Centrum voor traditionele muziek Dar Al Jinaa

In Muharraq, Bahrain, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen was asked to renovate a house that symbolises the musical culture of the pearl fishers, and to turn it into a music centre. OFFICE restored the house to its original state: the traditional courtyard was restored, and the boundary line was completed. To satisfy the request for greater capacity and also to make room for the public nature of the programme, OFFICE designed a small new building next to the original house. In the plan, this volume follows the dimensions of the traditional urban fabric and adheres to a small footprint, but in section they rise to the height allowed by the new building regulations. It thus sends out a public signal in the city. The formal idiom is atypical. The concrete columns and floor slabs become narrower towards the top. A glass envelope encloses the stacked rooms. By projecting the floor slabs and placing the infrastructure at the sides, the rooms are given a natural sunscreen and can be ventilated laterally. To protect it from the powerful desert sun, the smaller building is wrapped in chain mail. Inside there is room for dance and music. But in the fragmented city of Muharraq this small building also has a significant urban planning value: it completes the street block and restores the urban fabric.

Véronique Patteeuw

This project is published in Flanders Architectural Review N°13. This Is a Mustard Factory