The road system

By the early seventies the beginnings of the State’s modern engineering had put in place a radial ring road pattern in Doha to accommodate the increasing numbers, character and requirements of motor vehicles. At that time the major elements of development were within the ‘C’ ring road and with very little outside it. Rayyan was a relatively small town to the west of Doha where many of the Royal Family lived but, as you can see from this photograph taken in 2005, there has been outward growth, coalescence and development of the New District of Doha, the NDOD. The above photograph shows the sequence of Corniche, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, and ‘D’ ring roads.

Where these roads followed existing routes out of Doha they did not require extensive demolition though the road widening did have a significant effect on the number of houses demolished in the region of the straightened road. Where these ‘improvements’ were made within the town they required the destruction of many houses as well as introducing for the first time large scale streets alien to the grain of development within the town, and adversely affected its micro-climate. In retrospect it is easy to blame Western planners for the imposition of their concepts of planning improvement, but not only did the State see demolition and its concomitant compensation as a means of disbursing the increasing income from oil revenues, but there was also considerable pressure by land owners to have their land and buildings taken in order to obtain the significant monies they knew to be available. I am very familiar with being approached by individuals wanting to ensure that their land or buildings were demolished in order to gain compensation.

Between these roads the pattern of the more recently constructed houses was maintained complete with existing families still living in the traditional manner but, by the seventies, this ceased for reasons explained elsewhere.

The new main road system was generally designed as dual-two roads with a central median strip finished with pre-cast concrete paving stones, and having plants – often ficus nitida or ficus retusa, as shown here – planted at regular intervals and watered by tanker rather than having standpoints built in. This road illustrates the character of those roads. I believe it is the road leading north, down from the Clock Tower roundabout in front of the Diwan al Amiri to the Ruler’s Jetty roundabout on the Corniche. The new Sheraton can just be made out in the distance. The plot of land to the right was subsequently developed by the Government with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Note both the standard treatment of the kerb stones with their alternate black and white paint and the lighting standards – both the double headed units on the median strip as well as the taller, single unit on the centre of the roundabout.

Around the same time as the above photograph was taken, a number of postcards were issued by the Ministry of Information, one of them illustrating the centre of Doha. The new Sheraton Hotel on the point of the New District of Doha can be seen top left with the Diwan al Amiri on the coast on the left. The port development can be seen to the right with the island of Safliyah between them, below the horizon. The white building breaking the shore line is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the dark building to the right is the Qatar National Bank. On the right of the photograph the demolitions for the development of Grand Hamad Avenue can just be made out.

But now, about twenty years later, buildings are being demolished in order to make way for more modern buildings. I assume that the previous buildings have had their costs amortised. Now there are constant complaints about the high cost of accommodation in Qatar which reflects a shortage of the right kind of accommodation. But talking to both Qataris and expatriates as well as through observation, there is accommodation empty, some of it not yet having its utilities connected, but others being held empty due to the owners wishing to have buildings taken over by a single organisation rather than being involved in managing a number of tenants. There is also the continuation of an old problem where some buildings are being kept empty while their owners wait to achieve their desired rental, often a notional exercise.

The process of demolition and reconstruction is comparatively fast in Qatar as the government planning system works effectively and the construction industry operates relatively efficiently to develop the building types that are being demanded by clients – in the main, these are housing and offices to house the expatriate workforce – being repetitive in their design, particularly when multi-storey, and not overly complex in their detailing and servicing.

As can be seen in these three photographs, the method of demolition is not very sophisticated and is unlikely to fulfil any of the Health and Safety directives obtaining in Europe. Both the apartment block and the private house shown here were not particularly old when they were demolished but there is an obvious financial imperative to redevelop at higher densities, provided the planning authorities will allow it. All this feeds the construction boom with its wide and varied character of effects. In the case of the private house an attempt was made to save the date palms and, as in every case, to reclaim the steel reinforcement, a dangerous job when carried out, as in this case, in the middle of the demolition process.

Going back to the nineteen-seventies, the State was already building public housing in order to consolidate areas into which badu could be settled, as well as for those who were unable to build for themselves. This first photograph to the side was taken at Medinat Khalifa and shows the beginnings of a standardised layout for larger houses rather than the standard thirty metre square sites that were established as a government standard public housing plot, and which were begun adjacent to these houses.

