Museum of the Future. 3D printed building in Dubai

Located by the World Trade Centre, off the Sheik Zayed Road in Dubai, stands the Museum of the Future designed by South African Architect Shaun Killa. A large part of the building is 3D printed.

I've been photographing the construction of many buildings in Dubai since we moved there in 2014. I find it fascinating watching them grow in such a short period of time. This is one of the few projects that is actually finished and not still being developed.

The Museum of the Future was due to open in September 2020 ready for Expo2020 which has now been delayed till next year, but was only completed last month.

April 2018

September 2018

June 2019

My husband sent me this photo earlier in the week. 

November 2020

For all the other construction photography photos I've been taking over the past few years, please click on the links below.

Week 158 Dubai Bluewater Islands and Dubai Eye. Man made island a 210m high Big Wheel
Week 159 Dubai Dubai Marina - Reflections
Week 160 Dubai Dubai Frame. A window between the Old and New Dubai and a 150m high glass floor.

Week 161 Dubai Dubai Marina 3 years apart.

Week 162 Dubai Dubai Water Canal Bridge Construction and reconfiguration of roads

Week 163 Dubai New Metro Line for Expo 2020
Week 164 Arizona and Nevada Hoover Dam 2002 - 2010
Week 165 Dubai Dubai Opera House What a difference a year makes
Week 166 Dubai Unfinished buildings. The Pentominium
Week 167 Coventry Mixing the old and the new. Coventry Catherdral
Week 168 Dubai New Dubai Metro Station 
Week 169 Dubai The new extension of the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa 
Week 170 Dubai Hotel fire After the Address fire 
Week 171 Dubai Unusual designs The Opus Building
Week 172 Dubai District Cooling. Keeping the desert cool.
Week 173 Dubai Can I visit the Burj Al Arab
Week 174 Dubai The Almas Tower
Week 175 Dubai The Cayan Tower
Week 176 Toronto The CN Tower
Week 177 Nevada The Paris Hotel 
Week 178 Dubai Ibn Battuta Gate
Week 179 A Wedding Our first child got married
Week 180 Dubai The World's Tallest Tower
Week 181 Dubai and Wales Al Fahidi Fort and Chepstow Castle 
Week 182 Dubai New Metro Station in Al Furjan 
Week 183 Dubai Ski Dubai
Week 184 Another Wedding
Week 185 South Africa Life in a township
Week 186 Austria Ski Jump 
Week 187 Dubai Green Plant Bio Dome 
Week 188 Dubai Update on the Metro Station
Week 189 Dubai My view from the balcony changed in 8 months
Week 190 Greece Just how instagramable is it?
Week 191-192 Dubai Before and After. 3 months out of Dubai
Week 193 Dubai Building a boat in the sky
Week 194 An African Sunset
Week 195 Building with boxes Charity work in South Africa
Week 196 UK wedding and a year of travel

I don't want my experience of Dubai enhanced.

 I don’t want my experience of Dubai enhanced.

 

It's been almost 4 years since we moved to Dubai and so much has changed. New roads, buildings, a canal, investment. Everything to encourage new people to move here, preparation for 2020, new airport, new tallest building in the world under construction. You can see the changes over on #mysundayphoto tag.

Talking to other people who have been living here much longer than I have, they say similar ‘Dubai is growing’ but the response to it from the expats and locals I’ve met is ‘we don’t like it’

I feel the same way, when we first moved here, prices for tourist attractions were considerably lower, life was a lot cheaper and more simple. Now there are very few places offering resident discount or preferences. We can no longer take our dog to the beach, out into the desert, our nearest park was been reduced by 50% due to the new water canal and the facilities inside have gone down hill. Other parks charges high entrance fees and are over crowded on weekends and in the evenings.

What’s annoying me the most however is the reduction of access to public beaches. We lived 1km from the nearest beach, currently NOT on the tour bus route and apart from 1 café, showers and toilets and a life guard tower. The beaches either side of us now have food shacks, allow jet skiing and kite surfing, have umbrellas and chairs for hire and hold regular events.

