ARGAN BEDAYA SCHOOL

Concept Design / Site Supervision / Execution

Institutional

Located in the city of Kuwait, Argan Bedaya is a purpose-built community enriching lives through multi-generational learning methods, funded by Al Argan Development in Kuwait. The project was assigned to us to revise the existing building skeleton designed by Blank-page Architects from Lebanon. The school offers a new specific learning condition consisting of classrooms, multipurpose rooms, outdoor spaces, and a garden on the rooftop. The journey starts at the entrance, where the kids and parents first meet with the school staff. To give warmth to the welcoming platform, we used wooden louvers to define the space and to provide warmth to the tripleheight atrium. The classroom’s configuration reflects the Montessori approach, which is student-led and self-paced but guided, assessed, and enriched by knowledgeable and caring teachers, the leadership of their peers, and a nurturing environment.

Reception - Classroom - Multipurpose Room

Kalba Rock Art Museum

Competition Cultural

Situated on one of the UAE’s most sensitive and natural mounds, Kalba Rock Museum comprises a circular gallery around the courtyard open to the mountain’s main activities, the hiking trail, the mountain top, and the observation tower. The Museum will also provide education and visitor facilities to increase environmental awareness and engagement with nature. The hiking trail is made of wooden panels on vertical pillars around the mountain, reaching the top with a viewing tower. The following components define the intervention: The enclosed space (two-thousand square meters) includes the rock art research center and exhibition rooms; the roof garden is accessible to the public; the water body comes naturally from the top of the mountain to the lowest point surrounding the building; and the outdoor areas include courtyards and observation decks.

In collaboration with Pragma Architects Planners ©