Ateliers Jean Nouvel has designed the new National Museum of Qatar, which is about to open on March 28th this year. The 21,000-square-meters museum contains permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, a 220- seat auditorium, a 70-seat forum, a heritage research center, conservation laboratories, collection stores and offices, two cafes, a restaurant, and a boutique.
The museum is sited around the original palace of former Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, which has been recently restored and is one of the landmarks in Doha. This composition looks like a dialogue between past and future.
The concept for the scheme has been inspired by the desert rose and its goal is to create a dialogue between the fluid, contemporary architectural form of the museum, and the historic objects it will contain. As quoted in a recent press release by Qatar Museums, the scheme will “give a voice to Qatar’s heritage whilst celebrating its future”.
According to Jean Nouvel, the scheme’s interlocking structure, formed of steel, glass and fiber concrete, recalls the “blade-like petal of the desert rose, a mineral formation of crystallized sand found in the briny layer just beneath the desert’s surface”.
https://www.archdaily.com/893374/jean-nouvels-national-museum-of-qatar-takes-shape-as-new-images-released