Building a Dream: Pan Arab Modernism in Kuwait in the 1960s

Abstract

Abstract Kuwait’s post-oil modernisation is often attributed to a sequence of masterplans designed by British architects and planners. Throughout the recent history of Kuwait’s urban development, these plans foreshadowed policies mediated by local actors and an ambitious public infrastructure building conceived by a new Arab muhandis (architect-engineer). This paper seeks to illuminate a specific period in Kuwait’s architectural and urban history that was facilitated by Arab actors hired in the 1960s in different capacities, and the emergence of the Arab architectural firm in the 1970s. By taking on the role of “expert,” refining what it means to be a muhandis, and by looking at more regional references, these local actors were able to experiment, attempting to develop a distinctly Arab architectural and urban modernism situated in a global modernist movement. This paper offers an expanded reading of the making of Kuwait’s architectural and urban production beyond the polarisation between imported masterplans and locally produced building knowledge and the role played by muhandis in such development.