Deadline for delivering BHA Architecture Award entries on Dec 1

Muscat: Entries for contesting the Belarab bin Haitham Award for Architectural Design (BHA) will be Thursday December 1, 2022. The second edition of the BHA is dedicated for designs depicting the Maritime History Museum, which occupies an area of 14,154 sqm in the Wilayat of Sur, South Al Sharqiyah Governorate. The entries are received via the award’s website (www.bha.om).

Entries’ reception constitutes the first stage of the award. It requires the contestants to attach designs illustrated by images and a brief account of the project. The next stage is sorting, after which the arbitration committee selects the best 30 projects and notifies the participating teams of comments that will help them improve their projects. In the final stage, the best 10 projects are shortlisted for the top places in the BHA’s second edition.

Selection criteria mandate that the designs highlight technical aspects of the projects, their applicability for construction, their compatibility with international projects in the museums sector and the projects’ environmental, social and economic sustainability, according to the jury.

The BHA is up for grabs by Omanis aged not more than 35 years—from among those specialized in architectural design, urban planning and architecture. The contestants can participate as individuals or three-member groups.

The second edition of BHA was launched on October 10, 2022. The selection of the Maritime History Museum to form the topic of the award’s second edition was chosen based on the orders of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, with the aim of celebrating and documenting Omani maritime glories and handing them down to the future generations. The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism will implement the winning project.