c a c a c 4 a c a Cultural Projects c a c An Enthusiastic Embrace a c a c a c a c a c Although projects devoted to cultural ones with deep pockets, aspire to establish endeavors, including museums, art centers, a global presence, it is not surprising that theaters, and performance complexes, are they would follow suit and embark on simi- not new to the region, more have been lar cultural projects. For their design, some conceived there during this period than of the world’s most acclaimed architects any time before. A confluence of factors have been engaged, including Tadao Ando, has brought about this recent proliferation. Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, These cultural projects are partly an exercise and Jean Nouvel. in nation building. Many are sponsored by The redominancep of Western archi- governments and are intended as national tects in designing those cultural projects is symbols celebrating national history, as overwhelming. With the exception of the with the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center ones from Jordan, and the partial exception in Riyadh. They also present the state as of the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center patron of the arts on a grand scale. This is in Saudi Arabia, all the projects featured in the case with the Saadiyat Island museums this section have been designed by Western in Abu Dhabi, the Museum of Islamic Art in architects. And even in Jordan, a new per- Doha, and the National Theater of Bah- formance center is being designed by Zaha rain, which is part of a larger complex that Hadid.1 eventually will include a series of cultural A few remarks should be made about buildings. museums specifically. There obviously is a In some cases, these cultural projects are need for them, and there still is room for presented basically as tourist attractions. more of them in the region. The region’s This role has been clearly stated for the Saa- material heritage is very rich, particularly diyat Island museums and the Dubai Opera in the Levant and western Arabia. National House. These ambitious projects also aim at museums that house impressive local asserting a global presence for their cities. historical collections had been established In that sense, they are among the clearest in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria during the examples of the architectural “keeping up mid-twentieth century, when they were with the Joneses.” An unusually large num- under British and French domination. Now ber of performance centers, museums, and a new ambitious wave of museum construc- museum additions have been constructed tion is under way, but is mainly concen- in cities throughout the world this past trated in the rich countries of the Gulf, decade, very often by celebrity architects. where museology is a less-established field As the cities of the region, particularly and has considerable room for growth. Of 68 course, museum construction also contin- in their forties, thus representing a sec- ues to take place outside the Gulf, as is the ond or even third generation of the young case in Jordan, where a sizable new national country’s architectural evolution. These museum designed by Jafar Tukan is nearing architects have been given the opportunity completion. to design works of considerable cultural The ertileF Crescent and western Ara- significance: an addition to a prestigious bia have enough local historical artifacts center for the arts, the headquarters of (and, in a number of cases, local works of a well-established organization involved modern art) of high significance to support in nature conservation, and a national their museums. In the case of Abu Dhabi children’s museum. The Darat al-Funun and Qatar, however, their collections have addition and the Nature Center provide been recently purchased or will be loaned carefully thought-out solutions for insert- from abroad. This, in certain ways, paral- ing public cultural projects into the delicate lels developments that took place in the fabric of Amman’s older residential neigh- nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in borhoods, which are under the continu- Europe and North America. Significant mu- ous threat of new development. The two seum collections were being built up then, projects also masterfully interact with their with a good part of their content acquired dramatically sloping sites. Such sites are from outside the countries where they were the norm in Amman’s older districts, where located. the city’s hilly terrain emerges from the flat Architecturally and even institutionally, a downtown valley. number of these new museums fit comfort- The esignd of the Children’s Museum is ably within a global network of similar cul- an architectural celebration of the child’s tural projects. In this, they are not seen as interactive exploration of her world in a local institutions conceived for the unique country where a significant segment of the settings of the sites and cities where they population is young. Moreover, the project are located. More specifically, one of the has presented its architects with a unique Saadiyat Island museums is institutionally opportunity to communicate with the coun- linked to the Guggenheim Museum in the try’s largest demographic group. United States, and another to the Louvre in Of course, it should not be discounted France. that all these various projects, in one way It is against these various remarks that or another, also are expressions of a new the Peace Center in Bethlehem and the proj- growth spurt affecting the region’s cultural ects in Jordan stand out. The Peace Cen- life and the creative energies that have ac- ter, designed by Swedish architect Snorre companied it. Lindquist, provides an example of the sensi- tivity that Scandinavian architecture often Note expresses in terms of scale, use of locally 1. The adjective “Western” also applies to Zaha prevalent materials, and incorporation of Hadid. Although born and raised in Iraq, she natural light. This makes it well suited to received her architectural education and began the city where Jesus was born and allows her career in the United Kingdom. She has been it to softly negotiate Bethlehem’s highly based in London for decades and is a British charged political, religious, and historical citizen. She only began designing in the region contexts. after achieving international prominence. The ordanianJ projects involve a number of prominent local architects, all currently Cultural Projects: An Enthusiastic Embrace 69 National Theater Designed by the French firm Architecture-Studio in exhibition space. The main theater hall association with the British American firm Theatre takes on the form of a dominant, soft of Bahrain, Projects Consultants. egg-shaped mass with a bright yellowish Manama, Bahrain Designed in 2003, but construction not yet initiated. shine. The theater mass is surrounded by a lower U-shaped arrangement of The National Theater of Bahrain, which wings on three sides, and an entrance was commissioned by the Bahraini govern- foyer on the eastern side, resulting in an ment, is located along the shores of the arrangement that the architects present Gulf, in proximity to the site of the 1988 as an analogy to the traditional courtyard National Museum. The two form part of a building. The two-story wings include the civic complex that eventually is intended to small theater hall, as well as a cafeteria, include a national library, an aquarium, and a VIP lounge, and various service and ad- a children’s museum. ministrative spaces. The whole complex The ationalN Theater’s main feature is a is encased within a transparent frame of 750-person theater hall. In addition, it in- slender columns carrying a thin flat roof cludes a second theater hall with a 150-per- from which the mass of the main theater son capacity that also may be used as an hall protrudes. 70 Cultural Projects: An Enthusiastic Embrace Figures 4.1.1–4.1.4. The National Theater of Bahrain will form part of a civic complex that includes the preexisting National Museum. The complex eventually will also feature a national library, an aquarium, and a children’s museum. The mass comprising the main theater space of the National Theater building stands out in relation to the rest of the complex through its dominant size and bright color. Children’s Designed by the Jordanian firm Faris and Faris Architects, structure’s eastern corner, and a cylindrical with interior designs carried out by the Jordanian exhibition area located at the opposite end Museum, architectural firm Tahhan and Bushnaq Consultants. The of the museum, at its western edge. Amman, Jordan British firm Haley Sharpe Design was responsible for The useumm includes exhibition halls, exhibit designs. workshop spaces, a planetarium, a library, a Completed in 2007. computer lab, a museum shop, and a restau- rant, as well as administrative and storage The firm Faris and Faris Architects was spaces. It also has an outdoor exhibit area established in 1996 by two young Jorda- and an outdoor theater. The site’s outer nian architects, Faris Abdul Rahman and walls feature twelve prominently displayed Faris Zaru, both of whom had studied large concrete panels, each measuring 3.5 architecture at the University of Jordan. × 1.75 m and exhibiting a drawing painted The Children’s Museum is the most signifi- directly on it by Jordanian children. Each cant project that their active practice has panel represents one of the country’s ad- realized so far. A competition was held for ministrative districts. the project, as a result of which they were The architects state that children’s play chosen as lead architects. They also were cubes, with their primary colors and shapes, asked to team up with another firm that served as a main source of inspiration for had participated in the competition, Tah- the design.