Zayed National Museum to explore UAE’s storied history
Zayed National Museum to explore UAE’s storied history/node/2607350/lifestyle
Zayed National Museum to explore UAE’s storied history
Located on Saadiyat Island, the Zayed National Museum will explore early human settlements that go back 300,000 years as well as the area’s language, traditions, and flora and fauna. (Supplied)
Zayed National Museum to explore UAE’s storied history
Located on Saadiyat Island, the Zayed National Museum has a bevy of illustrious neighbors including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Natural History Museum and teamLab Phenomena
Updated 08 July 2025
Saffiya Ansari
DUBAI: As Zayed National Museum gets ready to open its doors in the UAE capital, Arab News spoke to director Peter Magee about the museum’s aims and what visitors can expect.
An opening date is yet to be announced, but the center will focus on the history of the UAE with special emphasis on Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It will explore early human settlements that go back 300,000 years as well as the area’s language, traditions, and flora and fauna.
“The narrative within the museum is guided by the enduring values of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan,” explained Magee. “We look at those values and then we look at the way in which they guided him, but also the way in which they reflect social values which exist within the UAE both in the past and the present — and in the future.
Dr. Peter Magee. (Supplied)
“It's a national museum focused on the UAE, but of course it looks at the regional links which existed to other countries in the Arabian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and even further afield.”
One particular highlight is a full-size reconstruction of a Magan boat from the Bronze Age, constructed with reeds and palm-fiber rope. Magee and his team sailed in it for two days on the waters of the Arabian Gulf.
Located on Saadiyat Island, the Zayed National Museum has a bevy of illustrious neighbors including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Natural History Museum and teamLab Phenomena. (Supplied)
Located on Saadiyat Island, the Zayed National Museum has a bevy of illustrious neighbors including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Natural History Museum and teamLab Phenomena.
“The way I like to think about it is that each of these museums and institutions … is its own star … and in combination they appear like a constellation or something that can be read coherently together as well as individually,” Magee said.
The team from Gerber Architekten discuss their RIBA-award nominated design
Updated 31 October 2025
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: In the heart of Riyadh, a groundbreaking project is transforming a former airbase into a green oasis that promises to reshape the Saudi capital’s environmental and social landscape. King Salman Park — nominated for its inaugural Middle East Awards by the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects — stands as a testament to innovative urban design in one of the world’s most challenging desert environments.
“Our primary vision was to transform this former (airbase) area from a desert flood zone into living, breathing nature in the heart of Riyadh,” Eckhard Gerber, founder of Gerber Architekten, the German firm behind the design and execution of the park, tells Arab News.
Thomas Lücking, the company’s managing director, adds, “The idea was to really create a forest and have under its canopy a thousand gardens. So, something to really increase the livability of the city, to attract the citizens into the green, and give them the opportunity to really understand and connect to nature.”
Concept image for Overlook Hill in King Salman Park. (Courtesy of Gerber Architekten)
The park, spanning 16 square kilometers, will reportedly be the largest urban park in the world. And it’s set to challenge conventional approaches to urban development in extreme climatic conditions.
“How to structure the park was the biggest initial challenge,” says Lücking. “And what helped us was really understanding Riyadh and the Arabian peninsulas and the wadis — a key element in the environment in and around Riyadh. Here, the main structuring element was creating a manufactured wadi.”
A second major challenge was connecting the city to the park. “That’s when we got this idea of an intertwining of the green fingers of the park with the urban ‘fingers’ of the city,” he continues. “So, the city reaches into the park, and the park reaches out into the city with those green fingers to make it, really, a vital part of the city — not just an island isolated there. And there’s no fence; there’s no boundary around the park.”
Concept image for Overlook Hill in King Salman Park. (Courtesy of Gerber Architekten)
The project’s ambition goes far beyond creating a simple green space. It represents a comprehensive approach to urban regeneration, addressing critical environmental challenges while giving citizens a new way to interact with nature in a desert metropolis.
Water management emerged as a crucial innovation. Lücking highlights the firm’s pioneering approach: “We’re using treated wastewater from the city — approximately 150,000 cubic meters daily — which is polished to near-drinking water quality.”
This approach not only solves waste-management issues but provides a sustainable irrigation solution for the park’s ambitious green infrastructure.
