I’m not a big fan of the new Central Bank of Kuwait tower (pictured above) thats being constructed across the street from Souk Sharq and after seeing the video below of how it will be lit up, I dislike it even more. The building looks really out of place with its surroundings and is just a huge ugly concrete block from the back.
[YouTube]
Thanks Ammar
11 replies on “CBK Architectural Lighting”
indeed it is very ulgy. There is also the ugly Twin tower near burj jassim.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8458/8016487882_153c9eb0f0.jpg
i call it pajama building.
LOL
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20526220
Could someone please explain to me whats going on here…
Who decided to build a highrise building less than 50 meters from the shoreline and right in the middle of all historic buildings?
This is nonsense… and I’ve been seeing so many nonsense going on in that area… like that HUGE statue being built in the round about in front the historic Seif Palace. In the past you’d get an AMAZING scenery of the Seif Palace and Grand Mosque when you’re standing at the Stock Exchange intersection. Now the whole historic part of the Seif Palace is being blocked by what appears to be a shit structure supposed to be statue! Nonsense.
And thats not even all of it… The whole view of Kuwait Bay is being blocked with the shit design of new bridge. Apparently it will begin somewhere near Shuwaikh Beach (where KPC, MoO and Shuwaikh sea port are) so if you look at the bay horizon now you’ll see works going on from that point and it continues until after soug sharg! so that HUGE distance… will no longer be Kuwait Bay… but a shit bridge OVER the water! wtf
All of it? No… They just tore down a historic building (Mark posted about it) and couple historic buildings within the old soug (Mark didn’t post about that). Of course not to mention that they have removed AlSafat Square and most of all soug being rebuilt.
Something crazy going on. I’m hating whoever making this shit decisions.
My only gripe about it is that it’s too close to the water, that alone is a bad thing. And it will obstruct the see view.
If it was just more inside the land…
I guess if you commission a tacky building, you’re going to get a tacky building. Kuwait certainly seems to have lost herself. Even the new cultural centre, as incredible as it is, appears to have no roots to Kuwaiti or even arab culture. For a nation that so vehemently professes it’s patriotic pride, Kuwait seems to be purposefully removing its identity and abandoning it’s past.
Kinda like the Shard.
The reason the back of the building is covered in sandstone is to reduce solar gain and reflectivity on neighboring buildings. Not the prettiest solution but definitely a useful one.
I agree that the building’s location is out of context; with low-rise, historic neighbors like the Dickson House and the Seif Palace, this tower looks as if it was just thrown into the middle of everything… But that’s what you get with Kuwait’s wayward definition of urban planning.
On the flip side, there are plans to add more high-rise density to that area. The Kuwait Investment Authority is currently building their new headquarters to the back of the CBK Tower and at 220 meters, it’ll be around the same height of the CBK Tower when construction wraps up by 2016. I’d like them to take parking into account so the area doesn’t become more congested than it needs to be [CBK, NBK, Burgan Bank and the Stock Exchange all within the same zone? Uh-oh.]. Parks and green/open spaces would also be great to add some breathing room to the area.
It reminds me of the pyramids, you go through a long walkway until you reach the pyramid but only uglier. I hope they don’t get a wild hair and tear down the rest of the old Kuwaiti houses, it seems like everyone is trying to erase the past. We all know nothing is built out of love, many people are getting paid even if the project is a disaster. I still want to know why the ‘Heritage Village’ surrounding Bait Dickson was never finished.
They are called specialist in this Field otherwise they will not be engineers and architects. They build this skyscrapers as they constructed based on the designed agreed with their clients, whether they are going to build in the middle of the ocean, they studied and learned the structure whether if it is safe and feasible. We should be thankful that they are building this constructions as it gives job opportunity to others if your government stop building this nation for sure you will cried out loud and start complaining. To expat like me we should be thankful that we are part of this nation moving forward.