This Day in History
This Day in History (1985): Al-Mujamma', Community Services Building opens in Dhahran
Built on the site of the old commissary and icehouse, the attractive building opened its doors in the fall of 1985.
From the Nov. 20, 1985 edition of The Arabian Sun
Doors are opening one by one in al-Mujamma', Dhahran's new community services center.
Built on the site of the old commissary and icehouse, the new building has been designed with an emphasis on energy conservation and easy maintenance.
The most striking architectural feature of the building is the atrium skylight, which is as handsome as it is economical and energy saving. The roof-membrane roofing system, reinforced with fiberglass fabric, is resistant to ultraviolet light, more reflective of radiant heat, and easier and less costly to install than normal roofing.
The first occupants of the building are the personnel of the Central Community Services Department and the Food Services Department, who are housed on the upper floor. The ground floor will pull together many previously scattered community service operations.
Caption for top photo: An atrium skylight in al-Mujamma' brightens the stair area and patterns the interior with decorative geometric designs.
Also on this day in history:
1998 — The first space station module component, Zarya, for the International Space Station, is launched from the Balkinour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
1992— In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over 50 million British pounds of damage
1985 —Microsoft Windows 1.0, the firs graphical personal computer operating environment developed by Microsoft, is released
1974 — The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System
1962 — The Cuban Missile Crisis ends. In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation
1945 — Nuremberg trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg
1923 — Denny Barry, an Irish Republican and hunger striker, dies
1873 — French forces under Lieutenant Francis Garnier capture Hanoi from the Vietnamese
1820 —An 80-ton sperm whale attacks and sinks the Esset (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 3,200 kilometers from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by the incident.)
1750 — Tip Sultan, Indian Ruler, is born
