The SSH-designed, USD 775 million, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre (SJAAC) opened with a performance by legendary tenor singer Andrea Boccelli.
The Centre is a cultural milestone for Kuwait and a world class building for ceremony, celebration and artistic expression, which places the country on the world map for cultural projects. The Centre will host various cultural events including music, theatre, film, workshops and spoken word.
The four jewel-styled buildings are set to be the centrepieces of the new cultural district in central Kuwait, close to historic Flag Square. The buildings will create a new architectural reference for the Middle East. Its technical and multi-functional theatres will also make it one of the state of the art performing venues in the world.
The Cultural Centre includes a performing arts centre, music centre, conference centre, historical documents centre as well as libraries, parks, and fountains.
Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC) is a new world-class museum district within Kuwait City, it will form Kuwait’s new national cultural district.
The museums are a celebration of Kuwaiti, Islamic and Arab culture and history. They will also embrace and showcase the rich diversity of the world’s finest cultural achievements, with the scale, shapes and shades of the buildings designed to convey a sense of wonder and awe worthy of such accomplishments.
The complex is tied together by its central ‘street’; a covered thoroughfare forming ASCC’s spine that evokes walking down a traditional, busy Kuwaiti street. Meandering through the district beneath the spine’s technologically advanced canopy is a journey of surprises, revealing exciting spaces, Islamic patterns, corners and walkways, while offering stunning views deep into each museum building.
Visitors can enjoy six distinct experiences, each housed within their own buildings at the complex, which are a Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Museum of Islamic History, and Space Museum, as well as a Fine Arts Centre and Theatre. Each building contains an array of permanent and temporary world-class exhibits and artworks.
Covering a total area of 13 ha, ASCC is the largest museums project of its kind in the world and was named Public Building of the Year at the prestigious ABB LEAF Awards 2017.
At its inception, the City Campus East project presented Northumbria University with an opportunity to take a considerable step towards achieving its central vision: to become one of the world’s leading teaching based universities. The brownfield site to the east of the city centre was derelict and part of an area which the city had almost turned its back on. A busy urban motorway separated the site from the main campus and the city centre.
With the University’s clear vision and the palpable need for urban regeneration driving the brief, the need for the campus to have a landmark architectural presence became increasingly apparent. At the heart of the project was the primary requirement to provide best-in-class facilities for the 9,000 students and staff who make up the University’s Newcastle Business School, School of Law, and School of Design.
In addition to the provision of new facilities, the project also came to symbolise a transformation that would impact on the University, the City and the North East.
Advancing educational standards, stimulating urban renewal and embracing innovative and sustainable designs were all part of the process which allowed the vision to be expressed in an architectural form.
The Museum of the Future will be a destination for the best and brightest inventors and entrepreneurs, offering an integrated environment, empowering creative minds to test, fund and market ideas for futuristic prototypes and services.
It will bring together inventors, designers and researchers, presenting a range of technologies, becoming an incubator for ideas and designs, a driver for innovation.
Studio BAAD designed Pyramid Art Centre incorporating the old Magistrates Court with modern architectural interventions. The building has a 200 seats studio theatre, dedicated dance studios and is at the heart of the Warrington art and museum district.
