The Impact of War on the Meaning of Architecture in Kuwait

The city-state of Kuwait’s oil wealth and strategic location at the cross roads of political conflicts and global interests made it always influenced, directly and indirectly, by wars and armed conflicts in the region. While Kuwait benefited from the sharp increase of oil prices that followed the 1973 Middle East War to finance its modernization and construction plans, its architectural landmarks, governmental and private buildings were targets of destruction and vandalism during the Second Gulf War in 1991. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of the war on architecture in Kuwait as a literal and figurative target of the warfare. It attempts to understand the change of Kuwaitis attitudes towards architecture as an outcome of the war aggressions. The paper illustrates that while the war had a physical impact on buildings and structures; it also had a perceptual impact on their meaning as architecture and places. It polarized attitudes towards architecture and its significance; while traditional architecture gained importance and admiration, global styles of architecture became more trendy and fashionable. The paper illustrates the impact of war on the physical as well as the symbolic aspects of architecture. Another significant impact of the war in Kuwait is the interruption of urban development plans progress that Kuwait enjoyed during the Seventies.

Mahgoub, Yasser. "The Impact of War on the Meaning of Architecture in Kuwait," in ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 2, issue 1 (2008).

Yasser Mahgoub