Later this was extended to Government Senior Staff who were permitted a greater amount of land on which these houses would be developed, the first major housing of this sort being established on the New District of Doha which, being created by the government from the sea, had no ownership issues associated with it. These two photographs illustrate the housing provided in the New District of Doha for government staff. The upper photograph illustrates a road in the Senior Staff housing area, and the lower, a road in the Intermediate Staff housing area. In contrast with the Senior Staff housing which was constructed along relatively common building methods utilising reinforced concrete floor slabs and columns with concrete block infill and cement render finish, the latter development was constructed using a system based on pre-cast concrete panels, a policy that was intended to move the State forward in the provision of system building.

But at the same time the private sector began to build for itself in order both to provide accommodation for its own expatriate employees and, as opportunities became more obvious, for expatriates needed by the government. These ranged from labourers required to carry out the construction works of the burgeoning State as well as middle management and professionals who were required to work on establishing systems, supervise complex works and transfer skills. Much of this housing was constructed as gated estates for which high rents could be charged to government.

Constructed on private or privately acquired land these developments took and continue to take little cognisance of existing land patterns and were, and are, preferably located on desert sites, a typical one being shown in the first photograph.

Generally these developments consist of similar villas – either single or double storey – with an area set aside for recreation which usually accommodates tennis courts and a swimming pool, the basic requirements for ex-patriates. I don’t have that much against this type of development, in fact, under certain circumstances I support it, but it is not easy to plan and organise due to land ownership issues. The development in the upper photo is relatively small – and some may consist of only half a dozen houses – but some of them are much larger as this lower photo of the Al Messilah development on the Rayyan Road illustrates. In this developments the housing is relatively dense but benefits from being well organised in the provision of a hierarchy of external spaces, both semi-public and private. The only problem it might be thought to have is a relatively small amount of public recreational space in its centre which leads to difficulties for residents attempting to use those facilities. It is, in fact, a typical American layout, but was intended to house expatriates.

Here is a layout near the Salwa Road where a number of decisions have been made creating a very different feeling for the layout, which will be reflected in the manner in which the residents will be able to enjoy their housing. The layout has been created with a single access to a main road and an internal distributor giving access to housing on both its sides. The configuration of the distributor is tortuous, but it might be argued that this is in accord with traditional layouts which gave the residents security at the expense of strangers attempting to penetrate them. It can be seen in the photograph below that a wall on each side of the distributor has given it the character of a race track and, while splayed set-backs mark the entrance to each pair of houses, there is both a likelihood of vehicles on the distributor speeding and accidents occuring at those entrances due to poor sight lines. There are other unusual decisions; for instance the two tennis courts are oriented, one north-south, the other east-west.

Each house has a double garage, and each pair of houses shares a semi-public space for set-down in front of the main entrance to the house plot. It appears to be impossible to drive up to the front doors. The decision to create this semi-public space, surrounded by walls and with no landscaping is a curious one, made more unfortunate by the lack of landscaping in public and semi-public areas and the considerable areas of hard flooring which will act as a heat sink, increasing the worse aspects of the micro-climate that the housing will enjoy. This will be exacerbated by the heavily articulated forms of the housing which, again, will maximise heat gain, but this time on their structures. With time, landscaping will ameliorate this slightly, but the layout would have benefited from a more sympathetic treatment.

The above houses are likely to have been constructed for the up-market expatriates market, though there is always the possibility that one or two nationals may be living there for a number of reasons I won’t go into on this page.

But, here is an aerial view of a few houses which will have been constructed for nationals though are also the type of villa rented to people at the top of the expatriate housing market – ambassadors without embassies, bank managers, international managers and the like. They are most probably houses constructed by nationals for themselves and, in the case of two of them, demonstrate the extent to which some sites are filled with a single building with little land available for landscaping, and little opportunity for considered integration with the interior of the building. What is curious to me about the two houses at the top of the photograph is that they appear to have their main entrances facing the camera, but there is no sign of a majlis – though there may be one at the far side of the plot, the houses having roads both front and back.

Interestingly, two of the sites are different. One appears to have used two sites in order to be able to have the second as a garden in which there appears to be a Western style gazebo. The other, in the top left corner of the photograph, appears to be an enclosed garden, yet to have a house constructed within it or, perhaps, to be joined to a neighbour. It is interesting to see how it has been divided in the classic Islamic garden manner, though it has yet to be completed.

