Archinect - News

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...

Alejandro Aravena previews ELEMENTAL's massive Qatar Art Mill project in Doha

2022-12-27T18:00:00-05:00

“The aim is for the building to last, and to do that it needs to be suited to the context,” he says. “But we also want the visitor to feel reflected and interpreted by this building. I want to capture this society’s sensibility and sense of pride. This will be a calm building.”

The Art Mill Museum project represents 21-year-old ELEMENTAL’s first-ever museum commission and will be joined by designs from Herzog & de Meuron and OMA upon its completion towards the end of the decade. Aravena said he wants to “create something reversible,” looking to the existing silo structures as “clues for how to proceed” that can ultimately be altered by subsequent generations of designers, adding, “What works today for a museum might not work in the future.”

“We came in with no bias about museum architecture, and no real knowledge of the region,” he added (although he mentioned his experience designing with seismic and climatic considerations in his native country as informing the nearly one-million-square-foot design.)

Revisit Archinect's 2019 interview: The War on Cliché; A Conversation with Alejandro Aravena

“Much as we continue to pursue projects around housing and community and slum upgrading, we also like to tackle these big projects, to keep our design tools sharpen...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs collection of emergency shelters for displaced communities

2022-12-20T11:20:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a collection of tents to be used as schools, clinics, and emergency shelters for displaced communities. The 27 tents, constructed with the support of the Education Above All Foundation, have been donated to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the Qatar Red Crescent.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Described by the ZHA team as a “robust, cost-effective, and lightweight modular architectural system,” the weatherproof structures are designed to be easily moved and re-assembled, with components that can be upcycled or recycled. Supported by a curving steel frame clad with fabric, the internal environment offers an open-plan layout lit by diffuse natural light.

Photo credit: Luke Hayes

Before the donation, the tents were being utilized as schools for hundreds of displaced Pakistani children in Pakistan, and Syrian children in Turkey. In their new capacity, ten tents donated to the IOM will serve as schools in Turkey and Yemen, while five will ...

Qatar puts number of 2022 World Cup migrant worker deaths 'between 400 and 500'

2022-11-29T17:30:00-05:00

The Qatari official responsible for delivery of the 2022 World Cup has said the number of migrant workers who have died on World Cup-related projects is “between 400 and 500”. Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, made the admission in an interview but said a precise figure for the number of fatalities was still “being discussed”.

Following al-Thawadi’s vague estimate of worker deaths in a live TV interview, the Qatari Supreme Committee tried to minimize the numbers by issuing a statement that the figures referred to "national statistics covering the period of 2014–2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities," as reported by Amnesty International today.

Olafur Eliasson's mirrored desert installation in Qatar asks visitors to 'look down at the earth and self'

2022-11-04T12:36:00-04:00

Olafur Eliasson has completed a site-specific piece of public artwork in a northern-Qatari desert. Titled Shadows travelling on the sea of the day, the Icelandic-Danish artist’s work is inspired by the “interplay of human perception and the natural world.”

Eliasson’s piece comprises twenty mirrored circular shelters along with three single rings and two double rings. The rings are positioned according to the axes of a fivefold symmetrical pattern, while at the center, ten of the piece’s shelters are connected and arranged to form a five-pointed star.

Photo credit: Iwan Baan

Beneath the shelters, the ceilings are mirrored to reflect the earth. “Looking up, you come to realise that you are, in fact, looking down: at the earth and at yourself,” Eliasson explained. “Above and below, sand envelops you, together with anyone else sharing the space. To test what you see, you might extend an arm and wave to yourself or wiggle a foot while looking at your reflection. It is a kind of realty ch...

2022 World Cup: Amnesty International urges FIFA to reserve at least $440M to remedy abuses of migrant workers in Qatar

2022-05-24T18:48:00-04:00

Human rights group Amnesty International has urged FIFA to earmark at least $440 million to compensate migrant workers who it says have suffered labor abuses in the preparations for the men's 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Amnesty International says the issues, which include unsafe working conditions and excessive hours, are "widespread" in the country.

The organization has reported on the exploitation of the (mostly South Asian) migrant workers on 2022 World Cup job sites in Qatar for some time and is now calling for a symbolic sum to be dolled out to workers and their families as reparations for the decade of deadly abuses and foul labor practices behind the slate of venues that includes designs from Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners.

Previously on Archinect: "7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds

“FIFA should reserve an amount not less than the US$440 million prize money offered to teams participating in the World Cup, to be invested in funds to support remediation,” the organization’s letter suggested.

FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, has maintained the body played an active role in improving conditions for workers, claiming that its efforts had restored “dignity and pride” amongst the two million laborers some have labeled as “slaves.”

...

OMA and Buro Happold reveal new video of modular hospital prototype

2022-04-12T09:00:00-04:00

One of the most promising recent healthcare infrastructure concepts has engendered an offshoot project that looks to expand on its original framework design.

As a product of the research done for their collaboration on the Al Daayan Health District Master Plan in Doha, OMA and Buro Happold have created a prototype for a low-rise hospital structure commissioned by the Hamad Medical Corporation.

Previously on Archinect: OMA and Buro Happold reveal designs for the Al Daayan Health District in Doha

Image © HMC

The prototype appears to consist of similar two-story-high modular units that can be adapted and reconfigured to allow for maximal variation and minimal costs. Scalable, self-sufficient, and built using a considerable amount of 3D printing technology, the design is a sustainable refresh to the important typology and hopes to see further use in other climates once the Qatari concept catches on.

Image © HMC

“Medical technology is advancing exponentially, leaving hospitals to...

Qatar will receive three new museums from a trio of Pritzker Prize winners

2022-03-28T19:24:00-04:00

Three new major museum projects were announced yesterday at the 2022 Doha Forum in Qatar.

Qatar Museums Chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was on hand to premiere the new initiative, which is meant to kick off the next phase in the country’s development goals propelled by a continued investment in the cultural economy.

Al Mayassa was joined by two-thirds of the architects for the museums: Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron, who will design the Lusail Museum, and ELEMENTAL director Alejandro Aravena, whose firm will be responsible for the Art Mill. OMA’s Rem Koolhaas, who will design the new Qatar Auto Museum, was the lone holdout.

The Art Mill represents the 21-year-old ELEMENTAL’s first foray into the museum typology. Envisioned as a fusion of performances spaces, contemporary art galleries, and dedicated areas for artist residency programs, what was formerly the site of a historic flour mill will now be transformed into an anchor for various Qatari c...

OMA and Buro Happold reveal designs for the Al Daayan Health District in Doha

2021-10-18T14:50:00-04:00

Final drafts for the joint OMA and Buro Happold-designed Al Daayan Health District are now available, showcasing a localized model of healthcare infrastructure that OMA Partner Reinier de Graaf hopes will be transplanted from Doha, Qatar to the rest of the world.

Image © OMA

The 1.3-million-square-meter (14-million-square-foot) facility will be completely self-sustaining thanks to onsite prefabrication, 3D printing, an agricultural element, and built-in solar farm.

Image © OMA

“Architects have long aimed to provide the hospital with a final solution. This proposal starts from the opposite end: viewing the hospital as the type of building that is forever under construction, as an organism for which space and time must be considered equally,” de Graaf said in a statement.

Image © OMA

The development is anchored by a two-story building that houses a teaching hospital, women’s and children’s hospitals, ambulatory care, and clinical facilities. The new hospital will have capacity for 1,400...

Santiago Calatrava-designed UAE and Qatar pavilions highlight Expo 2020 Dubai's grand opening

2021-10-01T15:23:00-04:00

Two neighboring Gulf states are taking center stage at the newly opened Expo 2020 Dubai thanks to a pair of pavilions from Santiago Calatrava.

The Spanish architect, who used to have an office in Doha, currently operates out of Dubai and said he was “thrilled” by the honor of being asked to design structures for the nations that he has come to view as a second home.

Qatar Pavilion © Palladium Photodesign - Oliver Schuh + Barbara Burg

Inspired by the crossed swords image embedded in the Qatari coat of arms, Calatrava’s curvilinear contribution uses the metaphor of a dhow to convey the movement and progress of a country eager to showcase its liberalized outlook to the world.

Qatar Pavilion © Palladium Photodesign - Oliver Schuh + Barbara Burg

The 960-square-meter (10,333-square-foot) structure plays host to immersive exhibitions that highlight the country’s history and ambitious 21st-century development goals.

UAE Pavilion © Palladium Photodesign - Oliver Schuh + Barbara Burg

Calatrava...

Qatar to pass new minimum wage law for contractors

2020-09-24T19:39:00-04:00

Contractors working in Qatar will need to update their employment contracts, and can expect tougher competition in attracting labour, thanks to a new law that guarantees a minimum wage and makes it easier to change employers, a law firm says. Coming into effect 9 October this year, Law No. 17 sets the minimum wage at QAR 1,000 per month ($275), plus QAR 500 per month ($137) for accommodation and QAR 300 per month ($82) for food.

