SEA SERPENT Architect Zaha Hadid explains her latest design for Bahrain to Godfrey Barker
Egypt, Syria and Jordan have been, for decades, the tourist Meccas of the Middle East. The Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings, Baalbek, Palmyra, Aleppo, Baitad- dine and Petra have been key destinations. The Arabian Gulf, however, has been largely ignored by the tourist millions, a sea of oil but not of culture.In the 21st century, the Gulf Coast countries aim for change. They have commissioned the world’s most eminent names in architecture to design buildings that will rank among the most spectacular anywhere.
Zaha Hadid, she whose flowing lines and curvilinear shapes make her the most recognisable of contemporary architects, has designed two palaces for the Gulf. One, under construction, is a Centre for Performing Arts on Abu Dhabi. The other, for which land is purchased in 2011 and construction intended for 2012-14, is a Contemporary Art Museum on Bahrain.
Hers are abstract buildings. What makes her Gulf designs different from those she might have produced for London or Los Angeles? Or China, from where she spoke to us?“My aim on Bahrain has been a visually arresting landmark which belongs to the culture in which it sits,” she replies.“The museum will stand on the water’s edge, on land reclaimed from the sea, with a calm open view of the ocean and the sandy beach. It looks at the two faces of Bahrain’s culture. In one direction, across the water, are the high-rises of the new capital, a rapidly growing contemporary city.
In the other direction the museum faces a much more traditional life on Al-Muharraq, the island on which Bahrain’s historical buildings and Islamic architecture are found and on which the narrow streets are dense with traffic.“The museum is a dialogue with the art and civilisation of our time.I have combined traditional Arabic architectural elements with 21st century experimental and spatial sensations.My aim is a building both rooted in history and optimistically looking into the future”.
Bahrain is the Arab word for “between two seas”. This Museum of Contemporary Art looks on paper and in Zaha Hadid’s ceramic model like a long sea-serpent, rising in gentle curves out of the sand, reaching over the water towards Manama.“I have conceived a building that floats mystically above the coastal landscape,” Mrs Hadid explains.The part that emerges from the sand, entered from the cooler north side under a cantilevered canopy, contains public rooms that can be configured as galleries or educational spaces. Daylight here will be very strong, but broken up by geometric patterns and ornamentation. Lower down are event and entertainment spaces.The museum will show several varieties of art. This raises a problem no architect can finally solve.
On show will be Arabic art of our own time and travelling exhibitions from other countries notably from the Royal Academy in London, with which Bahrain is making agreement to receive up to five exhibitions a year from the RA’s new Contemporary wing. This opens in 9 Burlington Gardens Mayfair in 2014 (this north side of the RA will be remodelled by David Chipperfield).“It is impossible to achieve a truly neutral space that will serve both purposes,” asserts Zaha Hadid.“It will be a hybrid museum with galleries that have distinct characters” – East and West, so to speak. “This will enhance the visitor’s experience and serve the artists creating and exhibiting their work.”
Some galleries will be smaller, others larger, all linked by a continuous path. Exhibition “capsules” will be embedded in the envelope of the building, the space between these capsules and the outer skin becoming a constantly varying visual work of art. It is a dynamic and fluid design, full of movement.
“I seek an exciting and stimulating experience in every area of this museum,” Mrs Hadid declares. 