Contrasting with the above housing is this plot laid out with relatively high density housing, most likely for an expatriate workforce. There appears to be a hierarchy of housing which implies a company structure. This would reflect the manner in which some companies operate in Qatar, giving them the ability to control all their requirements on a single site to the benefit of both company and their Qatari partners. Regrettably, this can result in a poor quality of design, the buildings being utilitarian and their contribution to the urban design character of the area, insensitive. Planting may help in the future, but there is no sign of it so far, particularly within the compound and it seems wrong to make so little contribution to the area. Having said that, it might be argued that traditional urban design has little or no contribution to the external environment, but the fact is that the scale of these new developments are much greater, and the long boundary walls and façades of the buildings are stultifying in urban design terms.

You can see the equivalent layouts in those I have shown elsewhere of the Government’s public and Senior Staff housing layouts. But the private sector is developing rapidly around the major urban centres as it has done for decades. The chief difficulty with this has been twofold: firstly the apparent urban sprawl with many sites being left undeveloped and, secondly, the need to extend utilities to cater for those houses being developed – a requirement which takes extensive and expensive utility development for a relatively few number of buildings. Here you see the effect of this character of development on the outskirts of Doha with considerable space between buildings, unmade roads and a general air of incompletion. This effect, in some areas, is likely to continue for some time, degrading the urban character of the areas as well as contributing to a lack of social cohesion. It is one of the causes of urban blight.

As anybody living or visiting Qatar will tell you, the pressure on the road system is now, in 2009, intense. The reasons for this are many, but the old system has been found wanting, probably due to the character of traffic on the roads being different from the textbook projections. This is likely to be a function at least of the changing character of socio-cultural behaviour together with development traffic. Because of this there has been changes in the sizing of roads together with their junctions. This aerial photograph was taken in the 1980s and shows the flyover of the Ras Abu Aboud road over the extension of the Corniche into the ‘B’ ring road. Looking north-west it shows a junction that was always a little under-capacity, though it wasn’t until this century that the increased development stresses required its demolition and redesign.

These next two images of the Ras Abu Aboud flyover were taken in February and August 2008 respectively and illustrate both the speed of progress of the work on the new junction, as well as the conceptual change that has been made to the function of this junction and its associated roads. Both photographs have been taken with north at the top of the images.

The Corniche moves out of the top, centre, of the photograph, with the Museum development in the top left corner. Ras Abu Aboud is to the right and the service road at the northern end of the existing runways can be seen on the bottom right of the photographs. The upper image is of the road as it existed in the aerial perspective in the paragraph above. The lower photograph shows the alteration of the conceptual plan for ring road system – where the corniche/ ‘B’ ring road has been set aside by this alteration.

It is not possible to know how the road plan is to be amended in its entirety, but bear in mind that the new, expanded airport is to the east, right, in these photographs and, looking at the aerial photographs of the whole of Doha, it appears that there is an intent to take a loop round the existing airport to serve the new airport. Although the loop joins the Wakra road, south of the existing airport, the main loading to the new development appears to be at the Doha end which will place a considerable loading on this junction. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Radial versus lineal

The use of a Western radial road system itself became superseded in the mid-nineteen seventies by the increasing needs of motor vehicles, many of which were related to the construction industry. The geometry of the radial system naturally focussed the increasing numbers of vehicles onto the centre of the town, creating serious circulation difficulties and plans were implemented to amend the radial system to a lineal one, and expand the town into a newly created area to the north of the town – the New District of Doha. This system is still being implemented today.

In the early part of this century the architecture of Doha was similar to that of much of the Gulf, the twin influences on its architecture being from the Saudi hinterland and from Persia, directly across the Gulf. Doha consisted of single and two storey buildings built of desert stones or dead coral hasa bahri and gypsum mortar juss, with alleyways, sikkat, feeding the inhabitants out onto the thoroughfares. There was, in the centre of the town, a fortified structure which housed at the beginning of the century a Turkish garrison. Other than that there were only mosques and graveyards of significant visual impact. There were, however, a number of wind towers with even more in Wakrah. Today Doha has the only wind tower left in the country, and that stands exposed on all sides in sharp contradistinction to the conditions which created it.

The introversion characteristic of Islamic towns was reflected not only in the development of buildings, but also in the manner in which landscaping was treated. The Islamic town focused attention on the internal development of the house, particularly on the patio or courtyard. In the often harsh climate landscaping was developed within this contained area in a manner which reflected the relationship between a Muslim and his religion.

