“Of all the sites we visited, what’s your favourite?” 

“Maryam, that’s not an easy question. I'll have to think about that a while” I replied.

Indeed we had visited some of the most interesting of Bahrain’s interesting architecture. It was fall in Bahrain, that refreshing breather between the expected heat and humidity of summer and the unexpected chill of winter. There could not be a more ideal time to enjoy the architectural heritage of this little island-country. We had spent three busy weekends, including an Eid holiday break, on our kingdom-wide adventure. 

I was fortunate to have - all in one - my very own personal tour guide, a translator when the right words didn’t come, a human GPS, and a never-ending source of historical and cultural background, who pulled it all together and enriched each visit. My good friend Maryam. Every visitor everywhere should have a native friend as enthusiastic and happy to share their culture. 

Heritage Homes

Bahrain’s heritage homes are a compelling starting point for a journey of exploration around the island for a number of reasons; they are the richest local examples of Arab culture preserved, a ready opportunity for expats to compare differences to their own culture, or for natives to learn and bond further with their own heritage. They are sprinkled throughout the villages, but can be found clustered in convenient groups in the old former capital, the small city of Muharraq, and are one more good reason to visit Muharraq’s other charms. 

Muharraq’s narrow, winding, donkey-cart streets and alleyways of yesteryear are as delightful for walking as they are challenging for driving, so grab the first parking spot and lose yourself in the city’s maze. The houses are close, better to shade each other. City planning then was one of harmony with the surrounding environment and climate, and with Islamic culture. 

As a bonus you might just wander into the Muharraq’s Al Qaysariya Souk, a major bazaar of bargains galore and if you can afford the calories then taste of its many local ‘sweets’. Well…even if you can’t afford the calories.

An architect, guided by Louis Sullivan’s nineteenth century credo, 'Form follows Function,' will discover it exemplified here at its most basic level. Whether architect or tourist, one could do little better than to start with a study of Bahrain’s heritage homes. To an American they bring to mind similarities to the indigenous adobe construction of American Indians, but are much more sophisticated.

These are handsome, especially as creative responses to the country’s early harsh surroundings. Most were built in the beginning of the twentieth century. The desert provided severely limited building materials to temper the oppressive heat and humidity, but early builders made good use of what little they had. 

Early building materials used here were almost exclusively local, items widely available throughout the island, with some few woods from India and Africa. Coral stone blocks from the shallow sea and limestone from under the saline sands formed the walls, built up to approximately one-meter thick for insulation. The walls were reinforced with overly abundant palm tree trunks, bonded with local gypsum mortar, then plastered with clay. Roofs were made of palm trunks, with ceilings of mangrove poles and bamboo reeds, covered with rush mats and date palm fronds. As low-tech as skills were, and with materials readily available for the taking, houses grew organically rather than overly planned, with everyone their own architect and builder.

The Middle East penchant for privacy, owing to both tradition and to religious family values, plus the hot climate, was a prescription for thick walled exteriors. Perimeter walls were built two to three meters high, relatively unbroken except for monumental double wooden doors exquisitely carved in intricate Islamic geometric patterns. Those distinctive design features continue today. Early homes placed living quarters along the inner perimeter of the exterior walls, in turn creating a family courtyard that also enjoyed the cooling effect of the building’s exterior shadows. For the same reasons windows were kept small and high, shuttered, facing the courtyard, or facing the exterior for two-story sections.

The culture of Arabic privacy as a design element is evident in the division of homes into two distinct parts, the majlis and the harim. The majlis is a reception room for male visitors, usually the showroom of the house, near the entrance, with traditional ornamental pillows on the floor lining the walls. The harim is the women’s quarters, closed to all men except close family members. That design distinction remains today and accounts for the oversized house typical in the Middle East, as they are essentially two houses in one, compared to Western homes. 

With so little rain roofs were flat and so were often used for sleeping in the cooler night air. Elevated wooden sleeping decks were similarly a popular feature in the courtyards.

Badgeers, or Wind Towers, an important design element of the early houses here, are an innovative pre-air conditioning feature, a structure rising above the house to channel the cool prevailing wind down, to force the hotter inside air up and out. These wind catchers are marvellously efficient, in use for thousands of years throughout the desert region, capable even of refrigeration. 

Early Bahrainis were decidedly 'green' long before it was keen to be 'green'. Their original sanitary facilities by contrast are disappointingly minimal, essentially little more than holes in the floor of small rooms or on the roof, that drained out to the alley, decidedly worse than in early Rome, though no better or worse than in Medieval Europe. Muharraq’s following heritage houses are pleasingly varied despite being limited to such few basic elements: 

The lovingly restored Isa bin Ali House is a good home to begin the journey into the rich traditions of a past culture. Built in 1800, it is nevertheless one of the best surviving examples of the island’s traditional homes and one which set the design standards for Bahrain homes that followed. Fit for a Shaikh, it indeed served as the official residence of Shaikh Isa bin Ali Khalifa, the seventh Al Khalifah ruler, and great grandfather of the present Amir. It is a complex layout, on two floors, with four independent courtyards: for the Sheikh, for his family, for visitors and for servants. And if you are there on a hot day you can regain your cool, luxuriating in the breezes of their unwired, always working, Wind Tower.

The most prominent pearl merchant at the end of the nineteenth century, and owner of several fine buildings in the area was Ahmed Seyadi. Nearby is his Beit Seyadi (Siyadi House), built in 1905, notable for the spaciousness of its compact design. The exquisite ornamentation on the façade, doors and ceiling were the handiwork of the best craftsmen of the day, featuring fine geometric designs true to Islamic tradition.

