The New Vernacular: Redefining Public Space in Muscat

Architectural practice Al-Hajar discusses tactile materiality and the future of creative hubs in the Gulf.

For a decade Muscat's civic architecture has been written in imported vocabularies. Al-Hajar's new cultural pavilion argues for something quieter: rammed earth, deep shade, and rooms that behave like courtyards.

The practice describes its method as "climate first, ornament never". Geometry appears only where it does structural work — the perforated screens are cooling devices before they are pattern.

The pavilion opens to the public next spring, and will host residencies for designers working across the Peninsula.

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