Middle East architecture honored at Cityscape Awards

Nearly 250 entries of buildings, either completed or proposed, from as far and wide as Vietnam, South Africa, China and India were considered by a panel of world-renowned architects for the awards, held in conjunction with the Cityscape 2004 conference and exhibition - the Middle East's premier property investment and development event.

The awards were divided into seven categories: commercial, residential, leisure, master planning, mixed use, community and environmental. Each category was then split into buildings already completed, and those still in the planning stages. The judging criteria for the 248 entries included, contribution to world architectural culture, invention and imagination, environmental awareness, and respect for people and the planet.

"Judging the awards this year was very challenging for our experts, as we had a large number of excellent entries," said Peter Davey OBE, Editorial Director of Architectural Review magazine. "The winners represent a diverse mixture of simply designed community buildings, using materials such as bamboo, to vast and breathtaking glass skyscrapers, designed to serve commercial and residential users for decades.

Middle East architecture was honored during the ceremony held at Nad Al Sheba. The distinctive Dubai Creek Golf Club was awarded as the best completed building and the Karnak Temple Development in Luxor, Egypt, best future project, in the leisure category. The Grand Museum of Egypt was the winner of the future projects award in the community category, where Dubai Towers won the award for best future project in the residential section.

"We were particularly impressed with the standard of entries from less developed areas of the world," said George Ferguson, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who also judged the awards. "There was a sound understanding of architectural concepts, which clearly demonstrates that buildings don't have to be expensive, vast and complex to achieve their aims."

The awards called "Design For An Emerging World" were attended by 800 leading figures from the architecture and construction community and sponsored by Dorma, Degussa, Swarovski and VTS Clima.

"The Cityscape Architectural Review Awards are the highlight of the Cityscape program of activities and provide an opportunity for people in the industry to come together and celebrate great building design," said Neil Hickman, Project Director of Cityscape 2004.

"This year, we have seen an interesting mix of modern and traditional buildings from across the region and wider world and I predict that next year's event will push the standard even higher."

Other judges of the awards included, Ali Shuaibi, Architect, Planner and Co-founder of Beeah Planners, Architects and Engineers, Saudi Arabia; Ken Yeang, Architect, T.R. Hamzah and Yeang, Malaysia; and Martin Giesen, Founding Dean and Professor of the School of Architecture and Design, American University of Sharjah.