With graceful arches framing its lovely courtyard, the Kurar House offers up a special treat, the opportunity to watch Bahraini women pass on the art of embroidering unique Kurar fabrics, characterized by their interwoven golden threads.

The Abdullah Al Zayed House mesmerises, with its powerful play of light throughout the remarkable airiness of its double-height gallery, with white walls reaching up to a large curved skylight crowning the space, with design accents of colourful stained glass fanlight panes.

From first glance the classical colonnade of the Bin Mattar house stands in gentle contrast to the others. Yet its interiors are of the same traditional materials and of the same design principles. It was built in 1905, on reclaimed land, and like many others was encircled then on three sides by the sea. It is now well landlocked, the same fate of the others, as sea reclamation pushed progressively onward and outward without restriction.

A cluster of eighteen buildings in old Muharraq makes up the Pearling Pathway, a major restoration project. Homes involved include a few of the above, plus others, plus a special section of the old waterfront. The Pathway revives that golden era of Bahrain’s early natural-pearl economic base, now under consideration for the List of World Heritage Sites. The buildings individually, and especially as a group, are outstanding architectural resources reflecting the early marine history of the island.

Buildings either already restored, or targeted, are mostly late nineteenth century vintage, of traditional Bahrain architectural style and construction. Most of the Pathway buildings, in particular the residences, contain architectural elements noted earlier. The Pearling Heritage Project also includes mosques, souqs, warehouses and public majlis (places for special gatherings). Some will remain as residences; others will be used as a museum, a library, an art gallery, guest rooms, and a multi-media centre, all with a historical pearling focus. Among them are: Siyadi Mosque, Siyadi Majlis, Siyadi House, Muharradh House, Amat Ali Rashid Fahlia I & II, Fakhro Amarat, Siyadi Shafa, Murad Majlis, Murad House, Fakhro House, Al-Alawi House, Al Jalahma House, Badr Ghulum House, Al Ghus House, Qua’ lat Bu Mahir, and Bu Mahir Seashore with its nearby preserved pearl oyster beds, plus the pathway itself between them. 

Be sure that you have comfortable walking shoes if you take up the Pathway Challenge. Although the buildings are in the same area, they are a bit scattered, and the path around all is several kilometres long. A great way to mix culture with exercise.

Forts

There’s little argument that forts are Bahrain’s most prominent architectural items, with three strategically placed around this once vulnerable little island: Qal'at al-Bahrain - the Fort of Bahrain, Arad Fort, and Al Fateh Fort in Riffa. They are constructed largely of the same readily available local materials as used in homes: coral stones, limestone and palm tree trunks. 

We started off big on our fort exploration - with Qal'at al-Bahrain - protector of the ancient harbour and capitol of Dilmun near the island’s north-west shore. My first impression of the Fort was its magnificent size. 

Looking at it from the deck of the Fort’s Museum Pavilion, before we ventured on the kilometre-long approach walk, it seems to stretch from one end of the horizon to another. A walk around it is over three kilometres, more than a mile. The Qal’at occupies one hundred and eighty square meters, or forty-four acres, 

The next thing that comes to mind as I walk around it, is the variety of shapes incorporated in the fort. One is left to think that the master builders assembled a variety of wall-building stone craftsmen, one an expert in building curved walls, one expert in perpendicular walls, another expert in angled walls and one each specializing in walls projecting out and the other in walls projecting in, and the masters said, “Now build me a mile-long wall around this site, each wall showing off the best of each of your specialities. And oh, by the way, mix it up randomly just for good show. And give me a bunch of different heights and arches, inside and out while you’re at it.” The end result - an intriguing shape no less. Actually the great variety of shapes that make up the fort is, in itself, what gives it harmony. It is a variegated mass of coral rock rising randomly from beach sand, but at one with its surroundings.

About one-third of its height extends below the level of the surrounding land to allow for the obligatory moat, wide and stone-lined. The interior is a seemingly random grouping of thick stone walls, of Arabic and earlier arches, all at a variety of levels. Although ruins, it is all exceptionally well restored.

In the early 1500s the Portuguese saw Bahrain as key to protecting their trade routes between India, Africa and Europe. This fortress, already aged when they appropriated it and attendant structures, were strengthened by them, with towers added for their military use. 

But the fort is important more as a long term historical site than as just a military monument. It dates back five thousand years, to when parts of it served as the capital of the Dilmun civilization, with seven successive civilizations of outsiders since. Dilmun has been called the 'land of immortality', the ancestral place of Sumerians, a place where the Gods are said to have met. The earliest known Dilmun burial mounds are traced here, to Qal'at al-Bahrain. Continuous human residency from 2300BC up to 1700AD has been established, notably Dilmun, Tylos, Islamic societies and Portuguese occupying it during different periods. Layers around the fort have revealed military, religious, commercial and residential structures, some of which are of a similar date and style as that of the Barbar Temple. 

The area is a reclaimed seafront, and the fort and surroundings are built on a tell, an artificial mound twelve meters high, created by the successive layers of human occupation. Over the centuries it has served as a city, a trading post and a fort.

Excavations reveal a village with modest houses, built with the same materials as recent homes, from rough stone bonded with clay and lime mortar. The houses had plastered floors and were positioned on well laid out streets. They were built around an oasis and functioned as an agricultural community, with cattle, sheep and goats, and with fishing. In 1800BC it appears to have been deserted, and subsequently covered with drift sand from the sea.