The free beach, already slightly reduced in size and a new harbour wall is being built.

With the creation of the new canal and land being built to accommodate hotels, malls, restaurants etc, it won’t be long before our local beach is full on weekends as local residents get edged of their bit of beach and then due to the numbers using the beach, there will be more facilities and amenities, trouble parking, crowded beaches and tour buses stopping.

All this of course is great for tourism and the economy, but it’s not great for us locals, the people who get edged out for the tourists on the weekends and evenings. More and more rules are put in place and sanctioned. I can’t cycle along the beachfront or walk my dog. I can chose to drive out into the desert to cycle on the established cycle track now complete with restaurants and visitors who aren’t visiting for recreational purposes. More people come out to the lakes with the introduction of new facilities, but then there is more mess, more traffic and weekend events. 

But to encourage more visitors out the lakes they are now being stocked with birds and wildlife, which means dogs are now banned from the area and we’re being forced to spend money on entrance fees into private owned dog exercise companies, that already exist, and I use, but when the demand outstrips the space, that will be limited also. Dog friendly public spaces are limited, there are a handful of cafes that allow you to sit outide with your dog, more and more of the developers are banning dogs from areas such as Dubai Marina, forcing people to either give up their dog or move to more expensive areas.

I’m sure I’d have similar experiences living in other cities around the world. I no longer have kids at home, so I’m not interested in child friendly play areas, of which there seems to be plenty of in Dubai. Dubai seems to invest substantiality into families, education, child discounts, which is good for encouraging new families to move here, but for those of us here without kids, or whose children have grown up, all that leaves us with is nail bars, gyms, sports clubs and brunches.

None of which I’m particularly interested in. What I’d like to see is more public open spaces, a park I can take my dog to. More cycle tracks in the city and being allowed to take my bike on the metro so I can reach the quieter areas of Dubai to explore, away from the none stop tourism I get caught up in daily.

Have you noticed changes around the area you live in? 

My Sunday Photo - Week 98

Peter phoned me on Wednesday night to say he would be late home as the 16 lane highway, Sheikh Zayed Road was closed for an hour. I was sitting in a coffee shop and googled it to discover that HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was officially opening the Dubai Water Canal. Following the signs for the dignitaries and being turned away from the official area, I parked up on the side of the road and walked through to the canal.

Considering this is Dubai, I was surprised at how few people were in attendance, but then it is rare events like this are advertised. I was not disappointed and while most of Dubai watched the event on the TV, I along with a few hundred others got to experience it first hand.

I've been documenting the build, through photographs, since our arrival in Dubai in December 2014 and I'm slowly putting everything together in a time lapse blog post.

There was music, parades and entertainment that ended in a firework display, hence why the road was closed for an hour.

I took many photo's that evening, met some lovely people and ended up back at the house of 2 random strangers for a drink after they offered to let me use their loo.

My next project is to start taking photo's of the world's tallest structure that is being built in Dubai Creek.

South Wales to Dubai, so much changes with HDYGG

Last month I made a quick visit to the UK for a funeral and sign the papers on an apartment we bought in South Wales.

The weather in Dubai is now pleasant enough to be spending as much time as possible outdoors, sadly though we still don't really have seasons, although I have felt chilly in the mornings before sunrise, despite the temperatures being in the low 20's.

I was surprised on my trip to the UK in Autumn that I wasn't cold, I certainly felt the rain and realised after 2 days that despite thinking I missed it, I don't really.

My last trip to the UK was in July and August this year, it was very green and I hadn't realised just quite how much I'd missed it. On this trip it was lovely to see the changing colours of the landscape and I especially enjoyed the falling leaves and stopped to take quite a few photo's as I drove around.

I didn't have any other option, other than to stop.

Mum's garden.

The view from the apartment.

This is our new back garden in South Wales, will be making full use of it in the Spring.

Peter sent flowers while I was in the UK for our 14th wedding anniversary.

Back in Dubai, this afternoon having a coffee at the end of another week teaching.