Moreover, the new law also removes the requirement for foreign workers to obtain a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from their employer to work for someone else, GCR reports. This will naturally heighten the competition for skilled labor since employees will be free to switch employers if they desire to do so.

Junkspace No More: Qatar's Plagiarism accusation highlights new status for airports

2019-11-09T09:00:00-05:00

A recent report in Bloomberg News detailing accusations that Safdie Architects' much-Instagrammed Jewel Changi Airport design had been lifted from a proposed expansion to Doha's Hamad International Airport highlights the changing status of airport design.

The accusation was quickly debunked, as Safdie's designs date back to 2013 prior to the Doha airport proposal, but the dust-up itself, as Bloomberg's Adam Minter points out, signals that "Airports, though, are no longer mere transit nodes. Over the past few decades, countries throughout Asia and the Middle East have come to see them as tools for advancing their ambitions and expressing their national self-conceptions. In short order, they’ve become audacious sources of soft power."

View of the Jewel Changi Airport, designed by Safdie Architects. Image © Changi Airport Group.

With the worldwide proliferation of iconic airport designs and the growing (and environmentally problematic) proliferation of air travel, airports have taken o...

Air conditioning the outdoors? Qatar is doing it

2019-10-21T13:50:00-04:00

To survive the summer heat, Qatar not only air-conditions its soccer stadiums, but also the outdoors — in markets, along sidewalks, even at outdoor malls so people can window shop with a cool breeze. “If you turn off air conditioners, it will be unbearable. You cannot function effectively,” says Yousef al-Horr, founder of the Gulf Organization for Research and Development.

Want to see the future of climate change? Take a look at Qatar, where average temperatures have already risen by more than 2-degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial times.

View of the Al Wakrah Sports Club, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Image courtesy of Hufton + Crow.

The Washington Post takes a look at how the country is helping its residents real with the stifling heat as preparations get underway for the 2020 World Cup. The story highlights the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Al Wakrah Stadium, a structure that pumps cooled air across spectators' ankles via stylized grilles.

The report also highlight's the nation's ever-growing collection of indoor malls, outdoor air conditioned zones, and other mechanically cooled spaces.

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar inaugurated

2019-06-03T15:41:00-04:00

With the first big kick-off for the 2022 FIFA World Cup still more than three years away, the Zaha Hadid/Aecom-designed Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar recently hosted its inaugural soccer match with 40,000 fans and royal family members in attendance.

The stadium—not entirely uncontroversial since its conception in 2013—is the second fully operational venue for the 2022 tournament, following the Khalifa International Stadium redevelopment, and the first newly built site to host games for the 32 participating teams from November 21 through December 18, 2022.

Image courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

"The client’s brief called for a 40,000-seat football stadium for the 2022 World Cup which could be reduced to a 20,000-seat capacity in its legacy mode following the tournament," explains the project description from Zaha Hadid Architects.

"20,000 seats is the optimum capacity for legacy use as the home ground to Al Wakrah Sport Club professional football team of the Qatar Stars nat...

'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...

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar nears completion

2018-11-29T14:36:00-05:00

Work is progressing on the late Zaha Hadid-designed Al Wakrah stadium in Qatar, as documented in newly released footage by the organization tasked with the construction of all venues and the necessary infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The 40,000-seat stadium will be one of eight venues across the small Gulf nation to host games for the 32 participating teams from November 21 through December 18, 2022.

Rendered vision & current construction progress. Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Initially unveiled in 2013, the Al Wakrah Stadium project has attracted worldwide praise as much as ridicule for its organic design and also found itself at the center of allegations of workers and human rights abuses, as reported by Amnesty International and the International Trade Union Confederation.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Le...

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

Migrant workers in Qatar allowed to leave without exit visas

2018-09-07T03:29:00-04:00

A law change that will allow the majority of migrant workers to leave Qatar without permission from their employers has been heralded by campaigners as a landmark in the battle against labour abuses in the build-up to the next World Cup. [...] Under the new law, employers will no longer have the power to deny exit permits to most of their workers, though they will retain this right for 5% of their workforce. The reforms are a “step towards fundamental rights for migrant workers.”

Syria Matters exhibition to document the destruction of country’s cultural heritage

2018-04-25T13:48:00-04:00

The destruction of Syria’s heritage over the past eight years is the subject of a significant show due to open at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha later this year. The exhibition, entitled Syria Matters (opens 23 November), aims to explore the country’s centuries-old “extraordinary cultural heritage” against the backdrop of the raging conflict that has seen the destruction of six Unesco world heritage sites under President Bashar al-Assad.