Concept image for Museum of the Earth. (Courtesy of Gerber Architekten)
Even the park’s soil is a marvel of scientific engineering. The team dug down 2.5 meters, breaking up compacted airport ground and creating what Lücking describes as “regenerative soil,” and by incorporating red sands, pumice, biochar, and microorganisms, they’ve developed a living ecosystem that can absorb rainwater like a sponge and support an extraordinary diversity of plant life.
The park — which should be complete by 2030, although some areas will open sooner than that — will apparently host more than 700 plant species, a dramatic increase from the 100-120 species currently cultivated in Riyadh. Approximately half of them are indigenous to Saudi Arabia, so many of them are being newly introduced to the region’s horticultural landscape. “We wanted to create a place where people can truly enjoy nature,” Gerber emphasizes.
The park’s design incorporates varied landscape types, including valleys, mountains, and water bodies, with elevation changes spanning 35 meters to create diverse microclimates and viewing experiences.
Concept image for one of the park's valleys. (Courtesy of Gerber Architekten)
Architectural elements are deliberately integrated into the landscape, rather than imposed on it. The Museum of the Earth, for instance, appears initially as a natural canyon, with building facades subtly emerging as visitors explore deeper. Pedestrian bridges mimic tree branches, and rest areas are designed to resemble natural caverns.
The park’s design philosophy rejects the typical approach of creating an entertainment zone. “We didn’t want hundreds of artificial attractions,” says Lücking. “Instead, we aimed to create a piece of manufactured nature where people can connect with their environment, explore, and occasionally get delightfully lost.”
The nomination for the RIBA Awards, for which the winners will be announced Nov. 5, represents more than just architectural recognition for the firm. “It’s our first opportunity to showcase what’s possible in Saudi Arabia,” notes Gerber.
Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘A House of Dynamite’ is a damp squib
Updated 31 October 2025
Adam Grundey
DUBAI: It looked so good on paper. A nuclear war-themed thriller with a script from award-winning screenwriter Noah Oppenheim, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, and starring a handful of excellent actors including Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris and Gabriel Basso.
And for the first 20 minutes or so, “A House of Dynamite” delivers. We meet Captain Olivia Walker (Ferguson), the oversight officer for the White House Situation Room, on her way to work, where she’s informed of several significant geopolitical developments involving — separately — China, Iran, and North Korea. Then the US early-warning radar system detects an unidentified intercontinental ballistic missile (i.e. a missile with the capability to carry a nuclear warhead a very long way) already in flight (it missed the launch point, so no one knows who’s responsible for firing it) over the Pacific. At first, it’s assumed to be a routine test by North Korea, so no one really panics. But when the ICBM enters low orbit, and they figure out its likeliest destination will be Chicago, everyone really panics. With less than 20 minutes until impact, there are some horrifying decisions to be made, particularly when the two ground-based interceptors launched to intercept the ICBM fail to do so.
As the countdown to impact heads ever closer, a wave of resignation hits. Those on the video conference call between the Situation Room, the Pentagon, and various armed forces commanders await the decision of the president (Elba) on how to respond to what now seems very likely to be a nuclear attack on the US that will cause tens of millions to die. But with no real knowledge of who’s responsible (both Russia and China deny involvement), can he really decide to launch a nuclear attack of his own to avoid looking weak and inviting further aggression?
We don’t find out because, just before impact, the film jumps back 20 minutes to replay the scene from some different people’s perspectives, including Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Harris), with snatches of dialogue from previous sections now making more sense as we catch the other ends of the conversations. Twenty minutes later, we do the same again, switching to the perspectives of the president and his entourage. Neat trick. But worth building a movie around?
The story is gripping and terrifying — at least the first time around (it’s hard to get quite as invested once you know what does or doesn’t happen). But because of the limited screen time, none of the excellent cast has a chance to go beyond Acting 101. It all makes for an odd viewing experience; one in which, despite the incredibly high stakes, it feels like there’s no real jeopardy.
In the end, “A House of Dynamite” is — much like America’s missile defense system as portrayed here — an expensive waste of time.