In 2005 the area was designated by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) as Bahrain’s first World Heritage Site. 

Sitting on the Museum Pavilion after the long walk to the fort, around the fort, then back again, we were appreciative of the cool fruit juices and iced coffees available at the Pavilion café. From here we could enjoy a last distant view of the fort, with a close view of the falling tide of the Gulf alongside the Pavilion. As a bonus, the sun was setting behind the fort and palm groves, silhouetting them in streaks of purples, blues reds and oranges. Great picture taking time. All the cameras on the Pavilion clicked together - adults’ as well as kids’. Three riders on horseback circled round the long sandy fort road in the distance, then galloped straight towards us, turning at the last moment just in front of the deck, racing along and down the water’s edge and off into the distance. I watched till they rode out of sight. Then, all of a sudden, the lights of the fort came on, washing over its entirety, illuminating its great length, its towers and turrets, its parapets and battlements. A long flaming orange line it was, straight along the base, broken and crenellated along its top. It was an image projected against the softly darkening purple-ink sky, with enough reds to bring out all the cameras again. Sensory stimulation over, I slipped back to this other world.

Arad Fort was built in the fifteenth century on the north-east section of the island, overlooking and protecting important sea passages between Muharraq island and the major land mass of Bahrain. Its compact designs a simple square symmetrical plan with four semi-circular sloping walls at its corners, enclosing a large central court. It has a typical crenellated top with upper battlements and is surrounded by a rampart and moat. It is believed that in about 1800 the fort was used by the Omanis during their brief venture into Bahrain. 

On several visits to Arad Fort, I had the good fortune of two-for-one. One was the fort itself; the second was the musical and dance performances of the Bahrain Spring Fair which uses the fort as its major venue and a distinctive backdrop and powerful counterpoint to the elaborate performances. The fort is a special treat at night, powerfully illuminated

However the parking is not up to the demands of the Fair. We were buried in hopeless gridlock on leaving my first Fair visit. But my cultural ally, Tony, a scientist, extricated us handily, breaking the gridlock for all by manoeuvring his SUV over a blocking sidewalk. We thereby formulated the 'Law of Parking', applicable for Arad and all Bahrain but really for all gatherings, which states: 'Time Taken to Extricate a Car is Inversely Proportional to Time Taken Earlier to Walk from Car to Venue'. So we spend a little more time parking farther away to save major time when we leave. 

The Sh. Salman bin Ahmed Fort at Riffa is distinct from the others and from most forts in that it is not on the sea but is landlocked, in the very heart of the island. It is a strategic position nevertheless, built atop a cliff between the then two major Southern Governate cities of eastern and western Riffa. It controlled the extensive flat desert area below from its perch, with a commanding view across the Hunanaiya Valley to the sea on the island’s west coast. 

The fort was originally built in the seventeenth century during the reign of Sheikh Al-Gabrey. After accession of power by Sheikh Sulman Bin Ahmed (al Fateh) Al-Khalifa, the present fort was built in 1812 on the ruins of the old fort. It was built primarily for military purpose, but after the frontiers of the island were secured the fort became a seat of government until 1869 and then served as a residence.

The fort is constructed in a square shape with a total area of two thousand five hundred square meters, divided into three separate courtyards surrounded by thirty-five spacious multi-purpose and residential rooms and utility chambers. Even to this day it remains important in terms of the national security of Bahrain.

It allows a spectacular view to the valley below and is one of the best places to enjoy the cooling wind blowing over the desert sand at night. It is Maryam’s favourite evening picnic spot, and as we were arriving at dusk and were all hungry we stopped on the way for some takeaway. Although the hamburger and hot dog invasion has waged successful inroads in Bahrain, we treated ourselves to native Middle East takeaway: biryani - rice cooked with various meats, and shawarmas: Turkish inspired, heated meats sliced thinly and rolled in a soft bread cone. Great finger food. The rear deck of the fort and its great view served well for our picnic. With Bahraini Maryam and other close friends; Dr. Ashraf, Egyptian physician, Marissa, his Filipino fiancé whose photographic passion provided helpful later reference, and her Chinese friend XieMie, we relaxed in good company. Such an international smorgasbord of friends is the norm in Bahrain for any occasion. Lights twinkled on across the broad deep valley below, signalling the approaching darkness. Just then we were treated to unexpected entertainment: a group of Eid revellers and an impromptu dance on a level just below us, to the beat of tin and plastic makeshift drums. Dr. Ashraf explained, “This is their traditional folkloric dance, the Tagleedi”.

Islands

On to the next adventure. Fall was a perfect time to enjoy roaming through Amwaj Island (Amwaj is Arabic for 'waves'), a grouping of four islands newly formed around a lagoon, joined by bridges, all recently reclaimed from the Arabian Gulf. Amwaj features all the facilities and amenities expected in a small self-contained modern resort city. It is one of five other island masses, either newly created from open sea, or in planning or development stages. Bahrain has been extended often recently dating back generally to 1968, with once seaside buildings now as much as a kilometre away from the sea. Hard to imagine under restrictive property laws of Western countries.

Reclaimed sea has an even longer precedent here, dating back to over four thousand years, back to the Dilmun civilisation’s development of what is now the Bahrain Fort. Amwaj, as Bahrain’s first complete island community, was reclaimed with a vision of returning waterside living to this little country. Bahrain’s land mass, though only about one sixth the size of Rhode Island has one hundred and sixty-one kilometres of shoreline, one hundred times the ratio of shoreline to area compared to the US. But prior to Amwaj it had only about thirteen small public and private beaches for its population of about 1.2 million. By comparison, California, USA lists over six times as many major beaches per kilometre, and they are all huge in comparison to Bahrain’s.