OMA’s massive Qatar National Library officially opens

2018-04-17T14:20:00-04:00

The Qatar National Library in Doha officially opened its doors on April 16th. Designed by OMA, the new building encompasses the National Library, the Public Library, the University Library, and the Heritage Collection, which consists of valuable texts and manuscripts related to the Arab-Islamic civilization.

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA.

At 42,000 square meters, the library is conceived as a single room which houses both people and books.“We designed the space so you can see all the books in a panorama" said Rem Koolhaas. "You emerge immediately surrounded by literally every book – all physically present, visible, and accessible, without any particular effort. The interior is so large it’s on an almost urban scale: it could contain an entire population, and also an entire population of books.”

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA.

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA.

According to the firm, the edges of the building are...

Amnesty International reports ongoing systematic exploitation of 2022 World Cup migrant workers

2017-12-22T15:23:00-05:00

Migrant workers constructing stadiums for the Qatar 2022 World Cup continue to be trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and exploitation, according to new research by Amnesty International. Fifa is already under pressure from its own advisory board to act over the kafala system, used to monitor migrant labourers, which has been described as modern slavery. Now, a survey by Amnesty has found two-thirds of migrant workers have paid excessive or illegal recruitment fees.

Despite promises from Qatari and FIFA officials about improved labor conditions, the situation for Nepali migrant workers building the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup remain dire.

In its 2015 report Qatar: Profit and Loss. Counting the cost of modern day slavery in Qatar: What price freedom?, the International Trade Union Confederation estimated that "7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup" and demanded that FIFA would make workers' right a central concern of the preparations. In response, FIFA launched a Human Rights Advisory Board in early 2017 and published its first report in November. Amnesty International welcomed the report but pointed out that it omitted "some key issues related to the Qatar 2022 World Cup."

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

2017-06-06T12:53:00-04:00

In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions running even within Sunni Islam that are often overlooked by the West, which tends to view the Muslim world through the dichotomous prism of Sunni and Shia.

These countries accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, which is to say, primarily, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood held power briefly in Egypt following the 2011 Revolution before being overthrown in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. They are active in many of the seven aforementioned countries.

Qatar also funds Al Jazeera, the widely-watched news channel known for supporting political Islamism and for critiquing the regimes controlling Saudi Arabia and other countries. And Qatar has been criticized for m...

Amnesty International reports new numbers of Qatar's FIFA World Cup 2022 migrant exploitation

2017-05-26T12:55:00-04:00

Migrants building a state-of-the-art stadium for the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar are abused and exploited – while FIFA makes huge profits.

As previously covered in Archinect news, many migrant workers in Qatar face abuse and exploitation, forced labor or even death.

A recent report from Amnesty International reveals new numbers — over 90% of Qatar's workforce, an estimated 1.7 million people, are migrant workers coming from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. 3,200 workers, mostly migrants, work on Khalifa Stadium every day. The majority of the workers seeking jobs in Qatar are escaping poverty in their home countries. They are often forced to pay recruitment fees ranging from anywhere between $500 to $4,300 that leave many in debt and hunger. Passports are taken away, making those people unable to leave their jobs or the country while being unpaid for months.

Considering the conditions and the threats that the migrant workers endure in Qatar, it is truly challenging to not regard their situation as one of the forms of modern-day slavery.

Alejandro Aravena's ELEMENTAL to design the 1 million sq.ft. Qatar Art Mill

2017-05-15T15:58:00-04:00

Alejandro Aravena's Santiago firm ELEMENTAL had the winning concept for the Qatar Art Mill Design Competition. Launched by Qatar Museums in 2015, the three-stage competition sought the architect who will convert an approximately 1 million square-foot flour mill into a new waterfront art museum for Doha Bay...“The [winning] concept design was praised by the international jury as ‘a serene artwork...”

Chosen from eight top-notch finalists, Elemental was inspired by the iconic “rhythmic monumental grain silos” of the original Flour Mills that formerly occupied the site.

Find out more on Bustler.

Qatar World Cup workers: FIFA launches welfare body to improve labor conditions

2016-04-28T17:49:00-04:00

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced the launch of a body to oversee the treatment of workers on Qatar’s World Cup stadiums. Fifa has been under pressure from Amnesty International, among others, over the alleged human rights abuses suffered by construction operatives at World Cup venues.

