Following an announcement from Qatar to enhance its cultural sector, Qatar Museums has announced that architects’ OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, and Elemental will be designing three museums in Doha.
The announcement was made this month by HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, who revealed that the museums will explore the themes of Islamic art, contemporary art, and take a look at the evolution of the automobile industry respectively.
Swiss firm Herzog de Meuron will create the Lusail Museum in Lusail, Rem Koolhaas’s Dutch firm OMA will design the Qatar Auto Museum, while Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena, founder of Elemental, will take on The Art Mill museum.
HERZOG DE MEURON'S LUSAIL MUSEUM
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm, Herzog & de Meuron, Lusail Museum will be dedicated to raising the profile of Middle Eastern and Islamic art. Encompassing a total of 52, 000 sqm, the museum is a four-story building and will include galleries, an auditorium, exhibition space, a library and several educational hubs.
Speaking at the press conference, founder of Herzog & de Meuron, Jacques Herzog said that Qatar is aiming to be a platform for dialogue and an exchange of ideas.
“The building is a kind of vessel that inside has a complex topography, a clash of fragments of different places and functions. What we have learned during this process, to make space for that aspect of dialogue,” he said.
OMA’s QATAR AUTO MUSEUM
Rem Koolhaas’s Dutch firm OMA is set to take on the design of the Qatar Auto Museum. Looking at the evolution of the automobile industry, the museum will be built along the Lusail Express Way and will cover an area of 40,000 sqm of galleries. It will also include displays of automobiles from throughout history and include a car restoration centre, driving simulators and mini car mechanics.
ELEMENTAL'S ART MILL
The Art Mill will be built on the historic site of the Doha Flour Mill by Pritzker Prize-winning Chilean architect Alejandra Aravena's firm Elemental.
Bringing together modern and contemporary art, dedicated spaces for learning and artist programmes, performance galleries and gardens to name a few, the Art Mill aims to be a place for young and creative designers, artisans and craftsman in Qatar.
The museums are expected to enhance Qatar’s cultural economy. Details around construction and completion dates have not been revealed as yet.
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