Diyar Al Muharraq gets overwhelming response for design contest
CONSTRUCTION NEWS
Diyar Al Muharraq, a leading real estate development company in Bahrain, said it had received an overwhelming response for its competition to design an architectural landmark at the entrance of its key integrated city.
The Bahraini developer said the competition was mainly launched with an aim to fostering a spirit of creativity and innovation and providing the golden opportunity for creatives specialized in design and architecture to put their skills into practice.
The contest, which ran from September 13 to November 10, witnessed a wide turnout with Diyar Al Muharraq receiving more than 1,500 inquiries and more than 245 entries from different countries around the world.
Besides the vast number of participants that submitted their entries from the GCC - mainly Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and UAE; design specialists from a host of Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, also took part.
Also a number of entries came from Asian countries including China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand and Iran in addition to some Europe nations as well including Britain, Germany, Spain, Ukraine and Turkey in addition to key submissions from the US.
The participants were challenged to create a design that reflects the key pillars of authentic Bahraini culture, and also incorporate Diyar’s unique blend of traditional and contemporary architecture, said a top official.
"We are incredibly pleased to have received a high turnout for the design competition with submissions from creatives across the globe. At Diyar, our ultimate goal is to carefully blend Bahraini heritage together with a modern lifestyle as part of a fully-integrated and sustainable city," remarked its CEO Engineer Ahmed Ali Alammadi.
"This has been the driving force behind the competition to design an architectural landmark reflecting Diyar’s concept and authentic local culture which combines elements of traditional and contemporary architecture," he noted.
The designs will be evaluated by key representatives from Diyar Al Muharraq, after which all shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by a panel of judges.
Following the evaluation process, all the winners will be announced where-in the first-place winner will walk away with $50,000, the second-place winner with $20,000 and third-place winner with $10,000. Also 10 other winners will receive an accolade of being honorably mentioned.
"Another key deliverable of the competition challenged participants to submit a design that embodied the environmentally-friendly and sustainable nature of Diyar Al Muharraq as a project and reflect the City’s vision of creating a fully-integrated township, in so that the monument would emerge as a vital up-and-coming design landmark within Bahrain," stated Ali Alammadi.
"We look forward to seeing the participants innovative entries and their interpretation of our vision in their creative concepts for Diyar’s landmark, which will be installed at the main entrance to the city. We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the creative participants and wish them all the success," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
