In an era before Burj Khalifa, there were two landmarks to tell you you had arrived in Dubai. One was the World Trade Centre and the other was the Toyota Building.
Named so because of its neon sign, the Toyota Building served as a reference point as the city expanded. In 2018, the sign disappeared.
The two-block residential tower is properly known as the Nasser Rashid Lootah Building and its owners, the NRL Group, told The National that the advertising contract with Toyota was renewed recently.
“The contract ended several years ago but it has started again,” the group said.
The English sign was restored to the side of the building that greets drivers heading north towards Sharjah, while an Arabic sign has been installed on the opposite side.
Al Futtaim Toyota also said on Monday the sign was back “by popular demand” following a survey.
There is a lot of nostalgia and fond memories that Dubai residents associate with the billboard. Bringing it back is our tribute to the spirit of Dubai
Vincent Wijnen,
senior managing director, Al Futtaim Automotive
“There is a lot of nostalgia and fond memories that Dubai residents associate with the billboard,” said Vincent Wijnen, senior managing director at Al Futtaim Automotive. “Bringing it back is our tribute to the spirit of Dubai.”
The significance of the Lootah tower, however, goes far beyond a simple sign, and, like all old buildings in Dubai, it has a story to tell.
It appeared on the city’s skyline at some point in the late 1970s. Archive photographs taken by Gulf News photographers from the World Trade Centre in 1979 show it close to completion.
It was one of the few high-rises in Dubai then, surrounded by nothing but sand, beside what was known as Defence Roundabout. All Futtaim Toyota said the sign was installed in the 1980s but neon was not new in Dubai.
“Neon signage had … already lit up the night sky for nearly two decades from on top of buildings along Dubai Creek,” said Todd Reisz, author of Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai.
Rather than the sign, Mr Reisz said the building’s significance lies more in representing a new phase in Dubai’s expansion.
“The Toyota signage and the building below it were part of a ramped-up campaign to stretch the city beyond the Creek, towards the city’s developing new ports,” said Mr Reisz, referring to Port Rashid, Dubai Drydocks and Jebel Ali Port.
“Probably completed in the late 1970s or early 1980s just after the World Trade Centre, the Lootah building helped to configure the Abu Dhabi road, not yet known as Sheikh Zayed Road, as the city’s spine.”
The building reflects its era. Its concrete, shaded balconies and smaller windows offered residents respite from the searing heat.
Over the years, however, the tower has been overshadowed by modern skyscrapers, including the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa.
Its once white exterior has been painted brown but older external air conditioning units still dot the exterior. On the ground floor are some small shops including a grocery, laundry and restaurant. A rudimentary street gym has closed, with locks on the door and faded posters of musclemen yellowing on the walls.
That the building remains is a statement in itself and many residents still call it home. The NRL Group said it plans a maintenance programme soon.
Yasser Elsheshtawy, adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University in the US and expert on urbanism in the Gulf, cautioned against getting too nostalgic about such buildings as there are times when people need to step back and look at what the city needs.
“It is natural to think fondly of some of these buildings and associate some romantic idea of the ‘good old times’ and sense of community,” he said. “But this could be wishful thinking and not truly what existed at the time.
“The danger is that nostalgia is attached to these buildings. I personally don’t think much would be lost if it were to be demolished. People who live there need to be relocated and given appropriate housing. It could be a park and provide an open air space for people in that area.”
The privately-owned tower and wider neighbourhood have been the subject of a recent photographic tour run by Dubai’s Gulf Photo Plus that examined the area’s history and urban development.
“Toyota have done a great service to the participants and residents by highlighting this local icon,” said Gulf Photo Plus’s Raz Hansrod.
“And [by] using the opportunity of the sign reinstatement to share cultural insights with participants and the wider community,” said Mr Hansrod, who said Toyota had contacted them about a tour and they worked together to place the building in a historic context.
This tour also reflects the surge of interest in the UAE’s architectural heritage over the past few years, including Mr Reisz’s and Prof Elsheshtawy's work.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi and Mr Reisz also co-edited Building Sharjah, a book which documented modernist architecture in the emirate. Sharjah Art Foundation has restored buildings such as the Flying Saucer, while the Sharjah Architecture Triennial holds walking tours of historic neighbourhoods.
