As Dubai builds unprecedented realms of new newness, other parts of the Middle East grapple with physical and symbolic histories. Relics come up against re-invention and revolution. Micro-mutations in Middle Eastern politics or economics are part of our shared 'local' news around the globe.
WITH/WITHOUT is an anthology that casts an eye across the broader swathes of the Middle East today. Featuring an innovative, archival design, this hardback book is essential reading for anyone interested in the social makeup, design and architecture of Middle Eastern cities.
Each of the fourteen chapters takes an obvious architectural or institutional typology (the museum, the villa, the street, the skyscraper, etcetera) and illustrates it with essays, interviews, and documentary photographs. The underlying question in all of these inquiries is: how do spaces and territories form fundamental ideas about individuals, communities, and worlds?
Co-published by Bidoun and Moutamarat, WITH/WITHOUT is edited by London-based architects/critics Shumon Basar and Markus Miessen, with Bidoun editor Antonia Carver, and designed by the award-winning Dubai agency 9714.