List of Publications by Department for the Academic Year Exploring Utopian Representations in the Architecture of Art Museums in the Middle East
Abstract
Utopia is a real tendency that develops out of daily life events, flamed upon realization of what is wanted and what is absent. Throughout history, there have been extensive discussions about utopia and architecture; the clearest current embodiment is through sustainability. However, there is still a mysterious perspective that explores the relationship between the collective and architects who seek to create their own utopia by using implicit representations that conceal ambiguous meanings, which hinders the comprehension of the purpose of design. In light of this problem, the paper attempts to explore the utopian representations embedded in the architecture of contemporary art museums in the Middle East. In Gulf Arab cities, decision makers have recently invited renowned architects to design art museums. Certain critics have pointed out that the architectural language of these museums has received unsatisfactory understanding of design messages due to the exaggerated use of notions as ‘Islamic’, ‘mashrabiya’, ‘dome’, and ‘minaret’, which claim to emphasize the Arab identity in an attempt to fulfill the collective will. This paper hypothesizes that the architects of these museums have designed utopian environments based on inclusion of different cultural stories, inspired by different religions, rituals, and cults from various nations. Spaces of these museums have turned into narrators of particular stories. The paper adopts an analytical methodology, defining utopia, giving a literature review about the utopian approaches and representations in architecture, and then analyzing two case studies: Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. The paper interprets the utopian representations in both projects in order to unveil new meanings and the tendencies of these architects beyond their design language. One of the important conclusions this paper reaches is that the gap between users and architects can be bridged through realization of told stories.
Journal/Conference Information
Advances in Utopian Studies and Sacred Architecture,Publisher: Springer International Publishing
, ISBN: 978-3-030-50765-7, Volume: 2, Edition: 2021, Year: 2021, Pages Range: 105-125,