Amwaj Islands is a start in reversing the great beach oversight here. It offers a complete community for thirty thousand new inhabitants, forming the country’s new north-east coast. It was planned by US architects Skidmore, Owens and Merrill as a grouping of mini-islands, each bordering both the Arabian Gulf externally and their own Lagoon internally, with self-styled ‘Venice-like’ canals and rear-lot mooring interlaced throughout.

It is a small city, with all the facilities expected in a fashionable seaside resort. The central Lagoon amenities are reminiscent of London’s Covent Garden and Sydney’s Cockle Wharf. Amwaj boasts a hospital, schools, sports, entertainment, five-star hotels and shopping, Marina and Marina Mall, fine restaurants and lounges, health clubs, botanical gardens, condominiums, apartments and beach front villas, in open and gated communities, all surrounded by crystal clear azure waters and golden beaches. Properties are available for freehold purchase by expatriates also. Unfortunately I don’t get sales commissions.

The architectural significance of Amwaj Island is that it is emblematic of the emerging new Bahrain, awakening at long last to the pleasures and beauty of its surrounding warm sea. It is the first of many future island communities and small cities in planning and under development. As most of Bahrain’s southern half is desert, the islands will no doubt be its architectural showcases. 

Other islands of various sizes, newly created or in various stages of planning and development are Bahrain Bay, Reef Island, Lulu and Diyar Al Muharraq, with the ambitious Durrat Al Bahrain its crowning pearl, a tourist resort city on the south-east coast, planned with thirteen interlaced drop-jewel islands in shapes of ornamental fish and sea shells, symbolic of an elaborate Arabesque necklace. The Financial Harbour however is a major land extension rather than an island. Development is continuing, though not as furiously as before the global slowdown, further slowed by internal problems. But the fervour is still as strong. 

Plans extend beyond these near-shore reclaimed islands, with a visionary network of sea bridges to connect over thirty existing offshore islands or islets (more at low tide). 

Sitting on the seaside deck at the Dragon Hotel, this Western expat was sipping a pineapple cooler, appropriate for this tropical setting, while my Bahraini host, Maryam, sipped her tea. A good example of the relaxed friendliness and ready acceptance of cross-culture for which Bahrain is noted and which is duly appreciated by expat visitors and long-term residents. 

Dragon seemed a strange name for a hotel in this part of the world and I had never heard of such a chain. So I asked the waiters, who had not a clue why it was so named. “Hmm,” I thought, “if I worked at such a hotel I would think that would be one of the first things I would want to know”. So I posed the question to Maryam. Her answer: “If you look at the island from the air it looks like a dragon head and tail.” Well, I had to Google that further to confirm it, and sure enough she didn’t disappoint. What I found was the following hyped description by a hotel PR flack who explained it thus: “It (the Dragon Hotel’s logo) is designed to reflect its name in the shape of a sleeping dragon with its long neck stretching across the water to form a conical dragon-like head, reminiscent of a majestic giant watching over the waters of the Arabian Gulf. Its distinctive dragon scales prevail over the land - marking the hotel’s most unique and iconic architectural feature.” Well OK, if you say so... But if you squint, the aerial view of the island complex is really - a dragon head - no less.

We were enjoying a special show in the illuminated sand shallows just below the outdoor dining deck. Little fish darting hither and yon and a tiny crab scurrying about, stirring the sand in its path, for titbits thrown from the tables. A small testament to marine life returning to the reclaimed shallows. 

I closed my eyes for a pleasant moment to taste the cool Gulf breezes washing over my face, and opened them to evening lights now flickering on randomly across the bay, dancing on the water against the darkening Gulf sky. Testament to the transplant of human life to the newly planted villas and apartments in the reclaimed sand. Maryam pointed to her villa under construction across the water, and raised concerns referring further to the sparse activity. “Where is the ‘community’ they advertised?” 

I couldn’t imagine what more the designers could have done. My reply, “You have Westerners here with their culture mixed with Middle-Easterners with their culture. Give it time to gel”. For certain, a sense of community lifestyle is one reason why Westerners buy into resort developments. Amwaj was designed to offer both an entertainment lifestyle for the young, and a quiet comfortable environment for the retired, targeting native Bahrainis, as well as expats. 

The architectural style of the buildings here can be described as 'Modern Arabic Aesthetic' but could be labelled Miami Contemporary as well. High rise buildings are, like everywhere else, glass on steel frame, some with interesting and/or whimsical shapes such as the angular Marriott Renaissance Hotel, raked, stepped and folded around its entry focus. 

There is Arabic homogeneity in the low-rise buildings, block concrete shapes with large shaded overhangs and large vertical openings. Liberal use is made of Arabic-style arches, as well as a sprinkling of modern tensile tent/sail structures for variety. Low-rise buildings are just about all concrete, due to limited structural wood in the desert climes,

The unanimously favoured colour here as throughout Bahrain is the one which blends best into the surrounding sands: if you like beige there is every shade that you ever could imagine - plus whites galore. And don’t plan to paint your building exterior such “garish” colours as green, blue, etc., which are under new building restrictions.

