Kanoo Museum
Masterplanning - Content and Interpretation - Exhibition Design
Client: YBA Kanoo
Location: Manama, Bahrain
Size: 2,460 sqm exhibition space
Completed: 2025
YBA Kanoo appointed Cultural Innovations for masterplanning, content development, interpretation and exhibition design for their new museum, housed in the company’s former HQ in the heart of Manama, Bahrain.











Masterplanning
Working with the project team at YBA Kanoo, Cultural Innovations designed a bold new vision for this much-loved landmark building, creating a new atrium that opens up the space, with new galleries, learning, commercial and back of house facilities, and enticing views across the new light-filled interior.
Content and Interpretation
The museum tells the story of this family company, which was founded over 130 years ago and has grown to a global corporation, alongside parallel developments in Bahrain and in the world of business. Cultural Innovations developed the content and interpretation from interpretation plan through to writing final exhibit text across the entire museum experience, working closely with YBA Kanoo to tell personal and corporate stories.
Exhibition Design
Cultural Innovations developed the exhibition design for this new museum, showcasing the breadth of YBA Kanoo as a global corporation, as well as a close family unit.
The museum displays a wealth of original documents, family photographs and personal effects, including the re-presentation of the original Chairman’s office and boardroom, where visitors will step back in time in a multisensory experience of this once- busy office in its heyday.
Multimedia exhibits show the global outlook of the company today and the current generation of Kanoo family members taking the business into the future. Immersive scene-setting encapsulates the stories on display and fully absorbs visitors within the experience.
Lighting Design: DHA Designs
Graphic Design: ACME Studios
AV Media Design: New Angle
AV hardware consultants: Sysco Productions
Cost consultants: Greenway Associates