Urban design of rediscovering cultural identity in Qatar

Urban design of rediscovering cultural identity in Qatar is the third project from practice. The project is located in Qatar and its capital Al Doha. Qatar and its capital have a wealth of cultural and heritage context rooted in the desert Muslim society. The country has passed various modern transformations not only in architecture but also in planning and urban design. The architecture and urban design match the European context in terms of architectural character as many building designs follow modern architecture and its tendencies as well as deconstruction and its tendencies. Urban design projects developed the capital towards sustainable development and constructing development using the latest urban design methods, tools, and techniques. Modern technology was and still is active in the country in constructing modern buildings.

In 2007 A VIP client approached our firm and requested to develop a concept design for an urban design project in Rawdat that rediscovers the country’s cultural identity. The country witnessed many projects that followed the European styles because of the international firms operating in Qatar. The project is an urban design project proposal that includes housing for company staff, A model for a junior staff villa, a senior staff villa, a 2-unit family villa with 2 options, a 4-unit family villa with 2 options, a local community center, a kindergarten, and a school.

The urban design of this development was based on various blocks connected by landscape corridor, each block of the housing and villas are designed around an open yard of landscape and public parking. The urban design project is of low density and has a maximum of 3 floors of housing, two stories of villas, and the remaining local community and kindergarten and school is a 1 story building.

As illustrated from the ground floor plan of the family villa sample of the development it considers the local context privacy by separating the guest and visitors zone and the family zone and connecting the services area by corridors to maintain that. As a usual identity of the area, a villa includes a servant room, and its services within the villa design are connected to the kitchen. The plan has a modern touch by including an open kitchen space.

On the first floor a diversion from the common practice in villa design that includes a bathroom for each bedroom, here to make the development more economical a common bath for the two bedrooms and a bathroom for the master bed. The floor is connected to wooden terrace covered by a wooden pergola similar to the classical units of old villas.

As shown in the elevations of the 2-unit villa model the local characteristic exists in the wooden pergola terraces. The external façade ornament details of square projections, and the more modern details of rain gutters, in many areas of the elevations rectangular projections within the floor slabs and below the parapet, a strip of niche running on the four sides of the elevation in the two stories, wooden square detail windows that are similar to the traditional detail in all facades, and the triangle detailed railing in the parapet giving it the classical look. The external finish is from plaster and paints that simulate the mud finish of the type and color of the old villa.

The section of the 2-unit villa and similar ones shows the indoor look of all the external detailing that gives the inhabitants a sense of the local view of the old-type villa. The old type of villa was inward looking because of the severe heat of the environment giving the villa privacy and the courtyard creates negative pressure that pushes hot air up and makes the lower level cooler for use in summertime. Here in the section, it was incorporated though not to serve the same function but to allow air, and light to enter the villa to the upper level and serve as a ventilation component.

This project was a try from the owner and the firm to rediscover cultural identity in Qatar. The project gained admiration through its modernizing the local character of Qatar’s traditional architecture and urban design in the year 2007. The project was kept on hold as a sample for rediscovering the heritage of the area.