By Isabel Ovalle
Jean Nouvel, the rock star of architecture and author of local landmarks such as Doha Tower and the upcoming National Museum of Qatar, was in Qatar this week and took part in a lively and well-attended discussion at the Museum of Islamic Art.
In the packed courtyard of MIA, the renowned architect shared his views on architecture and his works, in response to questions from Todd Reisz, also an architect and professor, and the audience. The event was organised by the Doha Architecture Forum, an informal association of the local design community.
Jean Nouvel has been heading his own architecture firm for more than 35 years. Among his principal creations are the Arab World Institute building in Paris, the Lyon Opera House, the Cartier Foundation in Paris and the extension to the Queen Sofia museum in Madrid.
The French designer talked about Doha Tower, which, he said, was not similar to Barcelona’s Agbar Tower, also designed by him. “The shape imitates that of rocks modelled by the wind. I decided to play with that shape here too, and people thought I was obsessed,” he joked.
“A tower is not something which can easily be drawn, and the climate is what differentiates one from another. In Doha’s West Bay it’s directly on the ground in an excellent landscape,” he added, acknowledging that “it’s strange that it’s empty, but is very beautiful even empty.”
About his other great project in Qatar, the National Museum, he said that his inspiration came from the crystallization of sand which takes place in the desert. Given that the new construction will have to adapt to the existing buildings, Nouvel was keen on playing with the soul of the old structure and redefining the nature and spirit of the site.
His goal while working on the project was also to create a museum which would surprise the visitor. “I wanted a museum which would talk about the desert and the sea and the new global situation of Qatar,” said the architect.
“I want the visitor to discover new things as he walks through the museum, like when a stream winds through the mountains. I hope the museum will make Qatari people proud while showing the strength of the nation,” he added.
For the architect, this project is only the beginning. “I trust people will want to go to the museum and decide to learn more about Qatar,” he said.
For Nouvel, Doha’s fast development was “impossible to imagine”, and it showed that the city was “full of energy,” said the architect.
He noted that just 50 years ago, Qatar’s capital was basically a village, and in the last few decades it had undergone “total mutation -- the result of spontaneous development.”
The architect addressed the issue of political influence in his line of work. “We have to play permanently with power, but we always have a choice. In my case, I always try to work where I think I’m useful,” he said.
Sustainability is always reflected in his designs: “its common sense,” he said. However, it is always linked to the cost: “It has to be considered as part of the total price, but in five or ten years the cost is amortized, that’s why I always try to imagine buildings in the future.”
He stressed that while he very much had in mind the combination of simple and strong, the “poor palace” feature, he did not design the new structure of the museum with the future collection in mind. “It was an invention, something dynamic and a result of a concentration of energy,” he concluded.
Nouvel has won many awards for his works, including the Aga Khan Award for the Arab World Institute, France’s national grand prize for architecture, the gold medal of the French academy of architecture, The Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Italy’s Borromini Prize for the Lucerne and Congress Center, Japan’s Premium Imperial, The Wolf Prize, the Arnold W Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, the International Highrise Award for the Agbar Tower, and the Pritzker Prize.
The Peninsula
National Museum of Qatar
TThe National Museum of Qatar opened in 1975 in a restored palace originally built in the early 20th century by Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani. It served as his family residence and the seat of government for approximately 25 years.
In addition to the original Amiri Palace, the former Qatar National Museum included a Museum of the State, a lagoon and a popular marine aquarium. In 1980, the building won the Agha Khan award for restoration and rehabilitation of Islamic architecture.
This monument to Qatar’s past is now preserved as the heart of the new National Museum of Qatar. The new museum’s innovative design, created by Jean Nouvel, is inspired by the desert sand rose and grows organically around the former palace.
The museum, off Doha’s Corniche, rises from the sea and is connected to the shore by two pedestrian bridges and a vehicular bridge. A C-shaped peninsula and park area on the shoreline behind the museum offer a picturesque backdrop.
Located on a 1.5 million-square-foot site at the south end of the Corniche, where it will be the first monument seen by people arriving from the airport, the building takes the form of a ring of low-lying, interlocking pavilions which encircle a large courtyard and encompass 430,000 square feet of indoor space. In its organisation, the building suggests the image of a caravanserai, the traditional enclosed resting place that supported the flow of commerce, information and people across desert trade routes.
The Peninsula
