National Museum Of Qatar / Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Architects: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Area: 52000 m²
Year: 2019
Manufacturers: Goppion, Kuraray
Lighting Designer: Scherler, AIK
Products Used in This Project: Display Case – One-off by Goppion, Display Case – Q-Class by Goppion
Architect-in-Charge: Jean Nouvel
Project Manager: Hafid Rakem
Project Leader: Phillipe Charpiot
Lead Interior Designer: Sabrina Letourneur
Landscape Architects: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste Principal: Michel Desvigne Lead Landscape Architect: Ana Marti-Baron
Ajn Exhibition Design: Renaud Pierard EMA, Eric Maria
Client: Qatar Museums Authority, Doha (QA)
City: Doha
Country: Qatar

The National Museum of Qatar, designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Doha, reflects the desert rose formation found in the Gulf region. The 600 interlocking disks create a structure that integrates the historic palace with a modern design. Inside, eleven galleries follow an elliptical path around the Howsh courtyard, showcasing Qatar’s environmental, cultural, and political history. The museum’s sand-colored concrete facade connects with the desert, providing shade through overhanging disks, and offers views of Doha Bay and landscaped gardens. BIM technology enabled the precise alignment of the complex geometry, managed by Werner Sobek. The museum’s neutral interior finishes complement its architectural form, featuring polished concrete and stuc-pierre walls. The National Museum represents Qatar’s transformation into a cultural and tourism hub.

National museum of qatar / ateliers jean nouvel

The building’s design draws inspiration from the desert rose, a mineral typically found in the Gulf region’s deserts. The desert rose motif is central to the museum’s design, symbolizing Qatar’s culture and climate. This form emerges organically from the ground, blending with its environment, and is expressed through a system of 600 interlocking disks of varying sizes and curvatures, which compose the entire structure. These disks form a striking facade surrounding the historic palace, integrating it into the modern architectural landscape.

The museum’s interior features a landscape of interlocking disks similar to its exterior, creating a dynamic spatial experience. Exhibition spaces fan out in an elliptical circuit around the central court, the Howsh, where cultural events occur. This circuit mirrors the undulating desert landscape and includes 11 galleries that showcase Qatar’s environmental, cultural, and political history from ancient times to the present. The journey through the museum culminates in the restored palace, one of the museum’s prized collections.

The sand-colored concrete cladding aligns with the desert landscape, and the shadows cast by the overhanging disks allow visitors to explore the external areas while offering protection from the harsh sunlight and heat. Large openings in the building provide views of the Howsh, gardens, and Doha Bay. The surrounding landscaped park further connects the museum to the Qatari landscape, featuring local plants and trees, low dunes, flooded crops, and sabkha and oasis-inspired gardens. It includes a heritage garden and open grassy areas for public relaxation. The park also integrates a 430-car parking facility.

The building’s construction posed significant technical challenges due to its geometric complexity and scale, with a footprint measuring 400 m × 250 m and a height of 40 meters. The complex was built using BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology, allowing architects and contractors to manage the intricate geometry of the 600 discus-shaped elements. The BIM model helped ensure that all building components, including the vertical disks, that support the structure, and the horizontal disks, that carry the loads, were perfectly aligned and integrated without collisions. This was the largest and most detailed BIM model of its kind at the time of construction, developed using the Gehry Technologies software system with an exceptional Level of Detail (LOD 400).

Werner Sobek, in charge of construction supervision and interface management, led a team of architects and engineers on-site to coordinate the planning and execution of the project. This required a high level of intercultural collaboration with participants from the Gulf States, USA, Europe, and Asia. Their expertise, combined with the innovative use of BIM technology, ensured the precise installation of the complex building envelope. For this, Werner Sobek received the 2016 BIM Award for excellence in project management and technological innovation.

The museum’s interior finishes maintain a neutral, monochromatic palette to complement the architectural form. Sand-colored polished concrete floors with mineral aggregates and stuc-pierre (a traditional gypsum and lime-blended plaster) on the vertical walls mimic natural stone. Ceilings are treated with microporous acoustic plaster for sound absorption.

The National Museum of Qatar stands as a testament to the successful blending of modern architectural innovation with local cultural and environmental elements, symbolizing Qatar’s transformation into a global cultural and tourism hub.