DUBAI // Art lovers and architects have called for the protection of buildings that tell the story of the UAE in the early years of the union.
Emiratis and expatriates have asked authorities and the municipality to reconsider demolishing Al Amal psychiatric hospital on Al Wasl Road and the pavilion in Safa Park, which once housed cafes and a library.
A group of artists organised an exhibition of pictures documenting the long white corridors and date palm-lined courtyards of the psychiatric hospital, which was built in the 1980s.
Art student Shamma Al Amri is among volunteers from the Hope Initiative who spent time with patients for art therapy workshops. They also fell in love with the building.
“We saw it was such a gem in the middle of Dubai and we were mesmerised by the architecture that takes you back to the 1980s, when a lot of us were born,” Ms Al Amri said.
“The building has a deep significance, with courtyards showing how people functioned in our society.”
Now that patients have been moved to a new centre in Al Aweer the building is being prepared for demolition, stripped of cables, doors and windows.
Only buildings constructed 40 years ago or earlier need permission for demolition from the municipality’s architectural heritage department.
The group has called on authorities and experts to use the structure as a cultural centre or library.
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Sultan Al Qassemi, a columnist and founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, backed their call.
On hearing of plans to tear down the once popular pavilion in Safa Park, he tweeted and emailed senior officials appealing to preserve both buildings.
“We have known sheikhs in the UAE who have diverted roads to preserve trees and oases. This tells you we are concerned about preserving our past,” Mr Al Qassemi said. “These are part of our culture and visual aesthetic.”
The Park Pavilion has been shut for more than a year but Dubai Municipality would not confirm that it was to be demolished.
Mr Al Qassemi warned against neglect.
“Across the UAE there is modern architecture that is our contemporary identity. If a structure like the pavilion is shut, it is neglect that causes it to be torn down because the structure will be weakened and the case to strip it down becomes stronger.”
Emirati entrepreneur Rashid bin Shabib, who launched artistic ventures such as The Shelter and The Pavilion, said there were about 50 striking buildings among the thousands of nondescript concrete structures dating from the 1970s.
He said the pavilion was one of those worth saving.
“You can’t move directly to glass buildings – you need that world in between,” Mr bin Shabib said. “We don’t know what the fate of the Safa pavilion is, but it’s important to understand its value in our evolving architectural identity.
“It has a language that is Arabesque – the shape, shaded pavilion, central core, arches that are over-imagined. Its beauty is rooted to a Middle East identity in a more modern perspective.”
The Hope Initiative stresses that the emirate’s identity should not be lost.
“We appreciate new modern architecture being built but having Al Amal in a prime location makes a statement about development,” Ms Al Amri said.
“From Al Amal courtyard you can see the Burj Khalifa, so you have this amazing perspective where you can see the past and future within this one building. You cannot attach a value to that in money.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae
