Architecture Plan of Bab Al Bahrain from 1945

Double click for larger image.

Reading through the Qatar Digital Library's massive digitised archives of British colonial files, I stumbled upon this architectural plan of a redesign of the customs square of Manama. From an administrative report of Bahrain in 1945, the plan seemingly shows the blueprints of what is today the iconic Bab Al Bahrain landmark, the gateway to the Manama souq.

Planned and approved in 1945, the project would take three years and involve an overhaul of the customs square that included land reclamation between the customs pier and the Hilal building, constructing a passport office on the pier and relocating the import shed.

Perhaps most crucially, the project would see the demolition of the post office and police station, replacing it instead with a large two-storey building. This building would house government offices, the Land department, the King's personal office, and majlises for public occasions. The building iconically would feature a bridge that connects two blocks of the building, with a road passing underneath linking the customs square to the main souq road. The plan also widened the main souq street and facilitated the construction of 9 new and modern shops.

Manama in 1945. Facing westwards, you can see the customs pier and sea road to the right. (QDL)

Bab Al Bahrain, year unknown.

The Forgotten Art of Bahraini Architecture (and Coral!)

The history of architecture in Bahrain, like many other aspects, is a neglected one. At present, the Kingdom is home to an estimated 1.4 million people. In the most recent census in 2010, the number of dwellings was estimated at 140,000 buildings (an all-time high). With the trends of globalization in full swing in Bahrain over the past century (starting with its education sector a century ago), Bahraini architecture began to be overtaken by concrete-based Western designs as the country aimed to build itself as a financial hub in the 20th Century. 

Newly-reclaimed lands in the Diplomatic Area and the high-rise commercial buildings that have dotted the Manama skyline since the 1980s have been testament to this. But with the rush towards the future, it is very easy to forget about the past and how we got here. To put it dramatically - a nation that forgets its past can have no future (as said by the genocidal Winston Churchill)

So today, I present an article on the architecture of an affluent Bahraini house. Unfortunately, this will not discuss barastis (houses used by the poorer population mostly in Manama) and I wholeheartedly apologise for this.

The Traditional Bahraini House:

The Isa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa House, in Muharraq (2008).

A traditional affluent Bahraini house was made up of a series of pavilions around a courtyard. Traditionally, houses had two courtyards (though sometimes only one); one would host the reception of men and the other would be for private living use. The more economical option adopted by modest households was a singular courtyard. However, such options depended on multiple factors such as family size, business needs etc.

The house's rooms were organised in terms of seasonal migration, with the important pavilions for living and hosting receptions having a counterpart on the roof to capture summer breezes and redirect it into the pavilion. The lower rooms of the house would have thick walls, allowing them to be utilised during the cool winter months.

To combat the intense heat during the summer months, a framework of coral rubble piers with spaces filled with large panels of coral rocks (with a thickness rarely more than 4cm) were erected. In the higher levels, the panels were arranged in a two-lead construction, with trapped air in between to reduce thermal conductivity when the sun shines on the outside walls. The light-weight and porous coral is lined with a coat of lime and gypsum (again keeping to a minimal thickness of 1/8 cm), reducing the capacity of the walls to store daytime heat into the evenings when it might have been re-radiated at a time of high humidity to cause discomfort. 

A diagram showing the anatomy of the spatial composition, the unique architectural language and the visual features of Muharraq houses, the case of Sh. Salman House (Source: Yarwood, 1988)

Hundreds of buildings with this feature were built in Bahrain but virtually none currently function, with most not being repaired or serviced in several decades. A disadvantage of the coral used is that its core is made from clay, as a mortar, and dissolves easily because of its soapy consistency. As a result, this causes cracks to develop in the walls during rainy weather, compromising the structure's stability and requiring yearly maintenance.

The most famous example of such a house would be the Shaikh Isa bin Ali al-Khalifa house, built in 1830 and recently restored as a national monument. The house is built around four courtyards and includes beautifully incised stucco panels in the upper rooms. 

Designs of such continuous cross-ventilation through rooms in hot & humid climates originated back to the time of ancient Assyria in the 6th century BC although even earlier models have been found in structures dating to 3000 BC. The concept of pier-and-opening construction was favoured in ancient Egypt and the Greek islands of ancient Ionia. 

Bonus Topic - A Brief History of Coral Building

Detail of coral carving on the premises of Male' Friday Mosque © Dominic Sansoni (Fair Use)

Coral as a building material was used primarily along coastal settlements throughout the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Believed to have originated from the Red Sea coasts, the earliest example of its use was at the site of Al-Rih in Sudan where a Greek cornice made of coral was found re-used in an Islamic tomb. It then spread to the East African coast and was primarily used as building material for monuments. 

In the Persian Gulf, there is another tradition of coral stone construction although the antiquity of this tradition is being questioned as suitable coral has only grown in the area within the past 1,000 years. At present, coral stone building have been seen along the coastline of Gujarat in India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka - believed to have been associated with Islamic traders.

Two types of coral were used for construction; fossil coral from the coast shore (more suitable for load-bearing walls) and reef coral cut live from the sea bed (more suitable for architectural features such as door-jambs and mihrab niches). Living reef coral is easier to cut through and dress to a smooth finish although it did require hardening by exposure to air. 

If this article has inspired you about architecture in Bahrain or the use of coral stone, I enthusiastically recommend you to visit the House for Architectural Heritage in Muharraq that goes into incredible detail regarding the subject.

References:

Petersen, Andrew (2002). Dictionary of Islamic architecture. Routledge. ISBN 9781134613663.

Lewcock, Ronald (2012). Bahrain Through The Ages. Routledge. ISBN 9781136141782.

Michael, Mika. (2013) "Architecture in Bahrain". Bahrain Guide.

Bonus Coral meme

Russia's Mini-Jerusalem

A lot of the feedback I've received from the previous post about Jerusalem was the 'mini-Jerusalem' I had mentioned, so instead of doing the tedious work of individually informing all of you, I'd rather dedicate a post for it.

The Monastery

The mini-Jerusalem I spoke about was built in 1656 by the Patriach, Nikon. It was called the New Jerusalem Monsastery and was located in Istra, near Moscow. It was primarily built to promote the universal 'mission of Russian Orthodoxy and Autocracy'. Its centrepiece was a replica of the actual Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which is now valuable to historians since the original Church was destroyed in the fire 1808.

In 1818, prior to his ascension on the throne, Nicholas I visited the New Jerusalem and was 'deeply moved' by it, such that he ordered its restoration.

During WW2, in 1941, the German army (the 2nd SS division) ransacked the New Jerusalem Monastery. Before their retreat they blew up its unique great belfry; the towers were demolished; the vaults of the cathedral collapsed and buried its famous iconostasis, among other treasures. In 1959, the museum was re-opened to the public, although the bell-tower has never been rebuilt, while the interior of the cathedral is still bare.

Recently, in 2009, the Russian president at the time, Medvedev, issued a presidential order for the restoration and renovation of the monastery (estimated to cost more than 13 billion roubles!)

Singapore's Token Conservation

Ann Hills examines the reconstruction of Singapore's 19th-century buildings to accommodate tourism.

Worldhistoryblogspot.blogspot.com - Under the arches of nineteenth-century houses along the Singapore River – only yards from where Sir Stamford Raffles landed in 1819 and founded the British colony – a barber was shaving a client. He has been in the same spot for thirty years, but within months he will be moved. The houses where generations of traders have lived alongside packed quays are being variously renovated as showpieces or destroyed to make way for developments in a tiny country short of land and with mixed views on preservation.

The riverside statue to Raffles is safe; so too is the nearest building – Empress Place, until recently an office for the immigration department. At a cost of nearly £4 million, the 1860s neo-classical structure with a central hall supported by a double row of Doric columns, is to become a museum of Chinese cultural relics by 1988. This is one of the first steps in creating a Heritage Link (linking sites of historic, notably colonial value). The proposals have the backing of Dr George McDonald, director of the Canadian Museum of Man in Ottawa. Didier Reppellin, leading French architect and official adviser to the government on historic buildings, was also summoned last autumn to advise on specific projects including Empress Place, and will monitor renovation.

The most famous of all the Singaporean buildings – the Raffles Hotel, which celebrated its centenary in 1986 – is likely to be restored to its original appearance enhancing its reputation, endorsed by the famous: Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward and Rudyard Kipling. More recently it was a setting in the wartime Tenko series. Visitors soon learn its history, including the hotel's role in providing shelter to people rescued from internment camps after liberation in 1945; the saga of the tiger shot under the billiard table, the origins of the Singapore Sling, and how the silver roast beef trolley was hidden from the Japanese, buried in the garden. A centenary brochure has been published.

Forty years after the war, the world's tallest hotel, the seventy- three storey high Westin Stamford has risen a stone's throw away on the Raffles City complex. It occupies the site of the Raffles Institution, founded in 1823. Ironically, too, the Archives Department and Oral History Department with a total of forty-two staff, is cataloguing a changing world as fast as possible. A few weeks ago, as houses and shops were being bulldozed in the street outside, a party inside marked the opening of Singapore lifeline: the river and its people – a photographic exhibition and book. Tapes are being made on vanishing trades, the cultural diversity, on the river-life that passes. I listened to the recording of a British survivor describing the sinking of the war- ships Repulse and Prince of Wales.

The river has been tidied up: that entailed removing all the bum boats, clearing store rooms, resurfacing quays and taking anti-pollution measures. Next September a fortnight of celebrations with fireworks and cruises will mark a decade of renovation. Gone from the vicinity are pig and duck rearing, boat yards, squatter colonies and hawkers. What do exist, are modern hawker centres where independent food traders are allocated space to serve meals and fresh fruit drinks through the day.

Nearby, Chinatown is still flourishing, even though newer buildings dwarf the bustling streets where families peer from shuttered balconies above crowded shops. The future of Chinatown is being- debated by a national steering committee whose members are said to be sensitive to traditional skills from medicine making, to specialist food stalls, calligraphy and fortune telling. But the government refuses to comment yet on steps being taken to amend rent acts, which have depressed the cost of living for tenants and restrained capital investment by owners in the past decades.

The old Indian sector retains its hectic oriental atmosphere, but rows of old houses are being torn down in side streets off Serangoon Road. Temples have better chances of lasting – like the extraordinary statue- studded 1844 Hindu temple called Sri Mariamman.

Some colonial buildings retain their functions: Victoria Hall is the concert hall, and across the road is the Cricket Club at one end of the sward with a backdrop of skyscrapers housing banks, offices and hotels. Modernisation continues in a country noted for its financial empire, vast expansion of hotels and emphasis on education under the rule of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Another area of investment is transport. Within a year or two the 2.6 million Singaporeans will have their own subway- the Mass Rapid Transit system, entailing massive excavations, tunnelling and raised routes.

History has to take a back-seat, allocated to the realms of tourism. Fort Canning Park, on a hilly, central site, is being developed with a 'historical zone' containing relics of an old Christian cemetary, the grave of the last ruler of ancient Singapura, Sultan Iskandar Shah with bunkers from the Second World War, and the site of Raffles' house.

Haw Par Villa, one of three; built by the Aw brothers for private residences, is being redeveloped at a cost of £10 million to offer visitors a sophisticated introduction to Chinese history, myths, legends and traditions with a mythological theme park, including 'encounters' with the spirit world through a ride in the dark, and incorporating the latest in laser and holographic technology.

Beyond the town centre, out in the diminishing countryside, the last of the Malay kampungs – tropical jungle villages – are threatened with the incursion of satellite towns with numerous blocks ten storeys high. A model kampung will be recreated in Geylang Serai, a still predominantly Malay-populated district, combining cultural and commercial activities from bird-singing contests to kite marking. The buildings, including prayer hall or 'surau', will be clustered and linked with covered walk- ways.

Second hand, nostalgic experiences may have to suffice for the visitor in future; such is the price of progress. Destruction is rampant – a fact the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board would prefer to turn a blind eye towards as they present packages for future conservation.