In a candid interview, the Emirati art expert talks about his habit of cleaning plane bathrooms and how New York lifted him out of a time when his ‘spirit was broken’. Read more »
Press
Collecting Art for the Public Good
In this feature interview, Shawati speaks to Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi about his passion for Arab arts and culture, and his personal journey as an art collector and curator through the years. Read more »
Rising Gulf cities look to protect landmarks
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discusses the need for Gulf states to recognize the value that the modern architecture holds in a historical context, which tell countless stories of the immigrants and the residents who made the UAE and the Gulf their homes. Read more »
Indian architect Ashok Mody shares memories of building Sharjah
Ashok Mody was a young architect from India on his first international assignment when he arrived in Sharjah in 1975. Over the next five years, he worked on projects that have become enduring landmarks of the emirate such as Al Zahra Hospital, the Oceanic Hotel in Khorfakkan and the biggest public housing development — the 1000 Villas project in Al Ghubaiba. Four decades later, Mody still cherishes his memories of living and working in Sharjah and acknowledges that the experience was invaluable to his career. Weekend Review caught up with Ashok Mody during his visit to the city, in this interview. Read more »
Ashok Mody, who built Sultan Al Qassemi’s family home, on the distinctiveness of Gulf architecture
Ashok Mody, who lived in Sharjah from 1975 to 1980, is responsible for a number of buildings in the Emirate. A group of about 80 people packed into the majlis of one of the vast family residences in central Sharjah last weekend for a conversation between the house’s architect – Ashok Mody – and one of the children who grew up in it, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi. Read more »
Meet the Indian architect who built iconic buildings in UAE
In 1975, 26-year-old Indian architect Ashok Mody touched down in the UAE for the very first time. Tasked with designing just one building in Sharjah, his work quickly impressed. So much so he went on to build some of the city’s most iconic buildings that still stand today. Now in his 70s, Ashok Mody sits with Sultan Souud Al Qassemi to discuss his architectural legacy in Sharjah, in one of the very buildings he helped design and build. Read more »