JMP’s design gives shape, meaning and energy to the Forum’s diverse gathering of people and cultural content. It will bring together the world-views of artists, performers, and the public in a place of shared encounter. Our fundamental intention has been to create a design that makes the Cultural Forum a marvellously welcoming and open place, functionally, creatively, and urbanistically. It must be as interesting to children as it might be to those who are highly informed culturally. It must create an atmosphere of discovery that is as palpable to overseas visitors as it is to Qataris and it must make sense in the way it contributes to its new urban setting.

 

JMP understands very clearly that Doha’s cultural and commercial strategy is founded on something far more ambitious than a dramatic, familiarly international development. Our design seeks to express Qatari innovations in a building that demonstrates Qatar’s outreach to other places, and cultures. The building is conceived as a large stone block from which spaces, routes, and courtyards are carved or voided out.

 

This results in an architectural expression which is a reinterpretation of the traditional Qatari house, typically of massive wall construction with limited openings to the external facades to avoid overlooking. The accommodation would be arranged around a central courtyard providing privacy, shelter, amenity space, and a more comfortable microclimate.

 

The form of the four quadrants of the building and the central courtyard, intersected with urban routes, is reminiscent of Islamic city patterns, connecting a series of courtyards providing shade and interplay between light and dark spaces, much like the traditional souk.