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The site of the competition is charged with historical and symbolic values for the city of Manama and Bahrain. Once the true gate of the city, providing a monumental interface between the Suq and the sea, the site appears today dramatically separated from the historical city and the sea. XXXXXX01 is an attempt to connect these two entities with a continuous architectural landscape. XXXXXX01 creates a delicate balance between the morphology of the place and its surroundings, engaging at the same time with the archaeological stratifications of the site, cultural specificities as well as with environmental parameters. This does not mean that our proposal is a mere connection tissue that can adapt to any boundary conditions. XXXXXX01 presents itself as a strong territorial sign, a well-individuated organism yet composed as a montage of parts, and a superimposition of programmatic and morphological layers. At the same time an iconic object and a loose framework, a territorial mark and an urban strategy, a timeless architecture and a vision for the future
XXXXXX01 is a gentle monster whose body is able to carefully compose the monumental and the intimate, thriving metropolitan public-ness and private life.
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The Grid is the true connective element, the ruling modular system of the project. Aligned with the perimeter of the site, it is based on a series of square courtyards which sides are 24 metres wide. The slabs surrounding the courtyard are 8 metres wide. On the ground floor, porticos 5.6 metres tall ensure the continuity of the ground floor, yet marking it with powerful architectural signs. Cores hosting vertical connections and technical spaces are found at each intersection point. The idea of functional zones—besides the necessity to leave sufficient space for different activities— does not make much sense today. It is necessary therefore to conceive the plan as a precise framework that can be articulated in manifold situations. This allows the construction of a ramified territorial structure that offers in a concrete way the highest degree of freedom for a heterogeneously organised society. The regularity of the grid ensures the maximum flexibility of the first floor space, which can
host the most various programs and activities: the relocation of the demolished post office, the Children's Museum, as well as work and leisure space, housing and services. The grid as a timeless and universal architectural feature provides here the necessary shading and protection for the hot climate of the area, becoming a contemporary version of the tightly knit canvas of the traditional Middle-Eastern city.
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The grid not only connects existing city parts, but also new urban episodes: the New Suq, the Square and the Bridge. The New Suq relies of the same plan of the Grid, but differs from it since the interior courtyards are covered with large concrete domes. In this sense, the New Suq escapes the logic of the grid by being at the same time completely subjected to it. The four modules become in this way a unified space, in which thriving commercial activities can take place. The sides of the New Suq are partitioned to host permanent workshops and retail facilities, while the domed spaces host temporary stands and more informal trading activities. Like traditional Middle-East market domes, the topside of the domes of XXXXXX01 are open to moderate their monumentality, and providing a compelling ambiguity between interior and exterior. The Square strives to be not only a dominating element of XXXXXX01 but aspires a dialogical relation to the city of Manama as a whole. Its alignment escapes the site boundaries. Rather, it becomes part of the Bab al Bahrain-Old Suq-Financial Harbour system. The Square is a 21 metres high monumental perimeter building 8 metres thick. Its plan is a square which sides measure 72 metres. On its exterior
face it shows a solid, blank wall, which enhances its isolation to the grid-site system and its connection to a larger urban scale. Conversely, its interior is carved with loggias, which establish playful shading effects. While the upper floors host Ministerial offices, the ground floor is conceived as semi-enclosed, well-shaded public living room for the inhabitants of Manama. The Bridge represents the possibility for XXXXXX01 to escape its site boundaries and to grow during time. The Bridge system is based on the same plan of the grid, but its slabs are made of a 1-storey high trusses which uses the core grid as columns.
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The Landscape is a continuous layer of gardens, dunes, and stretches of water, trees and pavilions. “Naturally” vehicles do not penetrate the district but on the underground level. The underground reorganisation of the traffic and parking spaces allows the Landscape to overcome King Faisal Highway establishing an environmental continuity with the financial harbour area, configuring XXXXXX01 as Manama's main gate to the newly reclaimed lands on the Northern shoreline. The landscape is made of water, trees and sand. The water stretches on the Southern side of the site, alongside Government Avenue, symbolically marking the position of the old shoreline. Sand dunes establish continuity not only on the horizontal plane, but also vertically, providing the main access points to the Children's Museum and the office spaces. Despite being continuous and independent from the grid, the landscape is framed by the latter. This concept is based on walled gardens that constitute a traditional Middle-Eastern way of life.