A landmark is a thing with
historic, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to a city or
a nation. It is a thing which people identify a city or nation.
Based on this definition, major cities in Pakistan, including the federal
capital, do have landmarks. Lahore has the Minar-i-Pakistan, Karachi has the
Quaid-i-Azam's mausoleum, and Islamabad the Faisal Mosque. It is a different
thing altogether that these landmarks are hardly recognized beyond Pakistan's
borders.
The K-2 is one landmark, which has put Pakistan on the map of world fame, but
this natural landmark, like its competitor, Mount Everest in Nepal, is not the
ordinary traveler’s cup of tea. No doubt K-2 provided the inspiration and the
setting for the Hollywood movie, Vertical Limit, but the latter did not become a
blockbuster like The Entrapment, which featured Malaysia's Patrons Twin Towers.
Most of the famous man-made landmarks in the world are old ones that have been
there for decades, if not centuries. However, two modern landmarks that have
only been completed within the last decade but which have shot their Muslim
states to instant fame are the Patrons Twin Towers of Malaysia and the Burj Al
Arab (The Arabian Tower) of Dubai, one of the seven kingdoms of the United Arab
Emirates. A closer look at how the idea of these two landmarks were conceived
may give us an insight into how to go about building a similar kind of landmark
that would make the world associate Pakistan with.
The masterminds behind the Patrons Twin Towers - named after Malaysia's oil
company which has its headquarters in one of the towers - were a Malaysian
business tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The charismatic politician wanted a building on a site in the heart of the
capital that would be identifiably Malaysian, that was of world class standard,
and which Malaysians could be proud off.
When the Patrons project, developed as part of the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC)
project, was on the drawing board in 1991, the twin towers were supposed to be
distinctive and unique but there was no plan to upstage the then tallest
building in the world, the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Story has it that one day in 1994 when construction was already well under way,
a question was casually put to the architect by Dr Mahathir: How many more
metres would it take for the Patrons Twin Towers to get the tallest building in
the world tag? It was back to the drawing boards and after some frantic
mathematical recalculations, it was deemed possible.
Upon completion in 1997 at the cost of $1.2 billion, the Patrons Twin Towers
quickly became a Malaysian cultural icon, symbolizing Malaysia's soaring
economic success and ability. Images of the Patrons Twin Towers began popping up
in the most unlikely places like a Made-in-Japan jigsaw puzzle and the back of a
London bus. The hit movie, The Entrapment, starring Sean Connery and Catherine
Zeta-Jones, in which the distinctly unique Patrons provided the setting, had
also helped to make this Malaysian building world famous.
Patrons became a landmark not only because it was the tallest building in the
world (it held this title for about seven years before it was upstaged in 2003
by the Taipei 101 building in the capital of Taiwan), but more so because of its
unique architectural features. It is a striking combination of glass and steel
with floor plans based on an eight-pointed star, a geometric principle typified
in Islamic architecture.
The design's piece de resistance is the 58 meter-long double Decker sky bridge
at the 41st and 42nd floor. The bridge was not only meant to serve the
functional purpose of facilitating human traffic between the two towers, it also
symbolized the gateway to Malaysia's Vision 2020.
The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, with its unique billowing sail-shaped structure
is symbolic of the kingdom's desire to be a leader in tourism and financial
development. With its oil and gas reserves running out, Dubai embarked on a
flamboyant and ultra modern multi-million-dollar project to establish itself as
a leading tourist/vacation destination and offshore financial center.
The crown prince of Dubai had wanted not just a hotel but also a signature
building; one that would announce, "Welcome to Dubai". He wanted a dramatic
statement with imagery that would immediately conjure up images of the city, in
much the same way the Opera House does for Sydney and the Eiffel Tower does for
Paris.
Within six years from the initial presentation of the design, the building was
completed and fully fitted for operation by the beginning of 2000. Burj Al Arab
become a landmark because it is the tallest, largest and most luxurious hotel in
the world, possessing a strikingly modern architectural design, an extravagantly
opulent interior design where everything that glitters is really gold, and most
significant of all, a sophisticated multiple state-of-the-art technology in
management that has earned the Burj Al Arab the status of the first seven-star
hotel in the world.
After the Burj Al Arab, Dubai has come up with another iconic development,
namely, The Palm, the largest man-made island in the world, which is shaped like
a palm tree. This luxurious resort has been described as the eighth wonder of
the world and is said to be visible from the moon.
Based on Malaysia and Dubai's experience, the major ingredients for building an
international famed landmark are a charismatic leadership, an inspirational
economic vision, loads of money, and ability. Do we have this winning
combination to deliver a landmark in Islamabad that would become a Pakistani
icon? After all, if parliamentary as well as sheikhdom Muslim states like
Malaysia and Dubai can do it, why not Pakistan? Provided we can get rid of the
terrorism tag first.