Dubai Frame

Brief information

The Dubai Frame stands out not only for its size, but for the very idea of emptiness: architect Fernando Donis proposed not building yet another emblem of the city, but framing the Dubai that already existed. That is why the form works literally. The huge rectangular opening turns the city behind it into an image, while the structure itself becomes a frame for the past, present, and future.

This explains its position in Zabeel Park: from one side, you can see the characteristic landmarks of modern Dubai; from the other, the old parts of the city. The dispute over authorship also changes the way one views the object: a structure conceived as a neutral frame for the city itself became the subject of a high-profile conflict over design and intellectual property.

What to notice first

It makes sense to compare the three levels of the structure. The lower span is connected with the story of the city’s history: it houses a museum and a video exhibition about the future. The upper part functions as an observation deck, meaning that the frame’s own “crossbar” becomes a place for viewing. Between them remains the project’s main element: the empty opening for which the structure was conceived.

The materials emphasize this dual role. Glass, steel, aluminum, and reinforced concrete make the frame both a building and a sign. The EXPO 2020 logo is applied to the outer facade, so the shell speaks not only about form, but also about the image of a new Dubai that they wanted to show. A separate detail is the glass floor of the observation deck: it translates scale from a number into a physical sensation of height.