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Reflections on the Dubai Death Star

by Susi, 30 July 2008

Rem Koolhaus\' big ball, dubbed the \

It’s not often that a vision of its destruction precedes the construction of a large high profile building. Poor Rem Koolhaas. His master scheme for developing Dubai includes an ominous orb that has been blogged to bits as the “Dubai Death Star”. Images of Darth Vader’s devastated Death Star are paired with pics of the Koolhaas ball, all over the web.

Was Koolhaas poking fun at Dubai? Suggesting some association with The Empire? Was he channelling Boullée? Being a bubblehead? Or dreaming of a swim with the fishes in his bathysphere? Now how can this ball ever be built? It’s already associated with the demolition of an “axis of evil” in outer space. A vision of its ultimate destruction is pre-etched on the collective conscious. Stay tuned to the blogosphere to find out what will become of the Dubai sphere.

On a personal note, I grew up in Seattle, where the old International Style public library was replaced with a Koolhaus structure that made me think immediately of Demon Seed the moment I saw it.

Is anyone surprised to learn that Koolhaas was a scriptwriter before he turned to architecture?

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