Pearling Site | Valerio Olgiati

PEARLING SITE, museum and entrance to the Pearling Path

The site contains ruins that form part of the UNESCO Pearling Path. The entire building functions as the entrance to the cultural heritage and the foyer for the medina. It is an urban room for the people of Muharraq with the scale of a public park. Concrete elements are placed along the property boundary to form a new locus in the dense city. A large space is created in which a forest of columns and wind towers hold a horizontal plate 10 meters above ground. A roof, understood as an archaic gesture, donates vital shadows for the people of Muharraq in this very hot climate and produces a new and unique situation through its different scale. Slightly set back in the shadow is an enigmatic house in which the museum of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage is located. As
a totality the building creates a universe in itself that is the entrance for the Pearling Path and the city beyond.
Valerio Olgiati

object: UNESCO Site museum and entrance
location: Muharraq, Bahrain
address: Building 999, Road 10, Block 215, Muharraq, Bahrain

client: Bahrain Authority of Culture & Antiquities

architect: VALERIO OLGIATI
collaborators: Sofia Albrigo (project manager), Anthony Bonnici
local architect: Emaar Engineering

general contractor: Almoayyed Contracting Group

materials: In-situ concrete, Steel
begin of planning: August 2016
start of construction: May 2018
end of construction: February 2019
volume: 49855 m3
area: 6726 m2