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Blight

Planning blight is a term we are used to in the West. It occurs when an owner is unable to realise the true market value for his property due to planning proposals being mooted, and potential purchasers being inhibited from offering at that value. I mention it here because I have heard Western planners complain that this affects new and existing owners in Qatar. A further note has been made on the page dealing with planning in Qatar.

To the side you can see two examples of the kind of effect we might think characterises blight. The first photographs shows an old farm awaiting development. I don’t know if the ground has become too damaged by saline inundation – a serious problem near the coast – or if it is just too valuable as building land to retain its original use. The second photo illustrates the look of land as sites await construction to begin, sometimes for years.

However, my understanding is that this has no effect on the value of properties for two reasons. The first is that there isn’t the exchange of land to the extent there is in the West. Certainly some land is bought and sold but much of the residential land has been made available by government, sub-divided and distributed, and some belongs to large families who carry out more or less the same exercise, often leaving spaces for the families to move into. Perhaps this is the case in the second photograph.

The second reason is that there seems to be a lack of concern for what happens outside their own plot, this despite the traditional concept of finaa’ where owners have an interest in the area immediately on the periphery of their plot. And this is compounded by the ability of Arabs to ignore mess in public spaces, much as we do in the West. The surprise to me is that Muslims see a responsibility in communal standards; what appears to have undermined this is the perception that the Municipality has taken on those responsibilities, perhaps a reflection of the national interest in presenting a good face as a nation. Having said that, where there is a degree of responsibility, external areas can look tidy to a Western eye but, as has been argued elsewhere, they are expensive to maintain, a source of dust, increase micro-climatic problems and do little to benefit the residences they accompany.

But the above examples are not the only signs of blight. They are more obvious in the Gulf, but many cities demonstrate blight more immediately in their empty and run-down properties, the absence of social and retail facilities and the presence of graffiti. Elsewhere I have noted that there is not a significant amount of graffiti in Qatar due to a number of reasons, but it does exist in its less artistic forms as is shown on this corner wall. This photograph illustrates one of the main forms of blight in Qatar, in this case the deterioration, both from a maintenance and structural point of view, of a property boundary wall in Doha. The house has been rented out to expatriate workers and, as is common, little or no maintenance has been carried out either by the tenants who are unlikely to be able to afford it, or by the owner who has no reason to. The correlation between blight and property values can be important, but in the unusually high rental markets of Qatar, this may not be as significant as in more stable markets.

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Demolition and development

The physical development of Doha and the various conurbations of the peninsula has been accompanied by extensive preparatory work. Those who have been living on the peninsula over the past two generations have had continuing experience of the contracting activities that are a concomitant of construction. While in the initial stages of development in Qatar, the demolition of relatively small buildings and the placing of utilities into the ground saw areas of land prepared and then built upon, the areas now being redeveloped have been accompanied by more extensive demolition, particularly within the central area of Doha. Scenes like that shown in this photograph are now a commonplace.

While demolition is necessary to make way for more up-to-date projects, and the various government and private organisations strive to carry the work out in a safe and logical manner, those moving around their periphery, or having access through the sites are increasingly confused by the changing routing. The difficult driving conditions, constantly and adversely commented on in the press, are exacerbated by these changes that act as bottlenecks to the smooth and efficient movement of traffic, creating further delays that have an adverse impact on at least commerce, education and the business of government. But there is also the increasing absence of known buildings that act as markers for wayfinding.

The disappearance of familiar landmarks is disconcerting to many, but perhaps more to expatriates than nationals as many buildings hold memories for those making their home in Qatar temporarily. Wayfinding is an adjunct to this loss of familiar references for expatriates. But Qataris, both those who have a desert of marine background have a keen sense of direction, one that is reinforced by the need to pray towards Mecca five times a day. And there is a national pride in the redevelopment with demolition being seen as a necessary process. My experience with Qatari drivers is that they have a very different attitude to change, to demolition and to route finding from most expatriates and, while it might not be considered enjoyable, they seem more relaxed about the adjustments made to their life styles as a result of traffic delays, re-routing and associated factors. This last photograph, incidentally, is associated with the Heart of Doha project, and was taken in January 2010.

