Doha, Qatar

American architecture practice HOK, appointed by Msheireb Properties, redesigns downtown Doha and revives Qatar’s architectural language by melding history with modernity.

The Msheireb Downtown Doha Phase 4 project has recently been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Few cities in the past century have grown faster or more remarkably than Doha.

What once was a small fishing and pearling village, today is a bustling coastal capital of 2 million people.

And while Doha’s transformation has been nothing short of remarkable, it’s easy to lose sight of the city’s past and culture amid the forest of skyscrapers that now define the city’s skyline.

Developer Msheireb Properties, in consultation with Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser challenged architects, engineers, and contractors to create a new urban center that draws on the past to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

The result is a 77-acre development that is arguably the first fully built smart and sustainable city center.

Msheireb Downtown Doha’s thoughtful layout and the world’s largest below-grade parking facility prioritize walkability and human connections.

All 100+ buildings are LEED Platinum or Gold certified, making for the world’s densest concentration of LEED-certified buildings.

The architects designed Msheireb Downtown Doha’s fourth and final phase known today as the Business Gateway Quarter.

It is the densest section of the development and includes 15 mixed-use buildings.

Unlike the steel and glass towers that dominate much of Doha, the architecture of the Business Gateway Quarter incorporates regional materials and draws on Qatari nature, culture, and history to create an architectural language rich in reference, strong in resilience, and reflective of the community.

The street grid follows that of the original city in a nod to Doha’s history and the district’s emphasis on walkability.

Msheireb translates to place or sweet water and is named for a subterranean stream that made the site a traditional gathering space.

Sikkat al Wadi, a pedestrian boulevard within the Business Gateway Quarter, follows the path of the original stream and terminates in Nakheel Square, a plaza designed for community and social interaction.

The team was well into the design of the Business Gateway Quarter when Doha began constructing its metro system in preparation for the 2022 World Cup.

The architects collaborated closely with the metro master planner, Deutsche Bahn, to incorporate a metro station beneath the Business Gateway Quarter that aligns with the transit goals and operations of both Qatar Rail and Msheireb Properties.

The tight urban design of the Business Gateway Quarter encourages human interaction and activates the public realm despite the environmental challenges in this notoriously hot region of the world.

Building orientation and massing provide shading for pedestrian walkways and were designed to channel prevailing breezes from the nearby bay.

Doha is known for its intense sun and sweltering temperatures. The design doesn’t try to fight these harsh conditions.

Instead, it adapts to the environment using resilient, time-tested design strategies. Resilient building skins comprised of stone and solid precast emulate the adobe bricks used for centuries to shield local inhabitants from the sun and provide cool building interiors.

Low window-to-wall ratios contrast with modern glass-and-steel structures further minimizing solar heat gain within buildings.

Patterned building façades vary in depth and proportion to minimize solar glare and exposure as the sun moves around buildings.

Elsewhere, exterior fins shade buildings during peak daylight hours Wide open plazas and low building heights allow for expansive views of the surrounding district.

Native plantings connect people to local ecology while minimizing the need for irrigation.

Public plantings and greenspaces connect people to nature while public plazas, such as Nakheel Square, encourage people to gather outdoors.

Public transit, including light rail and metro, encourages active transportation.

Msheireb Downtown Doha provides a template for developers and designers looking to create resilient buildings and communities through a combination of time-tested sustainability solutions such as passive shading and building materials known for their insulating and cooling properties, new MEP technologies such as water reclamation, highly efficient HVAC systems and LED lighting, and smart city planning that supports mass transit encourages active transportation and creates a true mixed-used community with buildings and public spaces designed to adapt for new uses and future needs.

Project: Msheireb Downtown Doha Phase 4
Architects: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK)
Associate Architects: Diwan Al Emara Architects Engineers & Planners
Urban Planners (early Scheme): Mossessian Architecture
Landscape Architects/Planners: Burton Landscape Architecture Studio and Allies & Morrison
General Contractor: Teyseer Contracting Company W.L.L. and Consolidated Contractors Group S.A.L. Joint Venture (Teyseer-CCC JV)
Client: Msheireb Properties, a subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation
Photographers: Gerry O’Leary