I passed by the Kuwait Airways Building in Kuwait City last night and noticed it was getting demolished. The new building that will replace it is pictured above (right) and looks like your typical lets build the ugliest and cheapest looking skyscraper we can. Kuwait City would look so much more prettier if all the buildings looked like KIPCO Tower or even the smaller Mazaya and KPT Towers.
20 replies on “Kuwait Airways Building Getting Demolished”
Sad. It should be refurbished instead.
I hope that we won’t be hearing about demolishing Kuwait Towers oneday!
It would make perfect sense to demolish the one on the right to make the one on the left
Well said! They have a habit in Kuwait or some wrong assumption that old buildings that are landmarks should be put down and replaced with new high-rise with glass windows.
if i didn’t know better i would say that someone is intentionally destroying any sort of heritage or landmark in Kuwait, and turn the country as if it was created 10 years ago.
Like everything, bad planning and poor judgment.
This building is a part of my childhood and my memories. How sad and depressing.
Jesus Com down.
Well if they have good and logical reasons as to why they are demolishing the building, I wouldn’t mind.
But the new design just looks horrible
this rendering was probably done in the early 2000s when everyone wanted their building to be Grendizer
Calm*
The Kuwait Airways building was a great example of the architecture of its time. The design of the new building is just adding insult to injury 🙁 Kuwait should really come up with a listing system where building of any architectural, cultural or historical significance are protected, it might be too late for that now though with most of them gone.
Kipco cost over 70 million KD to build.
It may have fallen into disrepair, but the KAC Building was iconic in its own way and a highly-recognizable symbol of the downtown cityscape and of a lost era in our history. It’s such a shame to lose it to something so unspeakably odious; the damn thing looks like a whale of a tower and based on the rendering at forty floors, it ain’t tiny. At least the old building had subtle details and a personality of its own; a refurbishment wouldn’t have killed anybody, no?
I’m not saying something of a KIPCO caliber should necessarily have been built in its place – although we do deserve beautiful buildings of that nature – but SURELY something more appealing or visually dynamic could have been selected.
Thank you, Kuwait City planning authorities, for continuing your quest to make our city as anonymous and incohesive as possible.
+1 That building till date stands out especially because of the ‘different’ design it has. I’m all for taking it down if it is a structural threat but also why replace it with an “also ran” design that’s so familiar and ordinary? Oh wait that’s what the Kuwait Airways enterprise has become – from the golden feather on the country’s cap to an ageing airline. I really wish people questioned this and got some better. We owe it to Kuwait!
More reasons to avoid flying Kuwait Airways and stick with Emirates 🙂
i’m flying kuwait airways end of the month, i wonder if i’ll get their new plane
Good luck! I have personally flown with their new planes (J class) and found it to be a joke compared to Emirates.
There is no priority boarding, no buses segregating economy from business class passengers, no in-flight wi-fi, their lounge is a joke (both in Kuwait and Dubai) compared to Emirates lounges in Dubai and Kuwait.
Want me to continue with the list or are you convinced now that Kuwait Airways can not compete with Emirates if they don’t get their act together.
+1 However:
1) they have direct connections
2) Their J Class is a 100KD cheaper
3) Their Oasis Club membership has better and immediately redeemable rewards. A few flights and I’m getting a return business class ticket!
4) Great baggage allowance
5) Emirates sucks! They are no longer who they pretended to want to be. I could list the number of issues I’ve faced with them in Dubai on the transit – yep and documented it all through complaints as well – the response almost sounded like ‘too bad buddy move on’ Take any other airline – Qatar is still holding up on service and ensuring transits are comfortable.
On the flip side
1) Service is not business class but barely economy – they’re like govt employees who know their jobs are safe and refuse to do anything better – but I did have one experience a few years back which was better than Emirates, sadly never saw that crew again
2) There is no priority service and no real customer service even at their offices
3) Planes are old and I’m surprised they are still flying – thank God for western engineering of the 70s!
Emirates is late 8 out of 10 times. FlyDubai is now as late. I type this as I sit waiting for 90 minutes for my flight
Emirates and Etihad better than Qatar airways .
So the new building is shaped like a giant Kuwait Airways logo?
Dear Mark
You are doing a great job with these alerts.
I left my email address here, please get in touch.
We can put our efforts together.
George Arbid
Associate Professor AUB
Director, Arab Center for Architecture