The wind towers
Catching a breeze from any direction and cooling the house without electricity for a century.
jensimon7 — CC BY 2.0 · Hiren Bhatia — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Davide Mauro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Davide Mauro — CC BY-SA 4.0
The oldest surviving quarter in Dubai, also known as Bastakiya — narrow lanes, mud-brick houses and wind towers, and the answer to the question «where is old Dubai?». It was built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and settled by merchants from Bastak in southern Iran, which gives it its second name. The houses are coral stone, gypsum and palm trunk, and their most important feature is the barjeel — the square wind towers that catch a breeze from any direction and funnel it down into the house, air conditioning that has run without electricity for a century. The quarter was nearly demolished in the 1980s, then saved and restored; what stands today is careful restoration rather than surviving decay. Walking it is free, and the lanes are narrow, shaded and noticeably cool even by day — which is itself the architectural lesson. Inside are small museums and open houses: a coffee museum, a calligraphy museum, and the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding, which serves Emirati meals eaten communally with an explanation. At its edge stands Dubai Museum in the Al Fahidi Fort — the city's oldest building, from 1787 — which has been closed for redevelopment for a long stretch, so check before relying on it. From the quarter it is a few minutes' walk to the abra station and a one-dirham crossing to Deira.
Catching a breeze from any direction and cooling the house without electricity for a century.
Emirati meals eaten communally with an open explanation and questions.
Dubai's oldest building, from 1787, housing Dubai Museum — check it is open.
Bur Dubai, on the creek
The houses are original at their core but were fully restored after nearly being demolished in the 1980s, and parts were rebuilt to the original pattern. It is a restored historic quarter rather than a living one, which is obvious to anyone who compares it with inhabited old quarters elsewhere.
The abra station and a one-dirham crossing to Deira, then the Gold Souk and Spice Souk on the far bank. That route — Al Fahidi, the abra, the souks — is a full half-day and needs no car.
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