Corporate Waltzing
Monday, November 09, 2009Not that it would deter him. As it turned out later, basic laws of logic and common sense didn't strike that high on Mr. Sami's priorities' list. He does see the world through a binoculars full of colored three dimensional sketches, fancy pieces of furniture and sexy sanitary ware (probably fancy underwear as well, but we didn't get that far with Mr. Sami yet. However, if things kept going the way they are, I might be able to report to you soon on that matter).
The first thing Mr. Sami proposed and insisted on was to raise the height of the ground floor of the building. The current proposed height is 425 CM (or 14 Feet). The maximum allowed according to by-laws. This, according to the fine vision of Mr. Sami, isn't enough to impress the visitors. To be honest, it's Sami's perfect right as an interior designer to come up with ideas, and its our right (or privilege) as consultants and client representatives to reject or approve of his ideas. But in the devious business of construction things don't simply go that way. Sami, knowing his salt, had caught the client by his elbow and took him on a tour of some Hotels with 'nice' interior. Never mind that the hotels visited were of 5 stars rating and not 3-4 stars like the project in question. Never mind that matters of height and other crucial issues would have been decided on over the safety of plain papers before lines morph into concrete beams and shear walls. Sami was, with his urban smoothness, able to lure our client into this great idea of increasing the height of the ground floor by at least one meter. (approximately 3 feet 4 inches)
Our structural engineer emitted a little gasp and asked in horror: but I have columns 6 meters long in the underground ramp area, the buckling factor is already very high and these elements will not 'check' through calculations. He was simply told to 'do something about it'.
Our site engineer--the guy who's responsible for the supervision of the construction-- cried in horror: such a major revision will affect the pace of work at the site and bring things to a halt. He was just told that work could stop as long as it takes for this noble cause.
I, on the other hand, your knight in shining armor, the architect and liaison of the project, kept calm and told the lot they could have their extra meter, provided they expect long delays and major changes to all staircases. I should also be able to confirm with the Municipality whether the new proposed height is permitted or not.
That's fine, they said. We think it's a worthy challenge. Do whatever it takes. Exhaust all channels and knock on every door.
So on a Sunday morning, after I sipped my green tea and skimmed through the paper, I drove lesirely from our office on SZR to Bur Dubai. Swung by the shisha place for a smoke, read a little of an interesting novel and listened to some radio. When I got bored I rod the water bus to the DM (Dubai Municipality) building on Deira side of the creek and sauntered happily in the sun towards its gate, taking all the time in the world. I then climbed two flights of stair and walked through a busy corridor toward a room at the corner, where I knew an Iraqi architect with giant experience in regulations and by laws dispensed advices to the crowd. I had a brief conversation with him, which only served to confirm what I'd already knew. You see, having read the by-laws book of DM from cover to cover a hundred time, I knew it inside it out by then. I really didn't need to consult the guy who wrote it. But his assurances didn't hurt.
I drove back to our office and wrote the following email to our client:
Dear Sir,
Re the subject of increasing the GF height of the aforesaid building; upon checking with DM today, we've arrived at the following conclusions:
1- Increasing the height is indeed permissible, even though it exceeds the limits set by DM. However, we need to submit a 'special case' study to them and upon an approval, they will levy a certain fee on the owner of the building. This fee usually corresponds to the benefited (affected) area and the price of the plot of land. My rough estimate is that our fee in this regard is going to be 300,000 DHs.
2- You may recall that the zoning regulations of our plot dictate that the setback [the setback is the distance between the plot (land) limit and the edge of the area where you are allowed to build] be calculated according to the height of the building. Increasing the ground floor height, even by a distance as little as 10 CM (4 inches) will also increase the setback substantially. It is, however, structurally speaking, impossible to increase the setback since we've already cast the basement concrete columns at the outline of the present setback.
Given the above, it's our view that this height increase is practically impossible.
Thanks and best regards,
When I came back from lunch in the afternoon. I found a two lines email waiting for me. Our beloved client had called off the whole idea. Go on on the same height, he said, it really is not that bad.
Oh yeah, and do not forget to inform Sami of my decision.
Five minutes later, Sami received an email telling him what I knew all along; DM won't allow it, get on with your design and shun all fantasies of heights and grand foyers.
Was I being dishonest? you bet your ass I wasn't. For like Sami, I know how things are done and I know that the might of statutory law is much more compelling than the reasoning of an architect in the face of a euphoric client and a sprightly, dreamy interior designer.



