With its magnificent white arches that float among the palm trees of Safa Park, The Archive appears like a Middle Eastern mirage. Set in a renovated building with floor-to-ceiling windows, the combination library and cultural centre serves as a community meeting point, and puts an emphasis on getting people engaged with local culture. Here you can practice yoga on the grass, learn the art of bookmaking and calligraphy, catch film screenings, and enrol children in classes as well. The only books in the library are on Middle Eastern and North African art, fashion, design and history, and you can read and work at a huge wooden central table (power sockets and free Wi-Fi make it possible to lounge and learn for hours on end).