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Building-Sized X-Rated LED Display Makes Us Blush

by Matthew Zuras on December 8, 2009 at 02:26 PM

Abu Dhabi, the nearby Emirate of Dubai and the next decadent Shangri La of the Middle East (largely built, like Dubai, on unscrupulous slave labor), has just vomited forth another architecturally outrageous beacon of bad taste. The recently completed Yas Hotel is covered by a canopy of 5,000-odd LEDs and glass panels, which can reportedly change color and play low-res video. What's more, the canopy covers the two 12-story buildings, as well as the Formula 1 race track lying between them. Seriously.

We're getting a little sick of swooping, "organic" Zaha Hadid knockoffs. But what makes the Yas Hotel even more abominable is the unflinchingly phallic shape that it takes. Hello, U.A.E. -- ever heard of subtext? It's not like the rest of the world wasn't already aware of your massive inferiority complex, overcompensated by your World's Tallest Building (Burj Dubai) and your World's Largest Man-Made Island (The Palm Deira, which will be bigger than Paris). But it's gotten to the point where we're wondering if your blatantly Freudian inclinations in construction are actually some sort of meta-commentary on ridiculous buildings themselves.

Okay, okay. We admit that the mass of lights at the Yas would actually be pretty cool -- if only it didn't look like the World's Largest Electric Penis. [From: Gizmodo]

Tags: abu dhabi, AbuDhabi, architecture, dubai, phallic, top

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