The Chriatmas Decorations are up and I'm looking forward to seeing the magic has to offer in Dubai this year. Last year's Christmas trees can be found here.

Enjoying the outdoors at Global Village.

This is what happened while I was away for a week, a footbridge was erected and the canal was filled.

I can't wait to explore the canal side in the daylight, there is a lot of work to be done still, such as building hotels, restaurants and a mall and develop the strips of sand that line the banks (do canals have banks or sides?)

Week 15 My Sunday Photo Spiderman climbing

It's very difficult to choose just one photo for My Sunday photo as living in Dubai there is just too much to choose from.

This evening, the teen and I headed off to Dubai Marina to see Alain Robert, the @frenchspiderman climb the Cayan Tower, which is the world's tallest twisted tower.

The climb started at 8.10pm and after a false start, he was off, stopping every second floor to give us all a wave. I'd have preferred it if he'd kept both hands firmly attached to the side of the 75 floor, 300 meter high tower.

It took Alain just over an hour to reach the top of the building which was lit up by a giant spotlight from a building opposite.

At one point there were around 200 people at the base of the tower and a little boy in a spiderman costume who drew a bit of attention on the ground also. people stopped on their boats to watch and the bridge and opposite side of the Marina was packed.

After the climb, the crowds dwindled but we stayed along with Reuters and Discovery Channel who were documenting the climb to see Alain, congratulate him and grab a selfie.

This is one of the things I just love about Dubai, they certainly know how to put on a show.

Shopping in Dubai away from the malls and tourist areas.

Not everyone who comes to Dubai is here for the shopping, some of us live here and although you don't pay tax on your salary here, the cost of living is much higher than many other places.

Inside Dubai Mall

The Dubai Shopping Festival DSF, has celebrated it's 20th successful festival which runs January 1st to February 1st and was perfect timing for us on our relocation here when purchasing some essentials whilst waiting for our container and air freight to arrive. Including a massive discount of nearly 50% on a gas oven.

But I'm tired of the Malls now and having done all the touristy things I want to explore a little bit more of Dubai, the real Dubai, not just the attractions and the Malls.

Leaving the train at Diera City, the first place I saw was Diera City Mall, it was well signposted and whichever way you exited the train station it automatically draws you towards it.

After standing back and taking in the sights around me and confirming that everyone who drives a car in Dubai has a horn and every horn works, approximately every few seconds, I headed towards the bus station, in the hope of finding a few local shops. The guide books tell you where you can buy what and where, but when you arrive there's no sign posts to point towards the none tourist areas. It's a bit of hit and miss, but as long as you don't mind walking around and exploring, which is perfectly safe to do, you'll find some delights.

Two different style restaurants, the 1st one was more formal and near the train station, the second one, where I had lunch was off the beaten track, food was very cheap and very good and the staff helped me with directions to get back on the beaten track.

Another place to visit are the souks, but exiting the train at Al Ghubaiba or Al Ras you find yourself in the heart of the tourists again, but if you're prepared to wander a bit off the beaten track, head in the direction of the bus station again.

You'll find some amazing shops selling everything from material, hand made suits and dresses through to spices, gold, knock off handbags and wonderful little street cafes.

I've still Al Kamara and Al Jafilya to explore in search of quality leather handbags, not knock off, but if you do want a plastic designer copy then I've been told these are the best places to go to.

I found quite a few smaller independent malls, selling everything from Loom bands, through to toasters with toiletries, dried foods and clothes and of course what every visitor wants to buy when they come to Dubai, souvenirs.

The shops are packed full and you do have to rummage for items, if you have a pushchair or a wheel chair you certainly won't be able to get upstairs in these places and it can be hard to move around inside.

At the attractions, Marina mall and the airports you'll pay 4-5 times more for the same replica Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, magnet, carpet, sand bottles and camels. Be warned though, when you buy a stuffed musical camel form one of these places it is likely to burst out into a verse or two of Happy Birthday.

Check out the 1-19 dirham stores, souvenirs aren't made to last forever anyway.