Architecture firm Studio Anne Holtrop has renovated the Siyadi Pearl Museum and mosque in Bahrain, using a plastering technique designed to maintain "characteristics of the past".
Situated within Muharraq, a region with a history of pearling, the project saw the renewal of two existing coral stone buildings ? a rundown museum and adjacent mosque.
Studio Anne Holtrop has renewed a museum and mosque in Bahrain
Aiming to accentuate the building's historic qualities, Studio Anne Holtrop removed some additions to the buildings before extended the existing walls and updating the facades.
"Stripped down to the remaining historic elements, the missing parts of the building are added by extending the existing walls and their directions [which are] more or less based on found historic foundations," the studio said. The studio implemented a new plastering technique
To distinguish the new walls from the existing ones, the studio established a plastering technique that features across the museum's interior and exterior.
This process is done through first applying a rough layer of plaster, followed by a smooth layer that is partially applied across the surface from bottom to top ? resulting in a textured finish that leaves both layers of plaster visible.
"In this way a new distinctive technique for the plastering was used, while maintaining the intrinsic plaster characteristic of the past," said the studio.
Large glass doors provide access to the museum
On t...