Winning First Place in the Architecture Graduation Projects A UoB Student Designs a Memorial Museum for the Coronavirus Period

Sakhir – University of Bahrain (Ali Al Sabbaq)
21 August 2022
A student at the College of Engineering at the University of Bahrain (UoB) designed a museum to commemorate the victims of Corona, introduce the history of epidemics, and ways to deal with them, employing design techniques, so that visitors to the museum can live through the prevailing sentiment during the Corona pandemic in its various stages.
The student, Salman Khaled Al-Hajiri, won the first place in the category of graduation projects of the Architecture Program, to be crowned with the award of the Salah Al-Din Foundation for Engineering Consultations, which he received at the ceremony of the Graduation Projects Exhibition of the College of Engineering, which was held recently under the auspices of the University President, Dr. Jawaher Bint Shaheen Al-Mudhahka.
As Al-Hajiri stated that: “Bahrain experienced the plague about 100 years ago, and when I read about this experience, which was not thoroughly documented, I found it similar to what we lived through during the Corona pandemic, so I decided to design a museum that would help people understand any epidemic cases in the future, and how to confront them correctly.”.
Al-Hajiri explained that the museum was not ordinary, as it included in its halls figures that reflect the feeling that people experienced during the various stages of the pandemic, beginning with a state of confusion, passing through loneliness and isolation, then hope, followed by loss, and finally innovation.
Moreover, he pointed out that the museum – which highlights Bahrain’s achievements in combating the Corona virus and the efforts it made to limit the spread of the epidemic – defines the history of epidemics, the Corona virus (Covid-19), and ways to deal with it.
The graduation project was supervised by Ms. Wafaa Abdulrahman Al-Ghatam, a faculty member in the Department of Architecture, as students in various engineering programs must complete a graduation project in which they test their capabilities and summarize what they have learned in their specialization.
Regarding whether the project is applicable, Al-Hajiri said: “I included activity halls in the museum, which can be used alongside it, and I chose a vital area for it, which is the Muharraq market, which will make the project applicable.”

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