Dubai, Kuwait and Riyadh turned away from the past to make way for modern skyscrapers, but UAE’s Sharjah takes a different tack. Bloomberg economist Ziad Daoud interviews Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi for his take on how Sharjah aims to “acknowledge our distant as well as our recent past” through art and architecture. Read more »
Sharjah
2022 Top 200 Art Collectors: Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi was named among Top 200 Art Collectors in 2022 by Art News. Read more »
‘Building Sharjah’: Book Documents the Rise of a Modern Gulf City
A new book titled “Building Sharjah” traces the architectural history of the city of Sharjah and the social and political contexts of its urbanization from the mid-20th century, from before the discovery of oil off its shores until the present day. 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 »