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Fire

Fires are, regrettably, a common occurence. In Qatar there used to be a widely held belief that buildings made out of concrete don’t burn. In an obvious sense, this may be true, though it is not within concrete structures that danger from fire lies, but in the materials that create its finishes. Nor are flammable materials the only danger; just as important are consideration for the prevention of fire as well as the spread of fire. This photograph illustrates the result of a relatively small fire in one of the aswaaq in Doha’s central area. Fires such as these demonstrate not just the loss of business for the owner and tenant, but also to the community in the loss of a resource. While this is not blight in the sense I have written about above, nevertheless burned out shops cast a blight on the area in which they are situated that will affect the viability of adjacent retail units. When there is a downturn in the economy, this effect can be magnified.

A concern for the spread of fire has been incorporated within municipal planning and building codes for centuries. In Qatar this was one of the reasons for the separation of residential buildings, a regulation that was carried over to other building types, but only with regard to building plots. With regard to commercial or other units within a plot there is less control, the main concern being to avoid the transfer of fire, heat and smoke from one unit to another. This is generally thought to be effected by ensuring that openings between two adjacent units should be at least about a metre apart, and that the boundary walls between units should be soundly built and have no voids permitting the transmission of, particularly, fire and smoke. However, this is not always sufficient to prevent the transfer of fire from one building to another as can be seen above. Hopefully everybody escaped from this fire.

Commonly, although windows and doors in adjacent properties may have a reasonable distance between them, the design practice has arisen of locating wall-mounted air-conditioning units in the corners of rooms, reducing the distance between openings in adjacent properties.

In larger buildings there are higher design standards used than in the smaller buildings illustrated above, though they can still be at risk during the construction phases. Compartmentation, the enclosing of safe routes of escape and the provision of fire prevention and fighting systems within the building help to produce safer environments for those who live or work in such buildings, but smaller buildings seem to escape these considerations.

more to be written…

Landscaping

Western landscaping, whether in the formalised terraces of Italy and France, or the exaggerated naturalistic styles of England, visually stretched away from the house in attempts to make monuments of nature and focus attention on the distance. By contrast, Islamic landscaping was introverted and miniaturised, in some parts of the Islamic world, setting out to represent paradise. Not only that, but the injunction against naturalistic representation in Islam avoided the psychological projection of the viewer from the site by omitting designed references to objects found outside the site.

This relationship of landscaping with architecture was essentially reflective, perhaps being best epitomised in the Western mind with the development of the Alhambra in Granada, carried out at a peak in the development of arts and thought in Islamic Spain. In particular the use of water as an essential element of the design – perhaps more important than planting – demonstrated a sophistication and sensibility to the introspective nature of Islam that has rarely been matched. Views from the Alhambra permitted sight of the outlying scenery and, in this manner, reinforced the delicacy of the interior development of the palace, and its relationship with nature.

Within the Gulf there were neither the context, ability nor the opportunity to match the advanced society which produced works such as the Alhambra in southern Spain. The people of the Gulf were relatively unsophisticated bedu, traders and pearlers without the skills, finances or, perhaps, even the desire to produce such refinement in their living environment. Nevertheless, unsophisticated planting was a feature of courtyards in Qatar, though water was not used decoratively, most probably because of its scarcity as well as for the fact that the use of water was normally confined to dry regions where its use in interiors would help air-condition and its appearance affect the physiological and psychological responses to the actual dryness of an interior.

As mentioned previously, the basic materials of construction used to produce single and double storeyed development were desert stones and dead coral taken from the sea, both cemented with a juss mortar. The structures were unsophisticated and were essentially a trabeated form of construction with walls constructed as columns with panel infill, and the openings and roof bridged by mangrove poles bound with ropes to give them added structural integrity. Roofs and upper floors were laid as earth on on woven mats with a semi-impervious coating of juss. In order to prevent damage to the building the flat roof had relatively steep falls so that water wasn’t easily able to damage the structure.

With desert stones being of a variety of shapes and sizes, the form of the buildings were finished with flat forms and faces, there being no arches used in either two- or three-dimensional forms. With no other materials but stones and juss there is little to decorate buildings – should this be required.

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The forces behind development

Although this may not be the place to discuss the background to development, it is probably worth commenting here the forces behind development in Dubai as some feel they demonstrate those which are also operating in Qatar. I am concentrating on Dubai as it is far better known world-wide, it is one of the largest – if not the largest – development site in the world, and there is more public comment on it than there is on Qatar.

