Literary & Calligraphy Center

Rehabilitation project of 100 year-old historic building Bait Al Baranda in Muscat, Oman

Context

Rehabilitation project of 100 year old Bait Al Baranda, an Omani building that has undergone many uses through its lifetime, located at one of the busiest district near Muttrah Souq in Muscat, Oman. Originally built as a house for a wealthy Omani merchant, Bait Al Baranda turned into a medical center, British council headquarters, and recently a cultural museum. The mud-brick building suffered from many construction problems such as leakage and poor material selection and design that led to increased formation of decay and fungi deep within the load-bearing mud-brick walls. Additionally, the floors were crooked and uneven and the corridors and staircase were narrow and unsafe, which caused fatigue and serious circulation issues to the visitor.

Concept

The building was chosen to be rehabilitated into a literary and calligraphy center that could engage the society with the art of Arabic calligraphy. The design aimed to solve design problems and provide an engaging design concept that related to both poets and calligraphers. Sufi dancers and their whirls were a mutual interest to both poets and calligraphers. This mutual interest provided rich design interpretations for the space.

Concept implementation

The interior design of the literary and calligraphy center followed the steps of the Sufi dancer where like the dance, design emphasis starts with slow whirls facing the ground. Then as the spiritual dance becomes intense and the whirls become faster, as the dancer seeks to the heavens for connection, the interior design mimics the dancer’s motion. Emphasis shifts from the floor to the walls and ends up in the ceiling where Islamic calligraphy adorns the interior. The bulky irregular walls and spaces are smoothed out and curved creating interrelated spaces with a mix of Omani and Turkish design motifs.