Previously in the Archinect news:

Dire safety conditions also in Brazil: 11 workers have died so far during Rio Olympic construction, audit finds

Zaha Hadid: 'Qatari situation' doesn't apply to her stadium site

2016-02-02T13:32:00-05:00

In an interview with The Times, Dame Zaha Hadid said that the Qataris “should do something” about the issue of migrant workers. [...] “I’m not a defender of the Qatari situation, but it’s important to get the facts right and then we can discuss it. I’m very happy that the press make the government aware of problems on certain sites. But it doesn’t apply to this site.”

To read the full (paywalled) The Times interview with Dame Hadid, click here.

Previously in the Archinect news:

"7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds

2015-12-29T18:00:00-05:00

A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has estimated that 7,000 workers will die before the first ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup. [...] “Qatar’s labour laws are ruinous for workers. All the government has done is to codify slavery. Employers can now even lend out workers to another employer without the worker’s consent for up to a year”

In its 2015 report Qatar: Profit and Loss. Counting the cost of modern day slavery in Qatar: What price freedom?, the ITUC demands that FIFA would make workers' right a central concern of the 2022 World Cup preparations. The organization has also called on Qatari authorities to take these immediate steps to improve workers' conditions:

End the kafala system starting with the elimination of the exit visa;
Allow worker representation – a collective voice with elected representatives and workplace committees;
Employment contracts through direct employment or large, reputable, recruitment companies;
A national minimum wage for all workers, and collective bargaining rights;
Proper labor inspection and grievance mechanisms, inclusive of contractors, and an independent labor court.

Click here to read the full report.

Previously in the Archinect news:

Unchecked climate change will make the Gulf uninhabitable, claims new study

2015-10-26T21:03:00-04:00

The Gulf in the Middle East, the heartland of the global oil industry, will suffer heatwaves beyond the limit of human survival if climate change is unchecked, according to a new scientific study. The extreme heatwaves will affect Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and coastal cities in Iran as well as posing a deadly threat to millions of Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, when the religious festival falls in the summer.

"The study shows the extreme heatwaves, more intense than anything ever experienced on Earth, would kick in after 2070 and that the hottest days of today would by then be a near-daily occurrence."

Related:

Photographer captures the landscapes of the Middle East's 'brutal building sites'

2015-06-17T13:37:00-04:00

When most people think of the Arabian peninsula, they think of the opulent man-made islands of Dubai and that city’s sparking, futuristic towers... But with his series Crossings, Arko Datto shifts the attention to the millions of migrant workers from throughout Asia who are building these structures. Datto used Google Maps and Google Earth to capture the vast highways, sprawling landscapes, and grand projects that laborers have built under conditions that border on slavery.

“The work deals with the issue in a fairly abstract/tangential way,” Datto told Wired Magazine. “The total lack of human presence in the images is symbolic of the anonymity, facelessness, and lack of representation that the migrant workers suffer.”

Archinect - News

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

Alejandro Aravena previews ELEMENTAL's massive Qatar Art Mill project in Doha

Zaha Hadid Architects designs collection of emergency shelters for displaced communities

Qatar puts number of 2022 World Cup migrant worker deaths 'between 400 and 500'

Olafur Eliasson's mirrored desert installation in Qatar asks visitors to 'look down at the earth and self'

2022 World Cup: Amnesty International urges FIFA to reserve at least $440M to remedy abuses of migrant workers in Qatar

OMA and Buro Happold reveal new video of modular hospital prototype

Qatar will receive three new museums from a trio of Pritzker Prize winners

OMA and Buro Happold reveal designs for the Al Daayan Health District in Doha

Santiago Calatrava-designed UAE and Qatar pavilions highlight Expo 2020 Dubai's grand opening

Qatar to pass new minimum wage law for contractors

Junkspace No More: Qatar's Plagiarism accusation highlights new status for airports

Air conditioning the outdoors? Qatar is doing it

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar inaugurated

'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

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar nears completion

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

Migrant workers in Qatar allowed to leave without exit visas

Syria Matters exhibition to document the destruction of country’s cultural heritage

OMA’s massive Qatar National Library officially opens

Amnesty International reports ongoing systematic exploitation of 2022 World Cup migrant workers

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

Amnesty International reports new numbers of Qatar's FIFA World Cup 2022 migrant exploitation

Alejandro Aravena's ELEMENTAL to design the 1 million sq.ft. Qatar Art Mill

Qatar World Cup workers: FIFA launches welfare body to improve labor conditions

Zaha Hadid: 'Qatari situation' doesn't apply to her stadium site

"7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds

Unchecked climate change will make the Gulf uninhabitable, claims new study

Photographer captures the landscapes of the Middle East's 'brutal building sites'

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