Although it may not seem to have a great deal to do with the effort put into physical development, it is notable that Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the main elements of the United Arab Emirates, appear to have elected to pursue different strategies upon which to build their futures. As mentioned below, Abu Dhabi is considerably richer in the natural resources of oil and gas than Dubai. Dubai has elected to develop itself as a tourist destination, building upon its traditional focus as a regional entrepôt. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, while not having the same pressing need to diversify, has made the conscious decision to develop as a cultural centre. Their reasoning is that cultural tourists are older, better educated and have more disposable income. But it also has much to do with the region deciding to fashion itself into an international focus for cultural activities, Dubai, Sharjah and Qatar now all vying with each other to attract global interest.

In Dubai, a labour force of about a quarter of a million is in the process of constructing approximately one hundred billion dollars’ worth of projects. This is a massive development by any measure and one that is intended to propel Dubai into the trading and financial focus of the Gulf. But, bear in mind that this has always been the role of Dubai; that of an entrepôt for the region, vying with Bahrein in processing goods from Iran, the Indian sub-continent and Africa – and the West.

It is a fact that Abu Dhabi has oil and gas reserves that are significantly larger than Dubai. There is increasing concern for the future of these resources as the known and most easily winnable reserves are being rapidly depleted. This, incidentally, is different from Qatar which has massive gas reserves. The race is now on to find methods for winning the more difficult reserves in a cost-effective manner, though it is widely believed that this will only come about with increased cost to consumers. Dubai, with a much smaller level of reserves, has seen the solution to its dilemma in the development of itself as the trading and financial centre of the region.

At least this is the construction Western observers have placed upon this burgeoning development. However, it is not the argument made by the Al Maktoum family, the ruling family and owners of Dubai. Sheikh Muhamad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who became Ruler on the death of his brother in January 2006, has a vision for Dubai to become a perfect city; the most perfect, modern Arab city. In doing so he intends it to be an exemplar for the expression of the true values of the Arab world.

There is considerable criticism in the press about some of the standards imposed on non-nationals in Dubai; but there is also a widespread acceptance that Dubai is a safe city where everybody benefits in one way or another – albeit that there are severe constraints on living there caused by the pace and scale of construction.

There are similarities here with Qatar though the scale of development in Qatar is nowhere as great as that in Dubai. But there are also dissimilarities with Qatar having considerable gas reserves, the presence of Western troops on the peninsula, and less of a tradition for entrepreneurialism than Dubai. Nevertheless, Qatar is certainly developing considerable facilities that will depend to a large extent on a continuing ex-patriate presence to house, operate and maintain it.

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Urban design and architectural style

One of the debates that flares up every so often is the role of the designer and the direction and meaning of ‘Islamic design’. At the beginning of these notes I stated the reason for regarding the architecture of the Gulf as being ‘Islamic / Arabic design’ and I shan’t go over that again here. It may be useful to look briefly at the character of the architecture that is now being designed and let you make up your own minds as to the extent that it might conform with Islamic principles.

The first photograph, above, is of the south end of Grand Hamad Avenue, looking north. It is the major transportation route that goes through the centre of the old Doha suq. This second photograph is of the top, north-east, end of Grand Hamad and illustrates a very different character of building, a reflection of the history of planning in Doha. The only point I wish to make now is to do with the way in which a street changes its character; that at the north end, here, being a reflection of the retail uses historically carried out in the suq, those buildings at the southern end being taller and catering for the larger commercial areas that were needed by new organisations as the country developed.

But when you look at the view from the north end of Grand Hamad and see the new architecture of the business district in the New District of Doha, you become aware of a great disparity in architectural styles not just between the two different styles facing each other on the east and west sides of Grand Hamad, but particularly with the new buildings over West Bay and their very different character in terms of scale and materials. In a sense this reflects the different land uses of the old central area of Doha and the New District. But the latter very much represent a Western concept, the buildings of the New District reflecting predominately Western styles of architecture. This photograph appears to show them as being relatively close when they are, in fact, around three kilometres away from where the photograph was taken.

The development of planning in Qatar saw the master plan for Grand Hamad develop around the same time that the New District of Doha was being designed, development at that time being seen as a longer term and slower process than that which developed just before the turn of the century. Grand Hamad was intended to be a ceremonial drive focussed on the West Bay, particularly on a tower that was to be constructed on the site of the old port. While that project never went ahead, at the south end a pair of crossed swords at Grand Hamad’s junction with the ‘B’ ring road was constructed as a formal entrance from the south, and as a focus to those approaching from the north as can be seen in this photograph.

