cover of MONU nr9 (more info in: MONU website)
Bernd Upmeyer and Beatriz Ramo spoke with Reinier de Graaf, who is one of the partners of Rotterdam-based OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture). He joined OMA in 1996 and in 2002 became the director for AMO, the think tank of OMA. In that capacity he was responsible
for the production of ‘The Image of Europe’, an exhibition that provides a history ofEuropean political representation. Recently, he has taken responsibility for OMA’s growing engagement in the Middle East and leads several master plan projects in Dubai, including Waterfront City, Kuwait, and Ras-Al-Khaimah, and buildings in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. The interview deals in general with the question what it means for a European planner - being used to a democratic context - to design in the Gulf States ruled by absolute monarchies.Furthermore, it discusses what kind of urban conditions are being produced there and what impact those planning processes have on the Western world. More specifically, the interview deals with OMA’s Waterfront City project in Dubai. The interview took place on July 16, 2008 in OMA’s office in Rotterdam.
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