ABSTRACT
In 1969, Reima and Raili Pietilä 1 were invited to participate in an architecture competition for the improvement of Kuwait’s Old Town area. In 1969/70 the architects spent four weeks in Kuwait to become acquainted with Kuwait’s urban milieu; in 1970 they drafted a report entitled “City of Kuwait: A Future Concept.” No winner of the competition was announced. Instead the planning board asked each of the four participating offices to develop a particular area of Kuwait’s Old Town. The Pietiläs were assigned the development of the downtown shore area located east of the Sief (or Seif) 2 Palace. In particular, they were asked to conceive three buildings: an extension of the Sief Palace (which served, at that time, as the administration and reception hall of the ruler), the Council of Ministers, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Correspondence contained in the Pietilä Archive shows that, originally, also a fourth building, the Ministry of Awqaf [land attribution for Islamic purposes] and Islamic Affairs, was planned on the site. 3 Work on the project would stretch over a period of 10 years and was accomplished in 1983.
