Dubai goes east to Beijing Design Week

When the Emirati designer Moza Almatrooshi was asked to curate an exhibition for Dubai’s presence as Guest City at Beijing Design Week (BJDW), the first thing she did was make a quick trip to the Chinese capital. She went with an open mind – but the last thing she expected was to find similarities between the two cities.

“I had no preconceived notions about the city, but I didn’t expect to find similarities between Beijing and Dubai, particularly in terms of the ways the cities are shifting and changing, the contrast between older, traditional architecture and modern buildings, and how the old parts of the cities fit in with the new. I came home with this feeling of nostalgia, almost. This has guided the concept for the exhibition,” says Almatrooshi, who has a degree in interior design from Zayed University in Dubai, interned at the UAE National Pavilion during the 2013 Venice Art Biennale, and has curated and managed exhibitions for the 1971 Design Space in Sharjah.

Dubbed Wasl, the Guest City showcase is currently in situ in Beijing’s Dashilar Alley, a location that further accentuates the parallels between the two cities, says Almatrooshi, who likens the historic neighbourhood to Dubai’s Al Fahidi district. “Both have a human-centric layout, and mimic the flow and movement of the people occupying the spaces. The courtyards and use of bamboo within architecture is another thread between them … Dashilar resiliently sits in place while the city continuously develops and rises around it. Al Fahidi neighbourhood, as well as other older areas in the UAE, are in a parallel situation.”

Original article by Selina Denman

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Dubai goes east to Beijing Design Week