Bahrain Authority
for Culture and Antiquities

Designed by the Jordanian architectural firm Fares & Fares, the children’s museum will be located in the Manama bay in close proximity to the National Museum and National Theatre.

Children’s Museums add a lively dimension to the museum community. Aimed at children and families, they focus on participatory learning and the adaptation of the exhibitions and programs to suit the capacities and needs of young audiences. Bahrain’s Children Museum will be the first of its kind in the Kingdom and one of the few Museums of the kind in the Arab World. The program of the museum will encourage the spirit of discovery and imagination through the creative use of interactive exhibits, collections, programming, and various resources in diverse settings. The focus will be on the development of the child as an individual and his or her love of knowledge, self-confidence, respect for others, team work and self-realization as a Bahraini.

The exhibits are grouped according to three main themes, technology, culture and natural world, which represent a breakdown of the elements that constitute the environment. The concept of the museum stems from the idea of the child and his daily games. The components that generated the idea of the museum are the children’s daily play tools: paper, light, purity and color. Purity, the fundamental nature of a child and their understanding and interaction with their surrounding was the inspiration for the crisp simplicity of the exterior of the museum and the first conceptual volumetric approach of a white pure box. Paper, the simplest of materials a child can play with was the main concept behind the development of the texture that was added onto the purity of the box and is inspired by children’s paper foldings. The third interceptive element, containing the circulation area takes its shape from children’s paper cutting patterns, and offers a mesmerizing play of light inside the building.