This text is composed of five parts. The first four are short stories that each takes an existing architectural project in Abu Dhabi and imagines a fictional history for it. The fifth part—the Afterword—reflects on the four stories in relation to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Four Cautionary Tales for Abu Dhabi is an experiment in the use of literary writing for architectural criticism.
Links to the five parts
2. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque—Palace of God
3. Masdar City—Ready for the 22nd Century
4. Emirates Palace Hotel—We’re Exclusively Inclusive
5. Afterword—On Utopia and Dystopia
Location diagrams
Acknowledgements
I wrote the first version of this text in 2018 for the course “Archigram & Its Legacies” taught by professor Annette Fierro. I thank Dr. Fierro for encouraging me to write a creative text as a final project for the course. A later version of the text was edited by Dalia Aly and Scott Deisher. I thank Scott and Dalia for their excitement and constructive criticism. The title of the text was inspired by Superstudio’s “Twelve Cautionary Tales for Christmas.”
I printed a booklet to submit for Dr. Fierro’s course. The title was “Abu Dhabi: Utopian Futures & Dystopian Pasts.” Here it is:
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