Sakhir, Kingdom of Bahrain
Marwan Lockam of S/L Architects’ Al Dana Amphitheater, Bahrain’s latest live entertainment destination, is carved out of the Sakhir desert to offer four dynamic event spaces, all of them created with respect to the surrounding desert and nature’s individual characteristics, and allows the amphitheater to be an organic and everlasting part of its existence.
The Al Dana Amphitheater has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The initial brief was to design an outdoor concert venue for 5000-10,000 visitors that would also serve as an attraction on the racetrack.
Built on virgin desert land, it would be part of a wider development push around the track that would include a new sports stadium and exhibition center.
Lockman knows the area well and had been going to the F1 track for 10 years.
“I had one of those thunderclap moments,” he explains “where you hear about a project, close your eyes and the design is clear almost immediately. I sketched it out before going to bed and it hasn’t changed much since.”
While the other entries were built upwards, Lockman’s idea was to build down to create a huge open-air desert rock venue mimicking the amphitheaters of ancient Greece and Rome.
The architect wanted it low in the existing topography to accentuate the desert atmosphere.
The prevailing winds positioned the stage to the west, so everything fell into place with it positioned against the setting sun and Jabal al Dukhan (Mountain of Smoke), Bahrain’s highest point at 134m above sea level, behind.
As the architect claims this has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to carry a logic through from concept to tiny detail and design a building truly of its site where artists would enjoy the thrill of performing in the middle of a spectacular desert in the open air.
“It will draw out performers’ best shows; even the backstage showers, for example, have views of the landscape and mountain range,” believes Lockman.
The amphitheater is a sunken structure into the natural limestone foundation and the other materials fit naturally on the site too – stone reused from the excavation process, rammed earth walls, and rusted steel.
All this recycling and re-use of materials that weather well in this tough climate of frequent sandstorms and high humidity complement the sustainable character of the project.
The plan of the whole venue is directed by the amphitheater’s 90m length, which is optimized into a fan shape that accommodates 9,841 outdoor spectators on bench seating without requiring repeater speakers.
The stage is 15m tall with an up-lit limestone backdrop and a roof topography that was designed to mimic the profile of the mountain range behind.
Limestone and stone-filled gabion retaining walls all around help with the scattering of sound, reducing echo.
The whole venue has been designed following the US disabled standards with wheelchair access almost everywhere, including all balconies and corporate boxes.
A late addition to the project, these are converted shipping containers placed on top of retaining walls that flank the auditorium.
Discreet, low-level 3000-kelvin warm lighting has been used across the amphitheater to focus concentration on the stage and help the building melt into the surrounding landscape, allowing visitors to forget they are in something man-made.
As usual, spectators enter from behind the amphitheater and pass through turnstiles on wheels that can be moved for exit.
The design manages to reduce entry times for 10,000 people to 3 minutes 40 seconds, and exit to as little as 1 minute 50 seconds – something Lockman is particularly pleased with.
From here three leaf-shaped seating structures gently guide circulation across an open-air plaza towards the entry points to the auditorium.
Concessions and retail are tucked underneath the auditorium’s raked seating, with a rooftop terrace that corresponds to the top of the auditorium.
Everything has been designed to create the most seamless visitor experience possible, including 248 WCs also located beneath the raked seating.
To the right of the plaza is the administration building. This is cloaked in champagne-colored powder-coated aluminum screening with a matching canopy covering an outdoor restaurant, which links the racetrack with the amphitheater and offers views over both.
Running between the office building and the stage is the back office area and an indoor 1700m2 lounge space that can hold 800 people for small performances that can function all year round, even when the outdoor theatre is closed over the summer during the hottest months.
Above is a playful desert garden with a bonfire pit where VIPs can continue partying the night away, or which can be let out as a revenue-generating space.
A 1970s Bluebird bus has been converted into four WCs as part of the landscaping for the garden.
To conclude, the choice of materials has given the project a lower energy footprint than usual for a project in the Middle East.
While the structure has much-precast concrete in it, other materials that come from the site, are local or recycled as much as possible.
Another big concern was rain and storm water so there are two buried tanks to withstand a once-in-300-years rainfall, from which some water is reused elsewhere.
The aluminum screens aid natural solar shading, which gives the project an unexpected character for its location.
The earthiness of the building contrasts with its edgy, lived-in interior design in ways that will be blood-tingling as the sound of a live performance blasts out from all around.
Project: Al Dana Amphitheater
Architects: S/L Architects SPC
Lead Architect: Marwan Lockman
Developer: Ministry of Works and Mumtalakat Holdings
Contractor: Cebarco Bahrain SPC
Landscape Architects: S/L Architects SPC
Lead Consultant: Gulf House Engineering
Client: Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Special Projects
Photographers: Al Dana Amphitheater