Amwaj was built with considerable attention to its environmental impact. Reclamation of the island was an interesting engineering and environmental feat, using a sophisticated technology which employs recently developed Geotubes as the key feature of the design. Geotubes are sand containment sacks, highly UV stabilized, of heavy woven polypropylene geo-textile fabric, thirteen meters in circumference. They are hydraulically filled with dredged sand, and are dual stacked to form the island perimeter retention dike, for minimum impact of spillage on the marine habitat. The Geotubes are hydraulically filled, then covered with a series of increasingly larger rip-rap stones on their exteriors, then filled in between with sand reclaimed from proposed navigation channels and marinas to further mitigate environmental effects. A turbidity curtain between the tubes and the sea was used during dredging and filling to greatly reduce the siltation and migration of fines to the surrounding area. A breakwater of similar but submerged reef-like structures is used offshore all around the island for tempering of wave surges.

Commercial Buildings

The country’s largest mall is Manama’s new world class City Centre Mall. This retail and leisure complex includes a dramatic glazed atrium roof, forty meters high, covering and lighting all walkways throughout. The Mall is rectangular with an internal balcony-like rectangular walkway open from floor to ceiling, with clear views throughout the continuous three-level atrium, imparting a grand sense of space. The walkways connect four roundabouts at the corners of the interior rectangle, with major stores on the exterior side of the walkway, and smaller stores on the interior. 

The Centre comprises two hundred and seven thousand square meters of retail space, two luxury hotels, an energy centre, a twenty screen cinema, a five thousand five hundred car multi-storey car-park and the Middle East’s largest indoor climate controlled water-park. Mott MacDonald Group, UK, served as lead consultant and engineer. 

As dramatic is the interior is, the exterior is contrarily drab for such a major building. The public entrance is only through the multi level car park, blocking the entire façade, with no sense of the exterior of the mall except for drive-by views along the highway, and then only of a neutral façade there. 

Al A'Ali Mall is a small centre featuring top designer stores, and is notable in blending the look and feel of a traditional open air souk within its modern air-conditioned confines. A glass roof, stores with old-fashioned Arabic wooden doors and carts selling souvenirs all add to the atmosphere.

This selective architectural itinerary will focus a bit on restaurants because seldom can the subtle effects of good architecture on a building’s function be so readily appreciated as in a thoughtfully designed restaurant. And Bahrain has more than its share of well-designed restaurants - with tasty offerings to match. I have happily sampled many, with an architect’s eye for the aesthetics as well as the food. 

Here’s a little-known secret: Four of the most popular and successful restaurants in Bahrain, covering a range of cuisine, owe their design, development and management to one company, Al Ghalia Contracting. In this one company’s domain are four local favourites, all award winners, and are all as different from each other as can be, sharing only good food and good design. Mezzaluna, elegant and sophisticated dining in a converted traditional Bahrain house with lofty covered courtyard; Zoe, an intimate space for seeing and being seen, inspired by New York loft design; Café Lilou, decadent treats in a Parisian patisserie with delightful alfresco terrace; and the Monsoon, romantic, exotic Asian, inspirit with Buddhist temple design; are all within a short walk from each other in Adliya’s core, the locally famed Block 338 restaurant row.

Around the corner from these are two other locally cherished dining spots. Café Italia, recipient of this year’s Favourite Restaurant 2011, with Italian inspired design elements. Nearby is TIAN Asian with its oriental inspired design décor, both sharing similar architectural treatment, i.e. minimalist sleek lines with clean sculpted décor. Nearby, the Upstairs Downstairs is a workable replica of a covered New Orleans jazz club courtyard, on two levels, with the focus of both levels on the downstairs jazz combo.

For design interest, twenty minutes away but near each other on the Seef waterfront, are two other favourites. Bushido, is chic and trendy, powerful re-interpretation of Japan in a soaring two-level space surrounded by protective Samurai statues swathed in full traditional armour, Nearby is Trader Vic’s, Ritz Carlton’s showcase restaurant/lounge which does as effective a job of integrating the indoors with their splendid oasis and gulf outdoor views as you will be treated to anywhere.

Amidst all the talk here of fine dining, it’s worthwhile mentioning in another breath ‘Franchise Alley’, a planning anomaly. This 'Las Vegasesque' strip, extending for half a kilometre from the US Naval Base along Shabab Avenue in the Juffair area, is lined on both sides of the street with just about every US fast food franchise outlet imaginable, from Burger King to Starbucks. Originally planned to draw US Sailors from their base into town, it has now surpassed sheesha shops in its popularity with locals. 

My favourite restaurant in Bahrain however, and one of my favourites in the world is the Monsoon. Other Bahraini residents agree. It was voted 'Bahrain’s Favourite Restaurant' in 2009, and either 'Favourite Restaurant' or 'Favourite Asian or Thai Restaurant' for most years since it opened in 2000. I include it here, not just from personal sentiment but because of its special architectural ambiance, and to make the case for the influence of the architectural environment on the function of a building, and in this case on the success of a commercial enterprise.

You are greeted at the Monsoon entry by a lovely Asian hostess, with the gentle traditional Thai Wai greeting of upward-pointed folded hands and lowered eyes. The design is obviously not a local architectural style, but is decidedly Balinese, a tropical style that seems natural in this tropical-like setting. The main dining area is a ‘U’ shape; with seating on a raised platform. A moment of reverence seems almost in order in the temple-like grandeur of the soaring wooden ceiling. Surrounded by a polished wood interior, radiating a warm glow, it is an open invitation to relaxed and pleasurable dining. 

