Shamalat Cultural Center
Shamalat is a cultural space in the periphery of Diriyah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
At the base, the property was an old mud house that was adopted and converted into an cultural hubIt by renowned Saudi artist Maha Malluh. It was renovated using a two-phased experimental approach – Restoration and Addition. Parts of the mud house were kept intact, while others were renovated using modern materials. The new addition to the building falls within the footprint of the original yard and is built around the remnants of the original adobe fence. It is visible from both inside and outside the building. Its facade is cladded with a warm white Riyadh stone that provides a seamless backdrop to the textured mud building. The new addition serves as a gallery space with an artist residency space on the second floor, as well as a dark room and workshop space. As an artist, Maha uses the power of storytelling to change the meaning the past holds for us in contemporary times.
The reimagined mud house in Diriyah invites young people to come look at it
differently than other mud houses. This one has had the collaboration of a young
architect duo, Syn Architects, who have previously advised on restoration consultancies for other preservation projects in the Kingdom.
A sense of duality is inherent in the name Shamalat, a modification of Shmam. In Jahili poetry, the twin mountain peaks are a witness to time, a background against which the central action of the poem takes place. It’s a way to evoke and rope in the wisdom and guidance of the past as it underpins the present and also carries forward into the future by creating a space for young minds, whose creativity will create further fluid linkages between the times.
