On Saadiyat, a large, low-lying island some 500 metres away from downtown Abu Dhabi, the world's most ambitious building programme is underway.

Part of the project includes a Cultural District, which will include a number of internationally significant museums. Due to open in 2013 will be the Louvre Abu Dhabi (architect: Jean Nouvel), the Guggenheim (Frank Gehry) and the Zayed National Museum (Foster and Partners), followed later by the Performing Arts Centre (Zaha Hadid). All this will be built on an area of just 2.7 sq km.

I was originally commissioned by TDIC to photograph the development of the Cultural District from start to finish but, sadly, my work there was terminated after just two visits, in December 2009, and March 2010.