A decorative moat, a meter wide by a meter deep surrounds the dining area and sets it off. Candles float peacefully throughout the moat, lined with candles all along its edge. You are tempted to wonder if anyone has ever fallen in. I do ask and the hostess smiles and nods yes, and says simply; “several.” Then I notice that she has carefully positioned herself between us and the moat as she escorts us to our table. Just in case? I chuckle. But I instinctively walk just a step farther away.

There’s a large glass wall across the rear, looking out at one of the restaurant’s design features, a traditional Japanese kaiyu-shiki or strolling garden, with lanterns, sculpture, koi pond and island, and chashitsus - open tea gardens for outdoor dining. All are in a formal seventeenth century-style, a walled and fenced courtyard garden. Stepping stones, raised millimetres above the quiet water, bridge the pond, and I smile to myself crossing it, thinking back to the tale of accidental swimmers in the inside moat. So I tip-toe across with just a little extra caution. The garden is open for dining only during Bahrain’s pleasant spring and fall months unfortunately, but is nice for hovering over drinks with friends at other times.

Off to another landmark, Bab Bahrain, the 'Gateway of Bahrain', originally the waterfront gateway to the city. Hundreds of pigeons scatter flappingly in all directions as we wander through the parking lot across from and seaward of the Bab. All this area, including the InterContinental Regency hotel lot just on our right, plus all the seashore extending for a half- kilometre inward toward us from the sea was water not many years ago.

The semi-circular driveway ahead, with huge ornamental fountain at its focus, leads us into the impressive Gateway, just past the circle of taxis waiting to pounce on fares at non-metered prices. A couple of hundred expats, many construction workers, are just hanging out on the expansive walkway all around the Bab on any night, especially Friday, enjoying the camaraderie. 

The monumental building was designed by Sir Charles Belgrave in 1945 to house government offices. The monument got a facelift in 1986 which added architectural features of the Islamic style. Today, the building houses the tourist information office and a handicrafts and souvenir shop. The design features a two storey arch in the centre formerly a drive-through, now the pedestrian entrance to the famed Manama Souq. An extensive and lively marketplace, Bahrain’s major souq wanders through the narrow labyrinthine back-streets, with a wide variety of souvenirs, fabrics, spices, handicrafts, kaftans, nuts and dry fruits, and just about anything one can think of, all at bargain prices. Most of the shopkeepers are residents of Bahrain. But there are traders from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Egypt and other neighbouring Gulf countries displaying assorted odds and ends. If you are in search of pure hallmarked gold, here you can find 18 carat to 25 carat gold items, typically 21 carat, respected for its quality. Or natural Bahraini pearls famous all over the world.

There are restoration efforts under way here as in Muhrarraq and in selected villages or ‘towns’. Still called ‘villages’ or towns, they have developed and merged into what would be considered ‘subdivisions’ elsewhere,

Manama High-Rise

In Bahrain, there is increasingly less left of the old Manama. Older buildings have either been left to gradually deteriorate by owners indifferent to preventive maintenance, or they have just given up, making way for the wave of new high-rise offices, apartments, condos, and hotels. From a boat looking shoreward, a new skyline rises higher day-by-day from old Manama, some towers are glinting flashes of sun off their shiny glass skin, covering a variety of shapes, some, still dark, are still only partly completed concrete skeletons. The skeleton shapes are crowned by construction cranes, looking like flocks of alien birds perched atop their favourite rookery, some searching for prey, restlessly moving, some silenced for the time being by the economic slowdown. Bahrain’s skyline looks more and more like the changing skylines of other thriving modern cities.

The Bahrain World Trade centre (BWTC) is the most recognizable landmark on the horizon. A stunning design by the multi-national architectural firm W.S. Atkins of the U.K. It features twin fifty storey sail-shaped towers dynamically twisting skywards together, ending in a dramatic two pointed star. 

Built in 2008, it is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines, for which it has received numerous design awards for energy sustainability. The twin towers are designed to funnel and accelerate wind through their gap to three turbines. The turbines are linked via three sky-bridges, each holding a three bladed propeller turbine aligned north to capture breezes from the nearby Arabian Gulf. They are designed to provide up to 15 percent of the towers' total power consumption. 

Its awards include the '2006 LEAF Award for Best Use of Technology within a Large Scheme', the 'Arab Construction World Award for Sustainable Design', The 'NOVA Award' in 2009, and the prestigious 'Palme Award' in 2010, among others. Atkins has also designed the spectacular Burj Al Arab in Dubai. A wise man can quickly orient himself on Bahrain’s meandering roads with just a glance at the BWTC twin star points, a ready reference throughout Manama.

The Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) is a large-scale integrated waterfront development in the centre of Manama on reclaimed land, under development as a complete financial city, a self contained community of office space and luxury residential together with retail, hotel, leisure and entertainment properties. It was designed by Ahmed Janahi, Bahrain Architect and is being developed in multiple construction phases.

Major components of the Financial Centre include the Harbour Towers, the Harbour Mall and the Harbour House. The twin Harbour Towers, Commercial East and Commercial West, mark completion of the first phase and stand as the two tallest towers in Bahrain at fifty-four floors each. They feature state-of-the-art intelligent building systems throughout. Their interesting architectural shapes, featuring steep ‘ski slope’ shaped façades on each building, are the latest easily recognizable landmark for the area. The BFH financial community landmark was named 'Best Mixed-Use Development Project' at the Arab Investment Summit in Dubai in 2011.

