Traditional architecture
Some amazing archaeological sites are now open to visit and allow a better understanding of the functioning of Qatar, when it was still a small fishing and trading country. For example, the site of Al Khor is home to three cylindrical towers with thick walls and platforms that allowed the occupants to guard and defend the precious water sources, whose remains of wells and cisterns are evidence of ancient human occupation. Thus, on the same site, you can discover the well Ain Heetan, cylindrical in shape and designed with an ingenious mixture of gravel, clay and plaster. A new site will soon be opened to visitors and will allow them to discover a complex composed of the Barzan Tower with its amazing T-shaped silhouette over 3 floors and 14 meters high and the Al Burj Al Sharqui Tower with its rectangular shape and thick stone walls coated with mud. In general, most of the settlement sites were provided with a cylindrical or rectangular stone protection tower. Other interesting examples of this defensive architecture are the forts. Do not miss the Al Rekayat Fort, again probably built to protect a well. With its rectangular plan, its vast central courtyard lined with narrow windowless rooms, its 3 rectangular towers and its round tower, it is typical of the great desert forts. But the archaeological site of Qatar not to be missed is of course that of Al Zubarah, now classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. There is of course a fort, that of Al Zubarah with its large rectangular enclosure and its crenellated corner towers, but above all the remains of the ancient coastal city of Al Zubarah, a flourishing fishing and pearl trading center in the 18th and 19th centuries. Abandoned in 1811, the city has gradually eroded, but the desert sand has nevertheless protected the remains of all its monuments (fort, mosques, palaces, patio houses, souks, defensive walls) as well as the traces of its ingenious system of management and distribution of water. The building materials used were typical of coastal cities. Indeed, the walls were made of fossilized coral cut into blocks and glued with a mixture of clay and manure combined with plaster made from gypsum to delay the effects of erosion. In the heart of the cities, the houses were mostly built with earth blocks. The construction technique of the roofs was common. The flat roofs were made of mangrove branches on which layers of bamboo or reeds were placed, then palms, the whole being stabilized by adding layers of earth. A roof in vegetable materials which allowed insulation and ventilation. Materials of great simplicity that were often decorated with geometric patterns borrowed from the Islamic vocabulary. Whether they are fishing villages or cities located inland, all share an urbanism that adapts to the harshness of the climate. The urban fabric is made of narrow alleys allowing to fight against the constraints of the wind and the heat, because protected by the very strong density of the surrounding houses. In the same way, everything in the domestic architecture is made to limit the effects of the climate. The houses have no openings to the outside and if there are any, they are protected by heavy wooden shutters (in very rare cases, geometric windows made of colored glass can be used); the walls are thick in order to preserve the coolness; the central courtyard around which the house is organized brings shade and coolness, while the badgir or wind tower allows a constant circulation of air. This is an ingenious ventilation system resembling a four-sided chimney with vertical slits at the top to catch the wind, its interior being separated into different ducts to separate ascending and descending currents and, by a play of pressure, to evacuate the hot air and bring in the fresh air. The two main spaces of the house are the Majlis, literally "the place to sit", a cultural and social space where guests are received; and the gallery (or porch) called Al-Liwan which overlooks the courtyard and is reserved for the family. Colorful floor carpets, intricate wooden lattices on the windows, carved wooden doors... the decoration is sober and sublime. Some of Doha's older neighborhoods still have picturesque examples of this traditional architecture, including Al Asmakh, Najada and Old Ghanim. Don't miss the Al Wakrah Heritage Village with its mosque, mud-walled houses with large wooden doors, fort with circular towers and souk. A real city within a city, the Waqif souq is another symbol of traditional Qatar, with its narrow streets flanked by stores and its high wooden frames protecting passers-by from the sun. Opened in 2010, Katara Village is an unlikely mix of eras and styles straight out of Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani's dreams of grandeur. If one can skip its Greco-Roman amphitheater or its deceptively Parisian Galeries Lafayette, one should not miss its beautiful Katara Mosque, first because it was built by a woman, Zeynep Fadilloglu, then because this beautiful building all in golden and bluish enamel tiles is flanked by astonishing cylindrical buildings made of earth and pierced with holes that are none other than... pigeon houses! Pigeon racing is a very popular activity in the Persian Gulf countries. Finally, this overview of traditional architecture would not be complete without mentioning the architecture developed by desert nomads. In winter, they prefer traditional tents made of skins or fabrics, usually black and white, forming a sort of pyramidal canopy with awnings; while in summer, they prefer temporary airy structures woven from palm leaves.
Contemporary effervescence
The palaces of the city like the former palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, superbly restored with its square silhouette, its first floor punctuated by arcades, its openings protected by elegant moucharabiehs and its large roof terrace, or the more grandiloquent Prince's Palace; as its mosques, like the great Fanar Mosque mixing modern lines and natural materials (coral, terracotta, wood), yet all sublime, seem quite modest compared to the giants of glass and steel that everywhere are emerging. Like all the capitals of the Gulf, Doha is a city whose skyline is constantly evolving with the construction of ever higher and crazier skyscrapers. Among the most astonishing are those of the MZ Architects agency, which built the Al Dana Tower (also called RasGas Tower), all in glass and steel, with its two parallelepipeds that seem to hold a surprising glass sphere in weightlessness; the Navigation Tower, whose 220 m curved and aerodynamic shape is reminiscent of a boat's sail; and the Zig Zag Towers, whose name alone sums up the architectural project.
