Open Ideas Competition for Bab Al Bahrain

The proposals for the Bab Al Bahrain square should seek to reinstate a strong sense of place and redefine the square as a representative space within Bahrain.

Category Idea Competition / Open to Students
Type International, Idea, Open, Single-Stage, Anonymous
Genre Urban
Country Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
RegDeadline 15 January 2012 GoogleCal iCal
1 February 2012 (Must be Received) GoogleCal
Eligibility All

Description
One of the few existing public spaces in Bahrain, the Bab al Bahrain square has been progressively turned into a series of surface parking lots. Still, due to its historical importance and its centrality within the Island, it holds the potential to become a lively urban public square; located at the entrance of the Manama Suq it has the advantage of belonging to a tight urban structure which still benefits from a natural pedestrian network.
Once located a stone’s throw away from the sea, it is today physically separated from the sea due to the land reclamation projects which have taken place since the 1950s.
The competition therefore poses the double challenge of reviving the memory of the sea on the site and proposing a viable urban square taking into consideration the new changes in lifestyles and behaviorism in the Arab World.
Considering the recent political events that have taken place across the region, the competition seeks to question what a contemporary public space in the Arab World should look like.

Jury
Sh. Mai Al Khalifa (minister of Culture, Kingdom of Bahrain)
Joseph Grima (editor in chief of Domus Magazine, Milan, Italy)
Bernard Khoury (architect, director of Bernard Khoury/ DW5 Architects, Beirut, Lebanon)
Ahmed Al Ali (architect, director of X-architects, Dubai, UAE)
Bjarne Mastenbroek (architect director of SeARCH, Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
Ma’amoon Al-Moayyed (urban planner, director of Architecture 360 Design Studio, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain)
Sh. Mai Al Khalifa (the current Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Bahrain)

Prize
A total of $15,000 in prize money will be distributed by the jury to the selected winner.

Entry Fee
None

Entries
2 A2 Panels, a conceptual model, a descriptive text

Submission Address
Bab Al Bahrain Competition
Ministry of Culture
P.O. Box 2199
Manama
Kingdom of Bahrain

Timetable
Exhibition: from the 15th of February to the 30th of March in a custom-built pavilion located at the entrance of Bab Al Bahrain on the occasion of Manama

Organizer
Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Bahrain

Official Website
http://www.moc.gov.bh/en/babcompetition/