Reddit reviews Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life
We found 2 Reddit comments about Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
> What about the people who collaborated with Iraq during the occupation?
Meh. It's an invasion and occupation. Nothing stands out.
>Who?
People who are brown on the outside, but white on the inside. Folks who have been intellectually colonized.
>Cheese puffs?
Yes.
>Sure, that too.
Well if you want to read about Kuwait's urban history then I suggest this book.
To be honest with you, I don’t think anyone even knows or cares about it. In qatar, the most visited place is Avenues Mall, which has a Venetian theme with a canal running through the interior. There’s no end in site to the mall building, and locals want enormous villas on enormous plots and can afford it. The attitude, at least it seems to me, is that newer is always better. Big shiny Starbucks.
There’s an attempt in Qatar to create a new part of town that’s inspired by traditional architecture. The project is called Msheireb, and it aims to get locals to move back into downtown Doha. It’s by a British firm, but it feels too corporate to be genuinely traditional in any sense.
In kuwait, I feel that locals now view the detached villa typology, where the villa sits in the centre of the plot with a front lawn and backyard, as traditional. It reminds them of the 60s and 70s. There isn’t a single part of town that could be called authentic or traditional. Souq Mubarakiya was rebuilt in the 1960s and old Kuwait City was masterplanned by Peter and Alison Smithson also in the 60s.
There are a few great black and white photos in Kuwait Transformed of Kuwait Town before its demolition that are very reminiscent of old Tunis, or this photo of Ghadames
The company involved in kuwait’s larger masterplan, Minoprio, Spencely, Macfarlane, had never designed anything outside of britain when they were commissioned. It’s a tragedy.