Zamil Towers stands as a second Gateway to the centre of Manama, incorporating a drive-through arched tunnel in the building’s centre, reminiscent of Bab Bahrain. It is a modern twenty-two story building with façade and interior on the lower part crafted in the Islamic style, with upper part incorporating modern architectural elements. It is is an excellent example of Islamic traditionalist arched entrances and interior materials and motif coexisting with modernism. It was designed as a gateway from modern Bahrain to the traditional Souk area, another step in the ongoing regeneration of Bahrain’s traditional bazaar. The two-tower building was designed by Ahmed Bucheery, Bahrain Architect, and received the Aga Khan Award.

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) is an elegant study in sophisticated simplicity. It was designed by Abbey, Hanson, Rowe & Partners, Architects, UK, with concave glass surfaces on two façades, and convex glass surfaces on the other two opposing sides. As conceived by the architects, the special glazing acts as a giant curved mirror reflecting the predominant blue skies of Bahrain. At twenty-seven floors high, it houses the bank's main offices, in the centre of Manama, another landmark on the city's skyline.

The Abraj Al Lulu is an impressive major residential development in the very centre of Manama packed with all the amenities a discriminating urban dweller could possibly want and close to everything one would need. It consists of three large towers, nostalgically named Gold Pearl, Silver Pearl and Black Pearl, each fifty, fifty and forty floors high, with awe-inspiring views and a parking garage for over one thousand cars - a luxury in Bahrain. It is available for purchase freehold by expatriates. Al Lulu’s design is by association of Architects Jafar Tukan, Jordan, Aga Khan Award recipient; Cowi Al Moayed, UAE and Habib Mudara, Bahrain.

Mosques

The Al Khamis Mosque is notable as the very first mosque in the country and the most ancient monument of Islam in the vicinity. The foundation probably dates back as far as 692AD, however inscriptions indicate more recent construction around the eleventh century with addition of the present minarets during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The ruins include standing stone walls and columns, and surprisingly the two minarets, presumably the most vulnerable parts of the structure. On my visit the site was closed, probably due to Eid holidays, but I did manage to get a glimpse through the gates. 

Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Bahrain is the largest mosque of the country, constructed in 1990. Though not architecturally ground-breaking, it is truly grand in its ability to accommodate about seven thousand worshippers at a time. It is an imposing monument and good example of current mosque design. It is notable for its Islamic décor and its sixty tonne dome - of fibreglass. If you have wondered at the design or workings of mosques this would be well worth a visit, as excellent guided tours for non-Muslims are available throughout the day, except during any of the five prayer times. 

Architectural Vernacular

The University of Bahrain, which was designed by Architect Kenzo Tange, Japan, a 'Pritzker Prize' winner, established the first School of Architecture in 1990. Prior to then architecture by locals was practised by Civil Engineers and Architects who had completed their studies abroad. Bahrain now enjoys the beginnings of a flourishing architectural community, with expectations of a building boom, an outgrowth of the mega projects now in the planning and early development stages, in particular the offshore resort complexes. Much of the large-scale contemporary architecture in Bahrain is now practised by international firms, with increasing collaboration by Bahrain Engineers and Architects. 

Architects seem to enjoy extracting order from the variety of building styles and their influences over the years. Such is the following short summary of Bahrain Architect Ahmad Bucheery’s insightful study, Contemporary Architecture in Bahrain. He divides the island’s recent architecture into five periods: 

• I. Traditional; 1800 - 1945. Adherence to Islamic values and Arab customs, with local technologies and materials dominant.
• II. Transitional; 1946 - 1970. Change from pearling to oil based economy, with the consequent expansion of government infrastructure.
• III. Modern; 1971 - 1979. Meteoric development due to the booming oil revenue abetted by new western construction technologies of steel and pre-cast concrete structures.
• IV. Post-Modern; 1980 - 1989. Nationalistic quickening, spurring major municipal projects.
• V. Revivalism; 1990 - 1999. Flocking Saudi Causeway visitors prompt new hotels, apartments, restaurants, etc., bringing hefty investment capital with them.

I would add a sixth:

• VI. Future City; 2000 and beyond. I might also call this the Mega Project Period. Here Bahrain turns from development of only individual buildings, to planning and implementing large scale community re-development, and even creation of entire new cities. Its effects will be a renaissance of dynamic architectural mega projects from developers and architects worldwide. At the same time the country must make major changes to its already overtaxed infrastructure, most notably its dysfunctional traffic and road system. Bahrain has come far - quickly. The country has great future dreams and they will be realized, but only if the country continues to work with that unified goal.

Arabic Architecture, or more specifically Islamic Architecture, is worth discussing both for its pervasive influence in Bahrain as well as throughout this entire part of the world, while its rich contributions to the architectural vocabulary are largely overlooked in the West. 

Arabic design springs from the rich and ornate architecture of its early mosques and is interwoven in the complex fabric of Islam itself. The use of human and animal statues and pictures are haram (forbidden) in Islam, so Muslim architects turned their design talents to redefining spaces as extensions of Islamic ideals, to broadening the simple forms of domes, cupolas, arches columns, piers, niches, colonnades, and decorative elements of the earlier Byzantine. Arabic design strives to be different and succeeds stunningly, with visual rhythm and harmony throughout Islamic structures. Islamic architecture’s more elaborate elements are balanced always with its traditions.

