first architecture festival is set to launch later this year.
While the event will showcase regional architecture projects, it will also underscore the importance of steering the Middle East towards a more sustainable future.
The inaugural D3 Architecture Festival – established by Dubai Design District in partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects Gulf Chapter (Riba Gulf Chapter) – is set to run from Wednesday, November 11, to Friday, November 13.
The festival will take place at D3 on the sidelines of Dubai Design Week, an annual event held under the patronage of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chair of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
The D3 Architecture Festival will be curated by Juan Roldan, associate professor at the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah, and will be held under the theme "Identity, Context and Placemaking in the Gulf".
As part of the event, there will be a series of talks by industry experts on sustainable development. Designers, architects and the general public are also welcome to participate in daily design workshops, known as charrettes.
Al Faya Lodge by Anarchitect (the firm's work will be on show at the festival):
"While offering a platform for critical reflection on social, cultural and economic issues, the event will also provide opportunities for new talent and bring the design community together to champion Dubai and the UAE as a hub for knowledge, creativity and innovation," Khadija Al Bastaki, executive director of D3, said.
“Dubai has long been known as an architectural playground and the emirate’s limitless ambition has found expression in its ever-evolving skyline,” she said, adding: “As we carry on the process of rebuilding in the post-Covid-19 world, our relationship with the built and natural world has never been more important.”
Andy Shaw, chair of the Riba Gulf Chapter, said the exhibition will feature models, drawings and projects from the most exciting architects working in the Gulf, such as Binchy and Binchy and Anarchitect.
“This event is a celebration of what has been achieved by architects in the region and, more importantly, what is to come from the emerging generation of local companies and graduating students.”
British firm Foster + Partners, which made the masterplan for Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, and Zaha Hadid Architects, the studio founded by the late British-Iraqi architect, are also confirmed to participate in the festival.
Anarchitect, which has offices in Dubai and London, and is one of the first Riba chartered practices in the UAE, will be highlighting its Al Faya Desert Retreat project, which involved a redundant grocery store and clinic in Sharjah being transformed into a boutique hotel.
"We will be presenting regional work that demonstrates the great opportunity to regenerate and reprogramme existing buildings into new and contemporary pieces of architecture that bring forgotten places back to life," Jonathan Ashmore, Anarchitect's founder and principal architect tells The National.
"Through a series of drawings, sketches, photographs and models, visitors to the festival will be able to see the transformation and adaptive re-use of the practice’s Al Faya Desert Retreat from a redundant grocery store and clinic into an award-winning and globally published contemporary boutique hotel that draws direct inspiration from the UAE’s natural desert landscape."
Ashmore welcomes the launch of the new festival, and the opportunity it presents to showcase work from across the region. "The breadth of participation is quite wide and will hopefully allow an opportunity to discover common approaches, individual solutions and innovative designs that deal with the here and now, and potentially the future, of the Middle East's contemporary architecture scene.
"I believe it is important to both catalogue and showcase the exciting and progressive work that has been created in the region within a public forum so that a wider audience can hopefully connect and be inspired for future generations to come.
"I hope, moving forward, that this initiative offers a regional platform for a continuous dialogue between architects, clients and governmental bodies not just during the festival, but throughout the year to share knowledge, experience and insight, for the betterment of architecture that is relevant, sustainable and contextually inspired," Ashmore concluded.
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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