✕
“Of all precious things, pearls hold the highest rank,” Pliny the Elder wrote, “but they are the most precious of all. [in] Persian
“The Gulf of Tyre…” To the compatriots of the first-century AD Roman chronicler, and to the rest of the known world at that time, the tiny archipelago of Tyre (now known as Bahrain) was famous for the treasures hidden in the shallow, murky waters that surrounded it. Fueled by its specialty products and a worldwide marketplace long before the advent of globalism, this city-state off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula continued to thrive for nearly two millennia after Pliny’s time.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case until the emerging global economy caught up with Bahrain. “Everything here was built around the pearling industry,” architect Noura Al Sayeh says. “Then it collapsed in the 1930s.” After the Japanese developed a way to cultivate artificial pearls, Bahrain went into decline. But, as Al Sayeh explains, the extraordinary urban culture that the pearling industry created remained largely intact. “Many of the buildings here represent some aspect of society at that time,” she says. Al Sayeh, along with a number of collaborators, is now working to preserve and celebrate this heritage.
Among the historic buildings, the new construction at Parling Path is a show-stopper. Photo © Iwan Baan, click to enlarge.
Formally opened to the public this spring, the Pearling Path is a more than two-mile corridor of a mix of historic landmarks, new infrastructure, and modern and restored architecture that runs from the old port through the bustling centers of its older, more densely populated twin city of Muharraq to the current capital, Manama. With extensive support from senior Bahrani government officials, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the United Nations designated the ancient pearl trading district an official World Heritage Site in 2012.
Two years earlier, Al Sayeh had helped organize Bahrain’s first pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, a role he continues to play as director of architecture at the country’s Cultural Heritage Authority. Perambulating Path was the culmination of Al Sayeh’s 14-year effort to transform how Bahrain understands its past and how the world understands it. “In terms of urban regeneration, this was a huge opportunity,” the architect says.
four car parks, 17 public squares, a footbridge and a visitor centre. The new buildings along the Parling Path are intended to complement the 15 or so original houses, a mosque and an ocean oyster farm in the UNESCO-designated site, providing further amenities and points of interest for visitors and locals alike. Al Sayeh divided her sizable commission into several parts and distributed it among various firms around the world, drawn from an extensive personal network of friends and colleagues, mainly in Western Europe. Her architects, seemingly inspired by both the possibilities and constraints of the particular site and conditions, responded with an almost astonishing level of formal fantasy and conceptual ambition.
“Bahrain is a place with very few resources, so you have to be very inventive with materials and construction,” says Anne Holtrop, describing the entire process as “really challenging.” The Dutch-born architect is talking about her multi-part commission, which includes new parts of the Souk Al Qaisariya commercial complex, work on an existing market structure nearby, and the renovation and exhibition design of the revitalized Siyadi Majlis Pearl Museum. From the quasi-brutalist sophistication of the concrete-clad souk to the understated, delicate atmosphere of the museum, Holtrop’s job was made all the more challenging by the need to coordinate with other participants in the project, especially chief participant Al Sayeh, who is Holtrop’s wife and longtime business partner.
1
2
The smooth concrete of the souk is eroding at the edges (1). Similarly, the exterior and interior walls (3) of the Pearl Museum (2) vary between smooth and textured. Photo © Iwan Baan
3
The other team members faced different challenges. “We didn’t want to just export architecture,” says Swiss architect Christian Kellez. Tasked with designing a parking structure for a largely pedestrian-oriented redevelopment, the designer had to find a compromise between the Middle East’s growing reliance on the automobile and the historic architecture of Muharraq that Parling Path aims to protect. As it happens, that was a problem Kellez was happy to take on. “Parking is a typology that is often overlooked,” he says. “I thought it would be interesting to do it myself.” The first project they completed was a four-storey complex that can accommodate more than 100 cars, subtly blending into the urban environment with exquisitely thin concrete slabs, each slab a slightly different, unlikely shape from its neighbour. The effect, which appears to be undulating in the cool Gulf breeze, is as sophisticated as any high-design garage in Miami these days, but (as Kellez explains) it’s built using standard regional conventions and formwork.