In Abu Dhabi, a modern heritage initiative aims to safeguard its historic architecture, while in 2018 Dubai Municipality launched one of its own.
But questions will always swirl about redevelopment when it comes to these buildings.
“There have been multiple rumours about pending demolition,” Mr Reisz said.
“That’s not surprising considering that it is clearly of another era and now in the midst of a new district targeting an income level beyond that of current residents. The building once announced Dubai’s economic advancement. Today, it survives as a hope for a more demographically integrated Dubai.”
Dubai's development through the years — in pictures
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
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THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
TEAMS
US Team
Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth
Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger
Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler
Kevin Kisner, Patrick Reed
Matt Kuchar, Kevin Chappell
Charley Hoffman*, Phil Mickelson*
International Team
Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day
Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen
Marc Leishman, Charl Schwartzel
Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim
Jhonattan Vegas, Adam Hadwin
Emiliano Grillo*, Anirban Lahiri*
* denotes captain's picks
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Floward%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdulaziz%20Al%20Loughani%20and%20Mohamed%20Al%20Arifi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EE-commerce%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbout%20%24200%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAljazira%20Capital%2C%20Rainwater%20Partners%2C%20STV%20and%20Impact46%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C200%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research
%3Cp%3EThe%20Zayed%20Centre%20for%20Research%20is%20a%20partnership%20between%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%2C%20University%20College%20London%20and%20Great%20Ormond%20Street%20Hospital%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Charity%20and%20was%20made%20possible%20thanks%20to%20a%20generous%20%C2%A360%20million%20gift%20in%202014%20from%20Sheikha%20Fatima%20bint%20Mubarak%2C%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20General%20Women's%20Union%2C%20President%20of%20the%20Supreme%20Council%20for%20Motherhood%20and%20Childhood%2C%20and%20Supreme%20Chairwoman%20of%20the%20Family%20Development%20Foundation.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
T20 World Cup Qualifier
October 18 – November 2
Opening fixtures
Friday, October 18
ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya
Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan
Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed
Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed
Reading List
Practitioners of mindful eating recommend the following books to get you started:
Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung
How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Mindful Diet by Dr Ruth Wolever
Mindful Eating by Dr Jan Bays
How to Raise a Mindful Eaterby Maryann Jacobsen
Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
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%3Cp%3EAriana%E2%80%99s%20Persian%20Kitchen%3Cbr%3EDinner%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EEstiatorio%20Milos%3Cbr%3EHouse%20of%20Desserts%3Cbr%3EJaleo%20by%20Jose%20Andres%3Cbr%3ELa%20Mar%3Cbr%3ELing%20Ling%3Cbr%3ELittle%20Venice%20Cake%20Company%3Cbr%3EMalibu%2090265%3Cbr%3ENobu%20by%20the%20Beach%3Cbr%3EResonance%20by%20Heston%20Blumenthal%3Cbr%3EThe%20Royal%20Tearoom%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In Praise of Zayed
A thousand grains of Sand whirl in the sky
To mark the journey of one passer-by
If then a Cavalcade disturbs the scene,
Shall such grains sing before they start to fly?
What man of Honour, and to Honour bred
Will fear to go wherever Truth has led?
For though a Thousand urge him to retreat
He'll laugh, until such counsellors have fled.
Stands always One, defiant and alone
Against the Many, when all Hope has flown.
Then comes the Test; and only then the time
Of reckoning what each can call his own.
History will not forget: that one small Seed
Sufficed to tip the Scales in time of need.
More than a debt, the Emirates owe to Zayed
Their very Souls, from outside influence freed.
No praise from Roderic can increase his Fame.
Steadfastness was the Essence of his name.
The changing years grow Gardens in the Sand
And build new Roads to Sand which stays the same.
But Hearts are not rebuilt, nor Seed resown.
What was, remains, essentially Alone.
Until the Golden Messenger, all-wise,
Calls out: "Come now, my Friend!" - and All is known
- Roderic Fenwick Owen
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
