Int. Design Forum 07

The Cloud is a speculative design for a resort city elevated 300 metres in the air above Dubai and supported on slanting legs resembling rain. Update: this project is included in Dezeen Book of Ideas, which is on sale now for £12. More »

Dubai Renaissance is a building designed last year by Rem Koolhaas and Fernando Donis of OMA as an entry for a competition for iconic central feature at Business Bay in Dubai. OMA lost the competition to Zaha Hadid’s Dancing Towers project, but now OMA is negotiating to build the structure at another site in the Emirate. More »

Bye bye Dubai: here are some photos we took at the International Design Forum, which ended last Tuesday. More »

Live from Dubai: A new book exploring architecture, design and urbanism in the Middle East has been launched at the International Design Forum. More »

Live from Dubai: OMA just sent us a few more images of the proposed Jebel al Jais Mountain Resort in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. More »

Live from Dubai: here are images of a second proposed new store for Kuwaiti luxury fashion retailer Villa Moda, this time located in Bahrain and designed by Marcel Wanders. More »

Live from Dubai: here are some images of Jebel Al Jais Mountain Resort – a tourist village on a mountain in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah designed by Rem Koolhaas of Office for Metropolitan Architecture. More »

Live from Dubai: Sheikh Majed Al Sabah, founder and chief executive of Kuwaiti fashion retailer Villa Moda, has unveiled designs for a new store in Dubai by Spanish designer Jaime Hayon. More »

Live from Dubai: Rem Koolhaas has launched Al Manakh, a book described as the first comprehensive guide to architecture and urban design in the The Gulf. More »

We are heading for Dubai today to cover the International Design Forum, which starts on Sunday. We will bring you as much live coverage of the event as we can, plus there will be more to say when we get back no doubt. Keep an eye on our blog for the IDF for updates.

Proposals for a major new design school in the Middle East and the first ever pan-Arab professional design association are two ideas that will be discussed at the International Design Forum, which takes place in Dubai next week. More »

Architects Foster + Partners have announced the Masdar Initiative – a giant urban development in Abu Dhabi which they describe as the world’s first “zero carbon, zero waste” city. More »

Since we are focusing on architecture in the Gulf at the moment, here is a full set of images of Louvre Abu Dhabi by architect Jean Nouvel. More »

Dezeen has created an interactive map showing the major projects by leading architects in the Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. More »

We’ve updated our blog for the International Design Forum with more architectural projects from the Gulf region, including this competition entry for Dubai Marina by architect Michel Rojkind (above), plus a draft version of the conference programme. More »