Hayy Jameel in Jeddah, waiwai’s first major public building, named best cultural project at the architectural digest design awards 2022
● Hayy Jameel, Jeddah’s dedicated home for the arts, is designed by waiwai, an architecture studio with offices in Dubai, Tokyo and Riyadh
● The Architectural Digest Design Awards are the highest honour for design in the Middle East and North Africa, and Hayy Jameel was selected from more than 400 entries
● Hayy Jameel is developed and managed by Art Jameel, an independent organisation based in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that supports artists and nurtures creative communities
Hayy Jameel, Saudi Arabia's dedicated home for the arts – designed by architecture studio waiwai – received the MENA region’s ultimate accolade in architecture, interiors and product design, the Architectural Digest Design Awards 2022 for the Best Cultural Project category, selected from more than 400 entries. Hayy Jameel opened to the public in December 2021. The name of the complex references an Arabic word for neighbourhood, denoting its convivial and collaborative nature and its intent to bring together a wide range of creative disciplines in one destination.
The creative complex’s design has received multiple architectural accolades, including Gold in the Hong Kong Design Awards, Silver in the New York Design Awards, the Honour Award for Exceptional Design by the American Institute of Architects (Middle East chapter), and nominations for the 2A Continental Architectural Award and the London Design Awards. waiwai principal architect Wael Al Awar was awarded the Golden Lion for his curation of the UAE Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. Hayy Jameel is the studio’s first major public building.
With the intent to be open to the city, Hayy Jameel provides a much-needed space for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to interact with art, film, music, architecture, performance, the culinary arts and more. Hayy Jameel’s recognition as Best Cultural Project at the Architectural Digest Design Awards 2022 acknowledges its critical position in the community and its proposal for an alternative idea of public space.
waiwai’s design for, and Art Jameel’s programming of, Hayy Jameel makes it the first institution of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Alongside the museum-like, laboratory space Hayy Arts and education platforms Hayy Explorers, Hayy Learning and Hayy Studios, is Hayy Cinema, Saudi Arabia’s first independent audiovisual centre, designed by Jeddah-based architects Bricklab, which opens to the public on December 6, 2022. Fenaa Hayy, a multi-purpose space for performances, workshops and talks opens onto Saha, a central community courtyard underpinned by philosophies of sustainability and adaptability.
In their design for this project, waiwai articulated a sensitivity to local conditions, a close reading of the immediate context, and an invitation to step out of the everyday, even for an afternoon. The space is specifically designed to foster open-ended dialogue and interactions, and to create the possibility for people to make new connections between art and everyday life.
Wael Al Awar, waiwai Founding Partner and Principal Architect, said, “I am honoured that waiwai’s work has been recognised with this award. For us, the opportunity to design Hayy Jameel as a unique art space and centre for creativity in Jeddah was a privilege. As architects, waiwai adopts a strategy that is rooted in ideas of living that resonate locally but that also take a careful and attentive wider view. The Hayy Jameel project offered us a context to approach and learn from while opening the city and the community to new possibilities.”
Antonia Carver, Art Jameel Director, said: “waiwai being awarded Architectural Digest’s Best Cultural Project for Hayy Jameel is thrilling for Art Jameel, for Jeddah and for the wider creative community. We’d like to thank the public that nominated and voted for us, and the esteemed jury and magazine editors for their deliberation. Hayy Jameel is designed with the community at heart, deliberately creating a space that is collaborative, dynamic and cross-disciplinary and that complements existing and forthcoming infrastructures in Jeddah and across Saudi Arabia. This home for the broadest range of creative disciplines is the result of the effort and passion of those audiences, artists, filmmakers and creatives, plus the Hayy Residents, a roster of leading creative businesses from around Jeddah. The community we’re creating here comes together daily in an exceptional exchange. We truly aspire for Hayy Jameel to be from Jeddah to Jeddah.”
Team:
Architect: waiwai
Client: Art Jameel
Photography: Laurian Ghinitoiu
