360east

Category: Architecture

  • Found in a bathroom of a Lebanese restaurant in Dubai

    I found this in the WC of a Lebanese restaurant in Dubai. I assume that it depicts a scene from old Beirut. Probably from the 1930’s. What jumped at me was the fact that there was an electrical tramway there. The tramway car even has a number. It seems that, in the early 20th century,…

  • This insane skyscraper ad abuses Amman!

    This shocking ad has been running in the media for the past 2 weeks or so. At a time where the real estate developers have stopped advertising because the global financial crisis has brought their business model to a standstill, Dubai’s Limitless is still managing to advertise in Amman, but with a disastrous ad. The…

  • Amman Centennial Forum: Youth and Mayor Omar Maani talk about the city

    On Saturday 21 February 2009, from 5 to 8 pm, Amman’s youth are invited to attend an open Amman Centennial Forum with the Mayor of Amman Omar Maani, to discuss Amman’s vision, at Al Al Hussein Cultural Center in Ras Al Ein. Check out the event’s Facebook page. This forum is being held by the…

  • Amman updated on Google Earth, but with less detail?

    I was alerted (actually by my mother-in-law) that Amman’s Google Earth satellite photography has been updated. I just checked and it’s indeed true. The previous Amman satellite photos where at least 18 months old if not older. The area in the screen shot above is of the Mecca Street/Medical City Road intersection. As you can…

  • InsideJo: Jordan’s homegrown GPS car navigator debuts in January ‘09

    Hot on the heels of Nokia’s announcement of a Amman GPS map (made exclusively on 360east) comes another, pretty amazing announcement. Two Jordanian home-grow companies, GenieSoft and Reborn Industries have created a joint venture and launched InsideJo, a full GPS map and navigation system for Jordan. The announcement was made using a full page ad…

  • Amman, the ugly. Amman, the beautiful..

    Amman’s quick-practicality and “just do it somehow” attitude has the potential for producing both ugly, self disrespecting scenes and beautiful acts of spontaneous urban art. Walking in the middle of Shmeisani, a district dominated by Jordan’s banks and other businesses, I find this scene. Notice the empty flowerpot, the sign-less sign mast and the tile…

  • To Queen Alia Airport manager: please “eat your own dog food”

    Eating one’s own dog food is a concept in business that requires companies and organizations to actually USE the products and services they sell their customers. And that’s exactly what the manager of Queen Alia International Airport should do. The airport has recently been taken over by a private consortium. I noticed some positive changes…

  • Fixed streets, destroyed sidewalks and the sloppiness that is killing Jordan

    7iber.com, the Jordanian citizen journalism web site has posted an article with pictures and an audio interview about a broken side walk in Jabal Amman. This damage was caused by the process of paving which several streets in Amman are undergoing these days. I won’t add much to 7iber’s post. The scene above might be…

  • Typography is architecture

    Picture from 7iber.com Larger billboards on the sides of Amman’s buildings are occasionally becoming displays for dramatic typographic interventions. Here, type becomes the defining feature of facade. Letterforms are on full display. It’s the triumph of type! It’s cool to some good fonts on Amman’s walls. It’s also good for Amman’s advertising creators and buyers…

  • Amman celebrates its old stairs

    Amman is definitely a city that has started a journey of self (re)discovery. A city that has exploded in all directions over the past decades, is finally finding time to look inwards again, to rediscover and celebrate its own urban heritage. Yesterday it was time to celebrate one of Amman’s old stairs in Jabal Al…

  • Say goodbye to the ‘Factory of Smoke’. Say hello to Amman’s Opera House

    This would make a great anti-smoking campaign. “Sing and dance instead of sucking on that cigarette”. The Tobacco Factory (or ‘Masna’ al-Dukhan’, Arabic: the Factory of Smoke), one of Amman’s old industrial landmarks is being demolished these days. In its place, the Amman municipality will build Darat King Abdullah II, a very ambitious project that…

  • Amman’s first Arabic typo facade

    Deconstructivist architecture meets modern Arabic typography in this facade of a new restaurant that will open on Amman’s Mecca street! This building has caught my attention for the first time some months ago, as I saw its “haphazardly” placed metal columns being erected. But it was a real surprise around a week ago to see…