In 2006 the archaeological site at Qal’at al-Bahrain was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This new museum is reached by an arrival court leading to an exhibition space, a restaurant or the archaeological site itself. The exhibition is centred around a 30-metre-long reconstruction of the site’s archaeological strata, and visitors pass through the ages as they ascend through the museum past each layer of this wall. Making maximum use of daylight, display cases are recessed into toplit towers that project from the exterior walls. In style, the architecture responds to local tradition, scale and climate with an introverted building, minimal in decoration.

Source:

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2011.