Giant Statue in Dubai (The mother of all libraries?)

If it had been April the first, this would have been a perfect April fool, but this has won a competition and there is every chance that al hakawati (the storyteller) will stand in Zabeel Park, telling stories and moving his hands and head. Although the storyteller actually sounds he came from one of the many tales (sinbad, arabian nights etc) of the Middle East, seeing something like this in person, sounds absolutely ridiculously. And when I first saw it, I laughed out LOUD (LOL), literally. But, expect the unimaginable from Dubai, even if this is someone else's vision.



The "storyteller", a profession that goes way back in ancient arabic times and is still performed in parts of the arab world today. The statue will be a home of stories; a children’s library in its base and various spaces for performance and reading inside of the statue. Yes, at a time where we may see the end of the physical book, this will become the biggest library in the world.



The concept is that in every part of the park, small speakers will be set up so people can gather around them and listen to the statue when he recites stories; perhaps great legends from one thousand and one night, historical anecdotes from the city itself and future speculations, all this performed with an animated body language. It might be bizarre watching this huge mammoth move its arms and heads, but that's part of the plan.

The walls in the base are stairs on the outside which leads to the platform where the storyteller begins to rise. Windows punctuates various stairs for a bright indoor environment without any direct sunlight. The statue also has big rooms inside of it for reading, relaxing and other social activities. Each big room has its own theme, be it a gold room, a crystal cavern, a green room or a room full of fish tanks, or the night views of dubai.

Because of what Dubai has done, crazy has become the new normal, but this is ludicrous! That said, I'd love to see it in Zabeel Park - It would scare the crap out of me!

More from DesignBoom