Al KUwaitiyah and al Kuwaiti - innarrative
As part of an ongoing research with Sara Abdulla Mishari and Sara look into the unique history and duality of the Kuwait Airways Headquarters in Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Building in Bahrain.
Storytelling and architecture have long coincided. Architecture withholds an entire history within its walls; it embraces our daily activities through indoor & outdoor spaces, and it tells a story of our culture, our past, the pace in which we develop, how we develop, and beyond. People say if walls could talk, they would speak about their inhabitants, the passersby, the visitors, those who came, and those who abandoned.
Al Kuwaitiyah and Al Kuwaiti, a name that evokes a conversation between two people. Instantly identifying the individuals with a nationality. The name is also a common name used for two buildings one in Kuwait, the other in Bahrain. Al Kuwaitiyah, is what locals call the headquarters building of Kuwait Airways in Kuwait City, while Amarat Al Kuwaiti is what Bahraini’s call a building owned by a Kuwaiti merchant in Manama, Bahrain.
Both buildings introduced a set of controversies within their local community. Both riddled with rumors of faulty structures, both evicted. Al Kuwaitiyah long demolished, Al Kuwaiti under the threat of demolition. They once stood as reminders of an era of rapid development and prosperity.