Saudi author Faisal G. Binzagr: ‘I always believed I would be a writer’
The Saudi author is featured in the recently released horror anthology ‘Arabian Nightmares’
Updated 31 October 2025
Jasmine Bager
RIYADH: Saudi author Faisal G. Binzagr is among the writers featured in the recently published “Arabian Nightmares,” billed as the first English-language anthology of horror shorts by Arab writers. The project — spearheaded by Lebanese author Daniel Habib and crowd-funded via Kickstarter — brings together a diverse mix of regional voices exploring fear and folklore from an Arab perspective. Binzagr learned about the anthology in 2023 from fellow Saudi author Maram Taibah.
“Daniel wanted to create the first anthology of horror shorts written by Arab authors. Apparently that’s never been done before and he was shocked by that, so he was, like, ‘Let’s do it!’ It was a great opportunity and I was very happy to be a part of it,” Binzagr tells Arab News.
His contribution, “The Great Work of Dr Quqazi; or, The Bell,” combines classic horror with distinctly Saudi textures and references — local rituals, internal conflict and the tensions that ripple through families.
The cover of the horror anthology 'Arabian Nightmares.' (Supplied)
The synopsis on Kickstarter reads: “Smothered by his conservative parents, an aspirational young Saudi teeters on the brink of depression. He turns to his uncle — a man of wisdom and science — seeking treatment, but soon begins to suspect his methods lie at the intersection of science, alchemy… and the occult.”
It draws some inspiration from Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” yet remains firmly rooted in the Saudi imagination.
Binzagr grew up in a creative family in Jeddah; the late pioneering Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr was among his relatives. And even as a child, Binzagr experimented with stories that blurred the boundaries between imagination and reality. “I was born writing,” he says. “I think I was around two when I started drawing different stories on paper and having my mom write down what I would dictate to her.”
His American mother, a teacher, encouraged him to think beyond sketches, and toward narrative.
The poster for Faisal Binzagr's short play 'Arabian Gothic,' performed at Ithra in 2021. (Supplied)
“There is one pivotal moment in my writing journey that happened when I was around six or seven,” he says, recalling how the cover of Stephen King’s 1981 horror novel, “Cujo,” which features a rabid dog, prompted him to invent his own wild stories about dangerous animals.
“I remember showing the (stories) to my mom. She was like, ‘No, you have to add narrative around this, some cause and effect, some characters.’
“In the moment, I was super defensive about it,” he continues, but after letting it “percolate” he realized she was right. “And from that point on, I paid more attention to character and theme — not theme explicitly … I was a kid, I didn’t know what ‘theme’ was — but sort of ‘What is the story behind the story?’”
Binzagri wrote his first novel when he was 10 — a story about war, something he was proud to show his maternal grandfather, a US veteran who served in WWII. His entire family applauded his attempt and he hasn’t really stopped crafting stories since.
Though not solely a horror writer, Binzagr’s work often leans into the eerie, the psychological, and the morally complex, meaning that many people associate him with the genre. “It’s funny to me that I have this reputation in the creative sphere here as being a horror writer, because, actually, this was my first horror story,” Binzagr says.
“The Great Work of Dr Quqazi; or, The Bell” is another significant step in the author’s lifelong journey.
“As a kid, I always believed I would be a writer. When I went to university (in the UK), and I started to appreciate the realities of the world, it became clear to me that success in writing is something very difficult to achieve,” he says. “Now my ambitions and strategy are more of a slow burn. I usually find time to write on the weekend or after work — right now it’s a lot slower with my day job, but I’m still chipping away at it.”
To illustrate that “slow burn” approach, Binzagr cites a story he began in 2019 about the reconciliation of different cultural backgrounds, drawing inspiration from his own American and Saudi heritage. One section involving a character’s son served mainly as a plot device, rather than something drawn from experience. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that the story truly began to take shape and feel personal.
“The minute my son was born, my whole perspective on that story changed because it became clear to me that this story, from beginning to end, could actually be about fatherhood,” he says.
Becoming a parent has opened a new chapter in his life, too. Scenes that once explored speculative horror now carry the weight of care and responsibility. His son — now around 18 months old — has reshaped his storytelling lens. His writing style is still deliberate and provocative, but with a tinge of hope.
“I’m very happy (in life) and I hope that my writing — despite the visceral, intense angles — can facilitate happiness in others, as well,” he says.
The true magic of Chopped may lie in its mastery of the underrated
Updated 31 October 2025
Hebshi Alshammari
The first thing you notice upon entering Chopped is the quiet. This is a sanctuary for meat, a world away from the clamor of a typical market. The air is cool and carries the clean, serious scent of premium, chilled beef. Your eyes are drawn to the gleaming cabinets, illuminated like museum displays for the world’s finest proteins.
