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The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha
Commissioned five years ago to the Chinese architect I.M. Pei by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, today the new museum rises on an artificial island washed by the waters of Doha Bay and surrounded by stately palm trees. A strong exception wonted by designers to avoid the risk of a future siege from new constructions: "I was concerned by the idea of what would have been after. Even a beautiful work can be eclipsed and destroyed by something else. In many ways today Doha is a pure place, where there is not a real context, unless we enter the souk. I had to create my own context. "
After an exploration of the place lasted several months in search of inspiration, Pei has designed a structure that will embody "the essence of Islamic architecture": "I did not know the religion of Islam - the author of the project explains - so I studied the life of Muhammad. I was in Egypt and Tunisia, and I developed a passion for the fortified architecture.
The result is an impressive cubist composition of square and octagonal blocks in white stone, one above the other. It is a geometric progression culminating in a central tower. Housed on an artificial island populated by palm trees, the new museum seems to rise from the sea, connected with the coast by two footbridges and a vehicular bridge. A park designed by oasis and dunes, which is located behind the museum, contributes to render picturesque the context.
The project takes shape by the combination of two volumes: a main building of 5 stories and an Education Wing of two stories, connected by a central courtyard. The angular volumes of the main building retreat little by little the structure grows in height around a central atrium dome 50 meters high. The dome is not visible from the outside as hidden from the walls of the central tower.
Among the materials used there are calcareous stone "Magny" and "Chamesson" (France), Jet Mist granite (United States), steel from Germany and concrete of Qatar. A continuous glass front on the north side of the museum offers panoramic views over the Gulf and over the West Bay of Doha, from all five floors of the atrium. In the interior, the ceilings are enriched by the complex ornaments of the domes and by metal chandeliers hanged in the lobby.
The museum will house artifacts, which testify thirteen centuries of Islamic art, coming from an area extending from Spain to Central Asia: manuscripts, ceramics, jewelries, ivories. The valuable collection of carpets, fabrics and tapestries will occupy a central place in the exhibition. The museum promises to be a unique place, in which an Arab country directly produces culture, without relying on Western museums, like the Guggenheim or the Louvre.
In fact, Qatar wants to become a permanent cultural center of the Middle East country. It is doing this in its own way, that of the royal family, and especially it is doing it at the way of the Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the daughter of Sheikh and President of the Museum.
The museum complex has already become the symbolic image of the country, with its incredible collection of treasures: the largest Indian rug, a garden of delights of 15.96 meters x 3.25 meters, weaved in the seventeenth century, the Mughal jewelries, the armor for the horses and riders, in a way of Arabian Nights through three continents and thirteen centuries. The architecture of I.M. Pei is the marriage between the West contemporaneity and the Islamic tradition. Surely, it will remain a landmark for the neighboring. French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte designed the interiors. Iron supports for the crystal cases evoke a medieval atmosphere. Instead, the floors and walls materials recall exotic luxuries, worthy of Qatar: French porphyry and Brazilian wood carved in China, sparkling and rough as the door of 'Open Sesame!'
www.internimagazine.it writes, «Inspiration and starting point for this complex, which wants summarize the key elements of Islamic architecture, was for I.M. Pei the 'sabil'. It is the ablutions fountain, in the Ahmad Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, which in the words of Pei "offers a cubist expression of geometric progression". The appearance of the building varies greatly with the variation of light and the desert sun plays a crucial role in transforming the architecture into a kaleidoscope of lights and shadows. These are 35.500 square meters built with Qatar cement, Jet Mist American granite, German steel, all covered with calcareous stone Magny limestone and Chamesson color cream from France.
The main body, developed in five stories, containing the masterpieces of the Museum of Islamic Art and it is connected through the central courtyard, supply with fountain, with the two stories of the Education Wing. The external volumes shrink and retreat to be summarized in the large faceted dome about 50 meters high, where an oculus captures and refracts light in the interior. Reciprocally, in the interior the shape of the dome change with the widening of the structure, then the perimeter becomes an octagon, then a square, which in turn is transformed into four triangular columns. The lobby has the volume of five stories of the building, with a wall completely dedicated to the one and very large window 45 meters high overlooking the city of Doha, over the water of the Persian Gulf.
A circular chandelier of 12 meters in diameter in perforated metal is reflected in the inlaid marble of the ground floor, in the center of which part the double staircase that connects this level to the two stories dedicated to the exhibition areas. If the exterior is imposing, the interior is spacious and sumptuous. The Gallery project was entrusted to French study Wilmotte & Associés.
The wealth sober interior designed by Wilmotte softens the severe impact architectural and highlights the masterpieces on exhibition. The museum collects the first and most important collection of Islamic Art in the world: these are about eight hundred pieces, which show the artistic connections throughout the different countries and different cultures, from Egypt to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia, to the Gulf countries, along thirteen centuries of history. For the two stories dedicated to the permanent exhibition, Wilmotte has created a circular exhibition, making smooth the visitors’ movement and easy the discovery of the various sections of the museum, divided by historical periods and groups such as Calligraphy, Figure, Science. Different in origin, the masterpieces are also very heterogeneous in typology and size. They range from majolica to carpets, from glass to sextants, from armor to jewelries. The Wilmotte solutions in the materials are elegant and rigorous: dark gray porphyry worked in China and Louro Faya, a Brazilian wood brushed and treated to obtain a metallic aspect, the interior counterpart of an external light and bright. The cases that enclose the priceless treasures are of crystal and often are supported by iron dark tables with a looks so contemporary that bring back mind to ancient times, exactly in those distant centuries from which masterpieces emerge.
The lighting is stenographic but not dramatic. The pieces can be enjoyed in their uniqueness and at the same time the choral aspect of the rooms is that, although dark, are not in darkness. A 280 meter long bridge connects the mainland to the island's museum complex. The Museum has an auditorium with 197 seats, bookshop and coffee shop in the atrium, a 5-stars restaurant overlooking the sea, separate places of prayer for men and women and it is surrounded by a large garden. The pair of lamps that stands 30 meters high on either side of the pier is the other, impressive distinctive sign of the museum, cultural lighthouse to the future for many countries of the Gulf».
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