Msheireb Downtown Doha
Two installations, one month. Engineering two artists' concepts for public space in Doha.
Back to Case StudiesTwo installations, one month. Engineering two artists' concepts for public space in Doha.
Back to Case StudiesA public art programme across Msheireb Downtown Doha called for two large-scale installations, each to be built from an artist's concept in about a month. Both would stand outdoors in the heart of the city, open to everyone, and had to be finished, safe and exactly as the artists imagined them on opening day.
An artist's concept is an intention before it is a structure. Our work begins where that intention meets material, load, wind, and a fixed opening date. For both commissions, we took the design and resolved what it would take to stand: geometry, structural engineering, material specification, fabrication, and on-site installation — without compromising the form the artist had drawn.
Two intersecting circular structures, each 10 m across and 7.5 m high, form a single sheltered interior in a heritage courtyard. One ring is clad in natural palm fronds from date farms around Doha, the other in artificial fronds.
The challenge was the wind. The structure had to withstand Gulf winter winds at full cladding density, and we engineered it to do so, refusing the easy answer of thinning the cladding.
A majlis reimagined as a form that never stays the same: a field of modular seating that visitors pick up, move and regroup. Every element had to carry people, take constant rearranging and keep its finish through a week of open-air use.
Both works were standing on opening day, exactly as designed. A month earlier they had existed only as drawings.
When it has to be right the first time, there is no second attempt.