The upcoming fish market at Muttrah will be like a cultural centre and a tourist destination in Muscat, said head of the Norwegian architectural firm working on the project.
"It will be more than a fish market. It will be like a cultural centre, a tourist destination and a place for people to come and spend time,'' Robert Greenwood, CEO and director of Snohetta, an architectural firm from Norway said while delivering a lecture organised by Muscat Municipality and the Riba Gulf Chapter, in Muscat on Sunday.
"It will have coffee shops and restaurants, while it will also be a place for fishermen to sell, while sitting on stone benches.''
Greenwood said the market will be a mix of Omani and international designs and would be like a pearl in the centre of the harbour. "Like in all our projects, we are working with Omanis so that there is a dialogue between professionals from within and outside the country,'' he said.The project, which is coming up at the existing market that was built in 1960, is likely to be completed by the end of this year and will also have parking facilities. Unlike in other projects across the world where Snohetta has to compete with other firms to bag projects, the firm was asked to take up the project.
Greenwood also said that Snohetta is working on a vegetable market in Al Khuwayr.
The architectural firm is working on many projects across the world including building of a cultural centre at the 'Ground Zero' (World Trade Centre site) in New York.
© Muscat Daily 2012