Among the other incredible skyscrapers in the city, don't miss: the Aspire Tower, the city's tallest tower (300 m), a sort of stylized torch with a steel mesh protecting a concrete core, symbolizing the Olympic flame of the Asian Games held in Doha in 2006; the Tornado Tower with its hyperbolic shape and the play of lights animating the whole like a whirlpool; or the WOQOD Tower, a sort of ship's hull sheltering a huge curtain wall. But these skyscrapers are only one facet of the architectural and urban planning effervescence that is transforming the city. The biggest names in architecture have found in Qatar a land of limitless experimentation (and funding!), giving birth to incredible projects.
The National Library is the work of Rem Koolhaas. Its sober, angular exterior gives no hint of the incredible staging of the interior space with its millions of references available to readers thanks to ultra-modern automated systems. At the heart of the building, 6 meters below the ground, the architect has imagined the Heritage Library, which looks like an archaeological dig site and which houses the most precious manuscripts. The great Ieoh Ming Pei designed the Museum of Islamic Art
, whose domes, geometric forms, vaults and water features elegantly blend traditional borrowings with modern lines. Arata Isozaki designed the Qatar Foundation with ornaments inspired by Islamic motifs, as well as the Qatar National Convention Centre, whose facade represents jujube trees from Palestine, often considered as the trees of knowledge, supporting the structure. Cesar Pelli, on the other hand, has abandoned skyscrapers to create the Sidra Medicine, a hospital with a silhouette decorated with steel, glass and ceramic tiles, with three huge structures reminiscent of the sails of a ship, and numerous vegetated atriums adorned with pools in the great Islamic tradition. The Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta has devoted himself entirely to university buildings (Georgetown University campus, Hamad Bin Khalifa University dormitories, Carnegie Mellon campus), offering simple and sober geometric volumes, sandy colors, with few openings to the outside but organized around elegant and refreshing landscaped courtyards.But the most talked about is of course the Qatar National Museum
designed by Jean Nouvel. It is impossible to miss this imposing 350-meter long building with its large curved disks, its intersections and its cantilevered elements made of a sandy beige fiber-reinforced concrete skin reminiscent of a sand rose. Everything here is curved and oblique and invites an almost sensory discovery of the space. This impression is reinforced by the lighting created by architect Koichi Takada, who was inspired by the Dahl Al Misfir, the famous Cellar of Light in Qatar, to create theatrical lighting effects.Among the other beautiful and amazing contemporary buildings not to be missed are hamad International Airport with its curved silhouette, wave-like roof, glass walls, elegant wooden ceiling and beautiful vaulted structures; the Doha metro stations designed by UNStrudio with very monolithic exteriors reminiscent of traditional architecture and interiors full of light and fluidity with their pearlescent effect coatings; or the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies with its mosque resting on 5 large columns representing the 5 pillars of Islam and 2 concrete ribbons rising to the sky in the direction of Mecca. The latter is part of a complex called Education City, a kind of new city entirely dedicated to knowledge, in which every element is a dialogue between tradition and modernity. Another amazing urban project: Msheireb, thefirst
project in the world dedicated to the sustainable regeneration of a city center. 5,000 solar panels on the roofs, streets designed to protect from the sun, the largest covered square in the Middle East with a huge retractable roof, a battery-powered streetcar, vegetated spaces... this new district aims to be modern and sustainable. A sustainability that is not exactly in the program of the two pharaonic projects in progress, namely The Pearl, an archipelago of artificial islands with tourist complexes and marinas; and Lusail, a megalopolis that came out of the ground for the modest sum of 46 billion dollars.. you will find the Marina Twin Towers with their silhouettes reminiscent of Lego blocks; the Katara Towers, two curved towers joining to form a horseshoe; the Lusail Plaza Towers, two sets of twin towers arranged on 4 symmetrical podiums; as well as the future Lusail Museum, designed by the famous duo Herzog & de Meuron, which will house the largest collection of oriental paintings in the world. And other mega-museums will soon open, such as the Qatar Auto Museum designed by Rem Koolhaas and the Mill Art Museum designed by Chilean Alejandro Aravena, who has preserved the original grain silos of the place while adding others that he uses as ventilation stacks. The center also aims to be a model of ecological and sustainable building. So many projects that will be unveiled during the 2022 World Cup for which the country has invested no less than 220 billion dollars... a pharaonic sum that has financed the construction of 8 stadiums with amazing silhouettes. With its aerodynamic curves and its wooden vault inspired by dhows, the Al Janoub Stadium bears the mark of the famous Zaha Hadid. Inspired by traditional bowls and lanterns, the Lusail Stadium was designed by Norman Foster. The Al Bayt Stadium is a tribute to the Bedouin tents called "bayt al sha'ar", whose canopy structure and black and white polychromy it uses. The Education City Stadium is called the "diamond of the desert" because of its structure made of local or recycled materials that reflect light. Designed by Ibrahim Al Jaidah, one of Qatar's most famous architects, Al Thumama Stadium borrows its curves and decoration from the traditional embroidered caps called Ghafiyah. But perhaps the most astonishing is the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, built from recycled containers and fully demountable. With all its grandiose projects, the small emirate is on its way to becoming one of the countries in the world with the highest concentration of recipients of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize for architecture... and all the projects still to come promise many more surprises to visitors!