To the right, the deep, ruby-red of a New Zealand striploin promises robust flavor. Further along, the spectacular marbling of an Australian ribeye looks like a frosty landscape, guaranteeing unparalleled richness and tenderness.
It is a display designed for the connoisseur who seeks both quality and a compelling origin, for the best value for money.
Behind the global sophistication lies a deeply local pride. Chopped is a Saudi-grown brand. (Supplied)
Zaid Al-Ahmad, managing director of Chopped, explains that this meticulous curation is for a specific clientele. “Our customer isn’t just shopping for dinner; they are investing in an experience,” he says. “They appreciate the narrative — the grassy pastures of New Zealand in our striploin, the rigorous grading of our Australian Wagyu. They value this story as much as the product itself.”
But the true magic of Chopped may lie in its mastery of the underrated. Alongside the celebrated steaks, you will find the chuck roll and flat iron. The chuck roll, a versatile cut often overlooked, is presented here as a jewel for slow-cooking, its potential for melting tenderness fully explained. The flat iron, a majestic centerpiece, commands attention with its impressive marbling and rich flavor.
Just beyond the meat display, a curated cheese counter extends the same philosophy of excellence. Each wheel and wedge tells a story — from aged Parmigiano Reggiano and creamy French Brie to bold English cheddars and delicate goat cheeses from Europe’s green pastures. This thoughtful selection is not simply about indulgence but about harmony — pairings that elevate Chopped’s premium meats into complete culinary experiences. It is, as Al-Ahmad describes, “the finishing note that transforms quality into craftsmanship.”
Behind the global sophistication lies a deeply local pride. Chopped is a Saudi-grown brand. (Supplied)
He believes this educated approach defines modern luxury. “By offering everything from the exquisite ribeye to the wonderfully adaptable chuck roll, we provide a thoughtful edit of the world’s best at the best value.” Yet behind the global sophistication lies a deeply local pride. “Chopped is a Saudi-grown brand,” Al-Ahmad emphasizes. “We are immensely proud of that. Our goal has always been to bring the best of the world to the Saudi customer — to offer quality and storytelling that meet the standards of our market and reflect its growing appreciation for excellence.
“We make these global flavors accessible, and that is what transforms a simple purchase into a cherished culinary event,” Al-Ahmad concluded.
For more information check their Instagram: @choppedksa.
Court orders pro-Palestine protesters in UK to avoid Gal Gadot film shooting
Actress served in Israel Defense Forces
Solicitor: ‘My clients acted entirely in accordance with their rights to freedom of assembly and expression’
Updated 30 October 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Pro-Palestine protesters in the UK who allegedly disrupted the production of a Gal Gadot movie have been ordered by a court to avoid film-shooting locations, The Times reported on Thursday.
The eight demonstrators were charged under trade union laws over their alleged disruption of “The Runner,” which features the Israeli actress, who served in the Israel Defense Forces.
At locations in London and outside the capital, protesters allegedly disrupted shooting over several days in May.
The eight individuals were charged under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, and behaved “with a view to compelling another person to abstain from filming, which that person had a legal right to do.”
The act, originally designed to combat pickets during strikes, bans the obstruction of access to a workplace.
On Thursday, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that all the cases relating to the eight protesters were adjourned until Nov. 18.
All were released on bail on condition that they avoid entering an area within 200 meters of filming for Gadot’s movie.
Demonstrations against her have featured protesters wearing Palestinian keffiyehs in the capital holding placards saying “trash Gadot not welcome in London” and “stop starving Gaza.” Amid the protests against her, she reportedly considered leaving London.
In Los Angeles in May, Gadot’s name was engraved in a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was later defaced by graffiti.
Katie McFadden, a solicitor with Hodge Jones & Allen, which is representing four of the alleged protesters, said: “My clients are alleged to have peacefully protested, in a public place, against a film production involving Gal Gadot.
“At all times, they acted entirely in accordance with their rights to freedom of assembly and expression, which are protected by UK law.
“We are disappointed that they have been charged with criminal offences and believe this is a disproportionate, unnecessary and unlawful interference with their rights. We will be defending these charges wholeheartedly.”
