Oil, Glass, and Identity: Gulf Modernism Between Global Image and Local Climate

May 18 PIF Tower, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo © Bader Otaby. Image © The International High-Rise Award 2022/23 Step from the heat of Dubai into the lobby of a glass tower, and the desert seems to disappear. Outside, temperatures climb past 45 degrees Celsius; inside, the air is cold, sealed, and perfectly controlled. For decades, this contrast became the defining image of Gulf modernity. Architecture became less a negotiation with climate, and more a demonstration that climate could be overcome . Towers of reflective glass rose from the desert as symbols of arrival, projecting financial power, technological confidence, and global ambition. Beneath this urban image sat an infrastructure built on oil , cheap energy, and the continuous mechanical suppression of heat. + 8