We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer about their original and creative design work. is an award-winning creative designer, that makes our world a better place with their original works.
("") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work . Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
: The architectural concept was derived from both traditional Arab Islamic architecture as well as the function of the school. For this reason, the school was designed around a central courtyard, around which all of the facilities that the student would require are located; with the public facilities being located at ground level and the private areas of the school being arranged on the upper floor. The courtyard is the heart of the school, geographically, architecturally and socially.
: When this project was built, it was initially planned that this school would serve an area of Doha which had started to grow but which so far lacked an educational infrastructure that would enable children to move from elementary to university level. The complex hosted the Qatar Academy, Shaqab College for Designing Arts and Al Shaqab Girls Institute.
: The high-level concept took me a couple of months.
: I was commission to design the building; the brief was that it had to have a strong local identity.
: Building was commissioned by HH Emir of Qatar office and intended for the girls school and dormitory. Later it became Headquarters building for Qatar Foundation.
: I wanted to reflect the identity not only in the aesthetics or the shape; I wanted to adopt the concept of the courtyard and the arcades around the courtyard to create that particular environment.
: Since the design was a direct commission from the client, target audience was clearly defined as end users of the facility.
: It was a unique use being a boarding school, but it became even more special when it transformed from a boarding school to the entire management of the mega project which is Qatar Foundation campus.
: Historically in that location, there was a famous royal stable for the horses which was called Al-Shaqab.
: The project was sketched and drawn all the way by hand.
: What made it unique was the courtyard and its proportions(?). It was also the largest vernacular project at that time.
: No, it was all done in house through our team in a simple manner in coordination with an operator.
: Mostly the research was related to the local vernacular elements and vocabulary.
: It was challenging to reflect the aesthetics and the qualities of the traditional architecture into a more modern function which is the boarding school for girls.
: A Design was brought to my attention by my colleagues and we made collaborative decision of submitting Al Shaqab for the design competition.
: At that time, I learned how to use the proportions and scale of the local vernacular as exaggeration was required but we had to maintain the proportions. The reason why I say the scale is because the ceiling of the building is too high for the vernacular style in Qatar. Also, it is a closed courtyard which is not how they did it in the past where the courtyard was exposed to the sky.
