Architecture, Women and History in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

The Kingdom Centre is the property of Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a prince of the Saudi royal family. Kingdom Centre is situated in Al-Urubah Road between King Fahd Road and Olaya Street in the growing business district of Olaya in Riyadh. In 2002 Kingdom Centre won the Emporis Skyscraper Award and was selected as the "best new skyscraper of the year for design and functionality. The three-level shopping center, which also won a major design award, fills the east wing. The large opening is illuminated at night in continuously changes colors.

Besides the shopping mall, the Centre also includes a Four Seasons Hotel and state-of-the-art apartments. The ellipse motif taken from the tower's footprint appears in the light fixtures, ceiling panels, entrance canopy, wastebaskets, and furniture. The Shopping Mall contains 161 prestigious stores. The Al Faisaliyah Center was the first skyscraper constructed in Saudi Arabia, and the second tallest building in the country after the Al-Mamlakah . The golden ball constructed atop the tower is said to be inspired by a ballpoint pen.

Inside the ball is a restaurant; at ground level, a shopping center with major world brands. This research project aims to put into context the role of women in Saudi and relating it to general history of the female of the west. Perceiving modern Saudi Arabian architecture and the significance of our visual perception to gender codification is what this historical project attempts to analyse. As gathered by word of the mouth, visual reception of the external shape or architecture of the two building is perceived publicly as food items, namely, a bottle opener and a toothpick.

Public opinion as defined by Hegel is:"The formal subjective freedom of individuals consists in their having and expressing their private judgments, opinions, and recommendations on affairs of the state. This freedom is collectively manifested as what is called "public opinion," in which what is absolutely universal, the substantive and the true, is linked with its opposite, the purely particular and private opinions of the Many. Public opinion as it exists is thus a standing self-contradiction, knowledge is thus as appearances, the essential just as directly present as the inessential" 1 Pubic opinion, inspite of being inessential and self-contradictory, is of cultural significance.

This expression which presents the essential and the rational reflects a genuine need for correct tendencies in common life in a form of common sense (Hegel: 1952:104). In this context, the sign signifying and pointing to the signified is an indication of a primary concern and at the same time leaves a lot to imagination. In his argument, Hegel also points to the origin of the human desires of enslaving as primarily due to the need for food and sex. In this primary culture one of the Hegelian parameters has dominated the perception of the two buildings.

The other parameter is the object of this study.What is the importance of the other Hegelian parameter of desire in reference to this project The role of the feminine is an indication