Agency: from6
Client: Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo (YBA Kanoo)
Some stories are too big for a brochure. This one needed a building.
The space
The Kanoo family has been trading in the Gulf for generations. When they decided to tell that story in a museum, they chose a four-storey building in the heart of Manama Souq, right across from Bab Al Bahrain.
The story runs from the 1800s to today, and most of it lived in an archive that had never been opened to the public: faded photos, folded letters, old film. My job at from6 was to turn that archive into four floors people would actually want to walk through, from the first room to the last.
The idea
I decided early on that the building and the archive would design the museum for me. Nothing would be invented if it could be found.
A logo with roots. The museum’s new logo borrows from the company’s old marks. Every YBA logo from 1922 onwards was redrawn from the original documents, so each one could hold its own on a wall.
The balcony pattern. The original YBA Kanoo building has a balcony screen you can’t miss. I took its shape, simplified it, and turned it into a repeating pattern. Now it runs through the walls, the signs and the printed pieces, tying everything back to the building.
A colour for every chapter. Each zone has its own colour, carried through the walls, the totems and the labels in the showcases. You always know where you are in the story, even on the fourth floor.
Honest restoration. I cleaned up and sharpened the archive’s photos and documents, taking out the creases, stains and damage that didn’t belong. The rule was simple.
Make it clearer. Never make it up.
Walking through
Every floor has its own moments. A vintage car waits at the entrance with period-correct plates, licence and manuals. Backlit mashrabiya panels glow with Bahraini patterns and textiles. Old travel posters are back in full colour, and a passport wall is rebuilt from Haji Yusuf’s own passport, stamps and all.
Before and after
