Al Manakh 1 - excerpts (2/3) Gulf Survey

Page 1

Interview

Master Planning with a Land Rover — John Elliott, Town Planner of Abu Dhabi In conversation with WATG architects about the design of Emirati palaces, it came to be known that one of WATG’s head architects, John Elliott, was one of the first planners and architects in Abu Dhabi. According to his curriculum vitae, Elliott has arguably designed more hotels and resorts than any architect in the world. But before achieving this superlative, he had been the first town planner for Abu Dhabi. Envisioning Abu Dhabi’s first houses, schools, and roads, Elliott’s plans materialized Sheikh Zayed’s vision to introduce his Bedouin citizens to city living.

Makers I

I don’t know how much of a story you want, so I’ll tell you the whole story. One day in 1966, a guy called Freddy Webb was walking down Chiswick High Street. It was a hot day in August. He felt very thirsty, so he went into a pub for a drink in the afternoon. Standing next to him at the bar was this tall guy. The tall guy said, ‘I work in Abu Dhabi. There’s going to be a dramatic change there.’ This all had to do with oil – the Iranians had nationalized the Abadan refi nery and the British-Iranian Oil Company was going to follow. And… the Brits needed the oil. Further nationalization in the region would have stopped any further oil development. You can see the picture of what happened. Suddenly in 1966, a new sheikh comes to power in Abu Dhabi. If you’ve read any of the books of Thesiger’s journeys in the region, you’d know about Sheikh Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s then new sheikh – extremely intelligent, an incredible leader of men, lovely man. Under the sponsorship of the British, oil was discovered to be of very high grade in Abu Dhabi, and Abu Dhabi suddenly boomed. It came about that the prediction that this guy made had been absolutely right. In 1966 the consortium Arabicon was formed with some engineers and architects. One day in that year they came to me and said, ‘John, you did some planning in Sweden and Finland. We’ve got an amazing project for you. There’s this island in Abu Dhabi. Do a master plan.’ So, we were sketching away a master plan of the island. John Elliott —

Todd Reisz —

How old were you?

I was 29. I really didn’t know what I was doing. It was to take Abu Dhabi island – there were no real roads; the electricity was down all the time; there was no water. We produced a whole series of plans. The best one they ignored. I proposed that we dig a series of canals from one side to the other side, right across the island. The island was very low, only five feet above sea level. Everything for construction – cement, steel – was coming in by barge as there were no roads. The waters were low, so everything had to be kept offshore. JE —

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6/6/07 4:37:30 PM


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