DOHA: Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive, Qatar Airways (QA) Group, highlighted the importance of art and its influence throughout the development phases of the carrier’s hub Hamad International Airport (HIA), at the second edition of the annual New York Times ‘Art for Tomorrow’ conference.
He shared the creative vision and importance of the iconic art pieces selected and positioned across nodes and concourses of the airport. “Introducing an airport as a destination location required significant design detail and influence. The vision of the airport was to make the experience like no other; comfortable, desirable and memorable. An important element of this was introducing art and design.”
Open for nearly two years, HIA has 41 contact gates in operation, more than 40,000 square metres of retail and food and beverage spaces, an in-terminal 100-room hotel, 25-metre swimming pool, squash courts, fitness and spa facilities, luxury shopping opportunities, Qatar Duty Free brands and much more.
The presentation at the conference at W Hotel in Doha centred around the sculptures, paintings and design of the existing and upcoming phases.
The airport’s main architectural and design firm, Foster + Partners, took the audience through the main scope of the project and how harmony and symmetry was layered uniformly throughout all passenger offerings.
Art and architectural features have been a hallmark since the opening of the airport, providing passengers with an ambiance of aesthetically pleasing, inspiring, functional spaces for quietude, rest, shopping, dining and business purposes.
Al Baker said: “QA’s hub is designed with all of our passengers in mind, whether travelling short-haul, with a brief connection time, medium or long-haul. Not only is the airport filled with art elements, we have also paid attention to make it a highly convenient airport, technologically advanced and with an intuitive design.”
An iconic element of HIA is the highly acclaimed sculpture Lamp Bear by Urs Fischer positioned in the centre of the departures terminal, anchoring all concourses and food and beverage outlets. It has been in HIA since the opening in April 2014.The Peninsula
