New Architecture - Pearling path

Pearling Path Visitor's Centre: Valerio Olgiati Architects Properties of the North of the Pearling Path: Studio Anne Holtrop Properties of the South of the Pearling Path: Gionnata Rizzi Pearling Path Squares and Bridge: Bureau Bas Smets & OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen Pearling Path Pedestrian Bridge: Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen Multistorey Car Parkings: Christian Kerez Bu Mahir Visitor's Centre: PAD architects Suq Al Qaysariyyah: Studio Anne Holtrop

Pearling Path Visitor and Experience Centre
Valerio Olgiati Architects, in collaboration with Emaar Engineering.

The main Pearling Path Visitor and Experience Centre is located in the heart of Muharraq, amid the historic Amarat of the traditional market. Designed by Valerio Olgiati Architects, the project incorporates the ruins of Amarat Yousif A. Fakhro, a historic Amarat structure built in the 1930s that had fallen into decay due to lack of use since the 1960s, as well as Amarat Al Doy and its later extension.

The centre addresses a wide audience and acts as a community centre, including an exhibition space, children’s and workshop spaces, as well as the Pearling Heritage Archive, a library, and conference facilities.

The building is conceived as a unifying roof structure that houses the Visitor Centre while also providing protection to the ruins and creating a shaded gathering space for visitors and the local community. The climate under the roof is improved by reintroducing a series of 15 wind towers to the city. A forest of thin columns supports the roof; the height of the roof and the grid of the columns follow a different logic than that of the archaeological ruins, enabling visitors to easily distinguish between the two systems: that of the ruins and that of the project.

Properties of the North of the Pearling Path

Studio Anne Holtrop in collaboration with Mario Monotti, Restaura SRL, Gaetano Arcobene, SJM, Ismail Khonji Architects, and Madison Cox Landscape Architects.

Amongst the iconic structures of the North section, the Siyadi and Murad clusters are essential components of the Pearling Path, as both the Siyadi and Murad families were highly involved in the Pearling Economy as pearl merchants. The Murad House was rehabilitated into a guesthouse open to visitors of the city, while the Murad Majlis continued to serve as the Majlis of the Murad family. The Siyadi Mosque was rehabilitated and remains a place of worship for the community as the most authentic mosque in Muharraq, while the Siyadi Majlis was conserved with the addition of a pavilion hosting the pearl museum, which exhibits a wide collection of pearl jewellery items, including iconic pieces from the Cartier archives featuring natural pearls purchased by Jacques Cartier.

The design principle for the rehabilitation of the different buildings was based on an assembly of forms cut out of a hand-drawn, imperfect rectangle that resonated with the handmade nature of the buildings. To further enhance this character, new floors were introduced in the old buildings as forms within the forms. The new floors were defined by the perimeters of the existing spaces, which shaped this new floor while highlighting its formal autonomy. This design approach was also applied to the facades and openings, defining a new, independent architectural language within the historic buildings.

Properties of the North of the Pearling Path
Studio Anne Holtrop in collaboration with Mario Monotti, Restaura SRL, Gaetano Arcobene, SJM, Ismail Khonji Architects, and Madison Cox Landscape Architects.

Pearling Path Public Squares
Bureau Bas Smets and Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen in collaboration with Gulf House Engineering.

The 3.5 km path is a connecting element between the many urban components of the Pearling Path, giving shape to the narrative of the Pearling Testimony, where each house represents a chapter of the story. To guide visitors along the path, which winds through the narrow lanes of old Muharraq, lighting elements and 16 public spaces were designed by Bureau Bas Smets and Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen. The public spaces serve as places of encounter and interaction between residents and visitors, acting as gathering spots for leisure, rest, and community interaction. These spaces feature mother-of-pearl-incrusted concrete flooring and urban furniture, with a series of trees that provide shade and create a microclimate. Each public space is adapted to its context and designed accordingly, offering different programs such as playgrounds, steps, and kiosks.

Pearling Path Pedestrian Bridge
Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen in collaboration with Ismail Khonji Architects

On the southern end of the path, a pedestrian bridge, also designed by KGDVS links the city to Bu Mahir’s Seashore, going over Khalifa Al Kabeer highway and providing a continuous pedestrian visit of the site. The bridge re-establishes the historic connection between the old city and the seashore.

Multistorey Parkings
Christian Kerez in collaboration with Arsinals Engineering.

As part of the project, four multistorey parking buildings in Muharraq were constructed and designed by Christian Kerez. They serve the community by providing free parking spaces for city residents, while also offering paid parking for visitors. They are conceived as public spaces within the city. Their open and expansive structures offer a new urban attraction, adding new qualities to the historic city centre. The new Muharraq parking buildings offer on each level a specific spatial experience. The parking resembles a stack of landscapes, visible from above and below. In this radically redefined parking structure, the slabs and ramps form one continuous element.

Bu Mahir Visitor’s Centre
PAD architects

Bu Mahir’s Seashore is located at the southernmost tip of Muharraq Island, on what was formerly a tidal island. Largely unchanged since the decline of the pearling economy in the 1930s, it is the only remaining authentic seashore where the pearling season’s festivals were celebrated. A sandy point jutting into Bahrain’s main harbour, Bu Mahir Seashore was the last solid ground many pearl divers stood on before they embarked on the main pearling season (Al Ghus Al Kabir), and the first they set foot on after several months at sea. These twice-yearly rites of passage, involving crossing from life on land to a very different one at sea and back again, made Bu Mahir’s Seashore a very special place.

With the construction of the Bu Mahir Visitor’s Centre in 2014, Bu Mahir’s Seashore is once again accessible to the public through a water taxi that links the centre with the Bahrain National Museum. The Visitor’s Centre gives visitors an overview of the entire Pearling Path through a permanent exhibition of models of the properties along the Path.

Suq Al Qaysariyyah
Studio Anne Holtrop in collaboration with Mario Monotti, Restaura SRL, Gaetano Arcobene, SJM, Ismail Khonji Architects and Madison Cox Landscape Architects.

Suq Al Qaysariyyah is the oldest market area in Muharraq. During the pearling era, and before the extensive sea reclamation of the western coast of Muharraq Island in the 1960s, the market also served as a port through which goods were exchanged with the main island of Bahrain. Suq Al Qaysariyyah played a major role in the pearling economy, as it also hosted cafes where pearl trading took place, and served as the area where wood for building the pearling fleets was received and stored.

Five buildings in the market area are part of the Pearling Path. The two blocks of shops, referred to as Siyadi Shops, are among them and are representative of the small shop typology, which constituted most of the market’s character. To the north of Siyadi Shops, the main Suq Al Qaysariyyah street has been redeveloped to attract further venues and commerce. The redevelopment, designed by Studio Anne Holtrop, involves street repaving and shading, the construction of a dozen new shops, and the rehabilitation of the existing traditional shops.