Four
The concrete surface is divided to form multiple parking levels (4), with a spiral staircase providing vertical circulation (5). Photo © Iwan Baan
Five
From Belgium, OFFICE KGDVS (along with fellow Brussels landscape firm Bureau Bas Smets) helped create the Path’s sequence of semi-connected public squares and designed the footbridges (created in collaboration with local firm Ismail Khonji Architects) over the busy motorway. “It was very important to us to create spaces that reflect the pearling tradition but also are used by the people who live there,” says OFFICE’s Jelena Pancevac. Navigating the narrow streets, the KGDVS and Smets team created a series of small, strategic interventions, four of which have been realised so far, creating “green oases” of seating and plants embedded in the labyrinthine urban landscape. For the viaduct, it was also important that its impact be minimal. It is supported by simple concrete piers that blend with the coral-crusted stone of the nearby buildings, forming the final piece of the labyrinth between the waterfront and the city.
6
OFFICE KGDVS and Bureau Bas Smets collaborated on the footbridge (6) and the public space (7). Dar Al Jinaa is dressed in a chainmail-like fabric (8). Photo © Iwan Baan
7
8
In such a vast labyrinth, there are bound to be confusing twists and turns, and not just in the physical sense. “It’s a complex project,” Al Sayeh acknowledges, “one that intersects with many others.” Besides the aforementioned studios, a range of other companies are involved in Paring Path, including Valerio Olgiati for the visitor center, Formafantasma for the three installations of restored houses, as well as engineers, restoration specialists, and consultants. The Paring Path also borders several projects that are not strictly part of the plan (most notably OFFICE’s impressive Dar Al Jinaa event space). More than a decade after its construction, its scope remains surprisingly unclear, and it may (or may not) draw more designers into it in the future. And there’s also the uncertain question of why, apart from Bahraini collaborators like Khondji, the majority of the architects are from abroad. Most of them come from the same lofty avant-garde hierarchy, well known to participants of fairs, festivals, and annual events of various denominations. This question may be coupled with the observation that, due to Bahrain’s small size, nearly all of the labour for the Pearling Path had to be imported, mainly from South Asia.
But none of this is new. “It’s not just about tourism,” Al Sayeh says. As its once-profitable oil industry continues to decline (production has fallen 6 percent annually since the 1970s), Bahrain is trying to revive its ancient pearling industry, building a reputation for both organic harvesting techniques and expertise with state-of-the-art assay facilities and a rapidly growing gemstone trade fair. Touting the country’s connection to those shiny calcium orbs, Pearling Path and its towering, forward-thinking new architecture are part of an attempt to reassert Bahrain’s place as a luxury sales and production centre, returning it to exactly where the Greeks, Romans and Persians had it. If the context for this project undoubtedly feels more global than local, the same could be said for Bahrain.
Click on a section to expand it
Click on the drawing to enlarge
Siyadi Majlis Pearl Museum | Credit
architect:
Studio Ann Holtrop — Ann Holtrop, Principal; Mohammad Salim, Constanza Guilbar, Project Architects
Architect of Record:
Ismail Khonji Associates
engineer:
Ismail Khonji Associates (Structure); Syed Jafar Majeed (m/e/p)
consultant:
Aïnu (exhibition); Studio Jonathan Hares (graphic design)
General Contractor:
Amoayyed Interiors (civil engineering); Bakhowa Group (interiors); Restaura (exhibitions); Group Galrão (stoneworks)
size:
14,200 sq. ft.
Fee:
$1.8 million (construction)
Completion date:
February 2024
Parking | Credit
architect:
Christian Kerez — Christian Kerez, Principal, Caio Barbosa, Project Architects, Dennis Caiello, Lisa Kusaka
Recording Engineer:
Alcinalus Engineering Design
engineer:
Ferrari Hartmann (plot A); Neven Kostic (plot B); Monotti Ingegneri Consulenti (plots C and D)
consultant:
Baukolorit (concrete); Catherine Dumont d’Ayot (landscape, plots C and D); LK Argus, Alden Studio (transport); Siegrun Appelt and Mathias Burger (lighting)
Pearling Path and Footbridge | Credit
architect:
OFFICE KGDVS — Kersten Geers, David Van Severen, Federico Perugini, Anna Andrich, Nenad Djuric, Aleksandra Palicky, Dennis Glaudén, Paul Christian
Architect of Record:
Ismail Khonji Associates
Landscape Architect:
Bureau Bus Smets
engineer:
Gulf House Engineering, Trans Solar
Dar Al Jinaa Event Space | Credit
architect:
OFFICE KGDVS — Kersten Geers, David Van Severen, Santiago Giusto, Federico Perugini, Anna Andrich, Nenad Djuric, Paul Christian, Dennis Glaudén, Alexandra Palitzky
engineer:
Emar Engineering
size:
6,450 sq. ft.
Fee:
$850,000 (construction)
