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Herzog & de Meuron update plans for the Lusail Museum in Qatar

2024-02-15T11:54:00-05:00

Herzog & de Meuron’s plans for a new museum in Qatar have been updated with new renderings and a virtual flythrough animation showcasing what in the future will be a world-leading destination for scholars of Orientalist art and culture.

The forthcoming Lusail Museum in Doha is conceived of as a “vertically layered souk, or miniature city contained within a single building.” Its design features an intersection of three spherical forms along whose tangents a crescent-shaped internal street is created as a connector between the central lobby and other public functions of the building, including a library, auditorium, shop, café, and prayer hall.

Image: © Herzog & de Meuron. Courtesy Qatar Museums.

The building addresses its coastal site with a sand-like exterior finish, appearing as though it were a natural landform. A sculptural polished plaster stair serves as the entrance to the building. Inside, four galleries are designed to replicate domed spaces at the Palace of Topkapi in Istanb...

'A tattooed museum:' Jean Nouvel on his design for the National Museum of Qatar

2019-03-29T13:24:00-04:00

[...] the museum site is surrounded by the urban landscape of a modern city, but it still remains under the influence of the desert and the sea, the French architect tells The Art Newspaper in an interview in his Paris studio. Hence his choice of a design inspired by the desert rose, a flower-like cluster of gypsum crystals, which he sees as the “most powerful symbol of the desert, and the influence of wind, time and water”.

Interviewed by The Art Newspaper, Jean Nouvel talks about his design process that lead to the creation of the monumental National Museum of Qatar which opened in the capital city of Doha this week. "The place has become a pedestal for images, a sort of transmitter, a tattooed museum," Nouvel explains.

"Asked about the welfare of migrant construction workers, an issue which has drawn international scrutiny in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Nouvel says that his team checked that there were decent working and living conditions for employees of the museum building project."

See the project in detail here.

Photo: Iwan Baan.

Jean Nouvel's “desert rose” National Museum of Qatar opens to the public

2019-03-28T15:32:00-04:00

Following over a decade of planning, the National Museum of Qatar finally opened its doors to the public today. Designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, the 560,000 square-foot museum was built with a complex structure of interlocking curved discs and cantilevered angles, which was inspired by the rose-like, crystallized formations from the desert. The building's sand-colored concrete reflects its desert environment so that it appears to emerge from the ground.

Photo: Iwan Baan.

A central court called the Baraha sits within the museum's ring of galleries and will serve as an outdoor gathering space for cultural events. Inside, this structure of interlocking disks continues and creates a variety of irregularly shaped volumes.

View of the NMoQ and the restored historic Palace of Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani. Photo: Iwan Baan.

View of the restored historic palace. Photo: Iwan Baan.

A 1.5-kilometer ga...

Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar to open in March 2019

2018-11-06T13:58:00-05:00

The National Museum of Qatar, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, is being inaugurated on 28 March 2019 [...] Nouvel, who also designed the Louvre Abu Dhabi, drew inspiration from the crystalline forms that emerge in the desert as the basis for his design with curved discs, intersections and cantilevered angles.

Aerial photo. Photo: Iwan Baan

"The architectural study which initially was coupled with the programmatic study," explains the project description on Ateliers Jean Nouvel's website, "brought to light the underlying paradox of this project: to show what is hidden, to reveal a fading image, to anchor the ephemeral, to put the unspoken into words, to reveal a history which has not had the time to leave a mental imprint; a history that is a present in flight, an energy in action. The National Museum of Qatar is proof patent of how intense this energy is."

Model of the sprawling museum campus. Image: Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Archinect - News

Herzog & de Meuron​​ update plans for the Lusail Museum in Qatar

'A tattooed museum:' Jean Nouvel on his design for the National Museum of Qatar

Jean Nouvel's “desert rose” National Museum of Qatar opens to the public

Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar to open in March 2019

Herzog & de Meuron update plans for the Lusail Museum in Qatar