Islamic architecture has taken simple Roman arches and formed them into an elegant variety of graceful new shapes. Their Pointed Arch is a transformation of the traditional rounded crown, bending it into a more fanciful pointed top. Their Ogee Arch takes the Pointed Arch a sensual step further by shaping the arch sides in an 'S' shape on the right and a reverse 'S' on the left. Arabic architects developed the Horseshoe Arch, a regular rounded top but with the bottom sides curving inward as in a horseshoe. Their more decorative and whimsical arches include the Scalloped Arch, composed of a continuous series of generally five intersecting mini-arches forming the arch sides and top, and the purely decorative Stalactite - a series of arches alongside and above and below others to form patterned ornamentation. Examples adorn Bahrain’s heritage buildings but can be seen as well as icons in contemporary buildings recalling the romantic symbols of their past.

Arabesque Art is an integral part of Islamic architecture. It is an ornate repetition of geometric patterns, or decorative elements derivative of plants, of fractal geometry in radiating curved lattice patterns. Their fanciful arches and other architectural shapes are an outgrowth of their skill in geometric art. Their motif is considered spiritualistic, based as it is on an Islamic world view of patterns extending beyond the visible material world to symbolize the infinite and therefore un- centralised nature of the creation of the one God ('Allah'). 

An added distinctive feature of Arabesque art is Calligraphy, which for the Muslim is also a visible expression of spiritual concepts. Calligraphy is a venerated art form, as it provides a link between the languages of the Muslims and the religion of Islam.

There is a new awakening of Islamic values in architecture and the arts, with a number of recent international conferences throughout the Middle East devoted solely to their study and implementation.

Archaeology and Architecture

On one of our jaunts Maryam headed to the Barbar village, on the west coast, wherein the historic Barbar Temple excavation remains after five thousand years. It took a few turns to find the site, as there are few highway and street signs, a common omission in travels round the island.

The site is worthy of both archaeological and architectural study. The standing ruins are of the most recent of three temples erected on the same site, approximately five hundred years apart, as each in turn was demolished. This most recent temple is from approximately 2000BC, the earlier from approximately 2500BC, established through Radio Carbon Dating, with the earliest from 3000BC.

Excavation extends from subterranean cellars to above ground ruins of various shaped walls: ovals, rectangles, circles, etc., each at various interconnected levels, with wall remains from one-half to one and one- half meter high. All three temples were made of limestone, and an elaborate plan is evident, with well preserved stone steps leading a wanderer throughout the ruins.

On the way back from the Al Khamis Mosque, Maryam took a slight detour through the village of El Ali and its early historic Dilmun Burial Mounds. “I know you’re interested in the ancient burial grounds,” she offered, “and this area has some of the best preserved examples.” These are the major remains of the once mighty Dilmun civilization that flourished here during the Bronze Age of 3000BC.

Architecturally, the Burial Mounds are rare structures worth a note, primitive as some are, stone chambers lined with plaster, into which bodies in wooden coffins were placed, with the structure then covered over with earthen mounds. The stone chambers however vary from simple rectangular boxes to more complex intricate networks of adjoining chambers for later burial of several family members.

The mounds are further important for the sheer extent of their physical coverage of Bahrain. In those primitive times this necropolis covered the central two-thirds of the entire island, literally a ‘country of the dead.’ Most mounds have simply been overbuilt, but a preservation effort is underway, enclosing large burial areas with security walls. This burial ensemble is on the list for inclusion as a World Heritage site.

Looking Ahead

Major city planning projects which will impact the island architecture include new restoration efforts focusing on entire villages in addition to individual buildings.

Architecturally, the planned Bahrain Museum of Contemporary Art is awaited with breathless anticipation, a free flowing fantasy as can only be dreamed of and delivered by Zaha Hadid, Architect, U.K. Her international projects and awards are far too numerous to mention. The museum is designed as a complex of curving arcs that lift slowly and then soar horizontally, twisting and turning fluidly in unexpectedly delightful ways and shapes. It is described as mystically floating above the coastal landscape, gracefully soaring along the waterfront, focusing light on the exhibits, then gently curving to a cantilever over the water.

Major infrastructure plans include a bridge far, forty kilometres across the sea to Qatar. This Friendship Bridge is under design by US engineering firm KBR and UK firm Halcrow. It will be the seventh longest bridge in the world. Given the unprecedented boom brought by the Saudi Causeway, Bahrain will have to grow its entire infrastructure just to accommodate the influx of this one ambitious undertaking.

With pearling washed away and its oil drained, Bahrain is of necessity reinventing itself, both as a financial centre for the Gulf area, and more broadly as a tourist recreational magnet. Recent cruise ship interest is a case in point. For tourism, forward thinkers are looking increasingly to regenerate Bahrain’s past cultural assets for future interests, for the enchantment of travellers hungry to soak in Bahrain’s special heritage while enjoying its sunny clime and its flurry of cultural activities.

And so I return to Maryam’s opening question; “of all the sites we visited, what’s your favourite?” 

I admit to having to punt on this one. My favourite, architecturally, is one we haven’t visited, Zaha Hadid’s Museum of Contemporary Art, coming soon to a waterfront in Muharraq. Architecture by Hadid is music for the eyes. Of those we visited however. I will return often to Amwaj, and could happily retire there to enjoy the lifestyle and amenities created by its designers. It is also obvious that I will be returning often to Monsoon, an aesthetic as well as a dining delight. And, like antique lovers everywhere, my visits to Bahrain’s splendid heritage homes have further enriched my appreciation for the endurance of good art and its influences far beyond its time.

In Bahrain there is a varied architectural menu to savour, whatever your palate.