oma-DESIGNED exhibitions beneath an som cover
With scenography designed by OMA / Iyad Alsaka and Kaveh Dabiri, the Islamic Arts Biennale celebrates the opening of its first version in Jeddah. The sprawlingn 12,000 square-meters of exhibition house are sheltered beneath the cover of the Western Hajj Terminal, designed in 1981 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), and show a mix of historical artifacts and up to date artworks.
The designers notice their inspiration from the idea of the Qiblah, and thus manifest as a gradual and directional journey from darkness to gentle — all inside the Terminal’s ‘desert-like panorama’ that ‘alludes to the journey of Hijrah.’ Now open to the general public, the Islamic Arts Biennale runs by means of April twenty third, 2023.
photos © Marco Cappelletti | @_marcocappelletti
a gradual journey from darkness to gentle
Designing the exhibition areas for the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled Awwal Bait or ‘First Home,’ the architects at OMA acknowledge two distinct elements. The group describes the primary: ‘A choreographed trajectory by means of a sequence of newly constructed galleries permits guests a progressive sense of orientation as they transfer from one room to a different.
‘Impressed by the idea of the Qiblah — the course Muslims face once they pray — the displays manifest regularly in a journey from darkness to gentle, beginning in a dimly lit room full of Seventeenth-century astrolabes — used to calculate the Qiblah — and concluding within the vibrant house internet hosting an set up which includes the First Saudi Door of the Ka’bah in Makkah, put in in the course of the reign of King Abdul Aziz.’
the islamic arts biennale occupies a desert-like panorama
OMA’s exhibition house for the Islamic Arts Biennale subsequent celebrates the SOM-designed Western Hajj Terminal. The crew continues: ‘Underneath the terminal’s cover, a desert-like panorama alludes to the journey of Hijrah — Prophet Mohamed’s journey from Makkah to Madinah. Slopes and slanted partitions of varied heights, organized in relation to the geometry of the prevailing construction, have been constructed to show the artworks, creating a way of exploration all through the go to.
‘Two freestanding pavilions act as reference factors within the open panorama, exhibiting artefacts from Makkah and Madinah. In distinction to the tough ambiance exterior, the displays within the two pavilions are embedded in a vibrant, diaphanous display wrapping the perimeter of the partitions.’
