The Riwaq
A collaboration with Syrian architects Marwa Al-Sabouni and Ghassan Jansiz to create a pop-up, crescent-shaped colonnade on the seafront in Hove, England.
-
Client
Brighton Festival
-
Architect
Marwa Al-Sabouni, Ghassan Jansiz
-
Photography
Jim Stephenson
-
Curator
Vanessa Norwood
-
Completion
2022
Called The Riwaq, after the Arabic word for colonnade, the structure was commissioned as a semi-outdoor community space for the 2022 Brighton Festival, which ran from 7 to 29 May. The Pavilion was later reconstructed for a ‘Future Thinking’ fun day and public exhibition on the lawns at Moulsecoomb Place, by owners Cathedral Group.
The bespoke horseshoe-shaped structure, a staple of Islamic architecture, y is made from CNC cut plywood, spans almost 30 metres in diameter, and serves as a transitional creative threshold between the surrounding city and the great outdoors. Each plywood section was combined on-site to create an arch and positioned atop a wooden base that forms the crescent shape. The top of each arch is decorated with a small carving that was drawn from the design’s development stages.
The design was realised with the support of Moda Living and Timber Development UK, with additional support from distributor DHH Timber and curator Vanessa Norwood.
More