Bricklab Covers Hayy Jameel’s Façade With Jeddah’s Nostalgic Awnings

Saudi-based architecture and design studio Bricklab has taken over the façade of Hayy Jameel with 'Awnings Awnings Awnings', a vibrant installation that pays homage to Jeddah’s historic commercial streets. The installation was commissioned as part of Hayy Jameel’s Annual Façade Commission Open Call, which invites artists and designers to create large-scale public works for the building’s exterior, treating it as a blank canvas.

Long before contemporary storefronts and standardised materials, fabric awnings were a defining feature of the city, shading streets, stretching shop interiors outwards, and creating a distinctive visual rhythm through their bold stripes and colours.

For the commission, Bricklab magnifies and multiplies this everyday street element all over the arts complex’s exterior front, transforming it into a patchwork of lively canopies that vary in scale, depth, and pattern. By sourcing and manufacturing the fabrics locally from Jeddah’s local suppliers and tailors, the project celebrates the craftsmanship behind this familiar urban memory while preserving and drawing attention to a rapidly disappearing feature of the city’s streetscape.