At the time Grand Hamad was designed, thinking was that it would be difficult to find uses for the land adjacent to the buildings fronting the road for some time, so planning located parking at grade behind them. It was also realised that it would be a slow process developing buildings along it, particularly with competition from the New District of Doha. From an urban design point of view, few controls were specified for the buildings fronting Grand Hamad, but perhaps the most serious shortcoming was in a lack of vision for the design of the road itself. Viewed from its central reservation you can see here how the road physically constrains access across it while at the same time providing little else but a fence and flowers, thus missing a major opportunity to benefit the centre of Doha.

You can contrast the first two photographs taken on Grand Hamad in the old centre of Doha with these two photographs that were taken within the business district of the New District of Doha in December 2009. They give an indication of the scale of development now being constructed in Qatar, albeit constrained for the most part within the New District of Doha. Despite the relatively wide roads established in the NDOD, the height of the new buildings constructed there is beginning to create the canyon-like effect seen in urban centres such as New York. But there is a much greater mix of architectural styles being designed and built as can be seen in some of the buildings glimpsed in the lower photograph. The benefit this creates in terms of urban interest and wayfinding is to some extent countered in the continuing discussions relating to Islamic architecture and honesty in design that are both features of professional and scholastic interest. Some of those aspects are discussed on these pages.

I have to say that the examples I show here are really believed by their different designers to be ‘Islamic design’ as it is usually termed. If you wish to see more examples I strongly urge you to track down the architecture of Dubai where there is considerably more work being carried out, and on a larger scale.

Let me start by saying that there seems to be considerable lack of understanding of what ‘Islamic design’ is, and also suggest that many clients have no idea either and, worse, often direct the design as they do elsewhere in the world. This first example is of a five and six storey apartment block and is very typical of the style of building which characterised the rapid development of Doha. The reason it’s here is because it’s a very simple, squared-off block with an unalleviated parapet line, square window openings, aluminium fenestration and protruding air-conditioning units but, applied to the wall are pairs of pointed arches – a style that is not particularly local – with not even the benefit of providing shading to the windows from the strong sun.

The second photograph illustrates a development of the first, this time with a classical Western elevational framework and a form of naqsh applied both to the façade and in front of openings. Half the windows are protected where they occur on balconies. Where they are not, there is no protection. You can see that most of the curtains are drawn and I suspect that is because the residents are attempting to protect themselves against solar heat gain. Interestingly there are no air conditioning units on display and I don’t know how the rooms are conditioned.

Which is more than can be said for these two arrangements where it is only too obvious how air-conditioning is effected. These are new buildings and I find it absolutely incredible that the architect has not been able to make better provision for these units than what you can see here, particularly in the top photograph. What might have been a small but usable balcony has been given over to units which not only make access impossible but will be a major source of heat, vibration and noise, as well as obstructing the door or window. My guess would be that somebody changed their mind with regard to the type of air-conditioning or that this is a really bad case of a problem which many architects seem to suffer from; a lack of care for those who will live in their apartments. In the lower photograph the problem is obvious, but they are unsightly and, massed as they are, will create problems with both vibration and noise.

The photographs above illustrate that designers are still making poor decisions that affect people’s lives. Here is an illustration of a similar, though older example. It is a detail of the top two floors of a three storey building, now beginning to show its age. The balconies demonstrate spalling of the concrete, but this is increasingly common as poorly constructed buildings age under the high temperature and saline air content of littoral development. But what I really want to illustrate here though, is the poor design decision that locates the air-conditioning units at the height shown here. Not only are there three units on each small balcony, they are located with their top surface the same height as the top of the windows and doors. This makes the balconies unusable for the occupants not only from their location but also from the noise and mess that is concomitant with wall mounted units. Small decisions can be important. In this case the decision to mount at this height is probably worse than the decision to mount three on the balcony; both decisions have diminished the possible enjoyment of the balcony, but it is the decision on height that has really taken away that small amount of comfort the occupants might have enjoyed.

But, far worse than any of the above is this example of the later addition of air-conditioners to the residential units of an apartment block. From a functional point of view it may well be that the air-conditioners create a more comfortable environment within the apartments, but they do so by reducing the occupants’ use of the balconies and, in some instances, the benefit they would obtain from the windows. From an urban design point of view, the additions significantly affect the appearance of the building and, by extension, the area within which it is situated. It is interventions such as this which increase the incidence of urban blight within the urban fabric of Doha, reducing the land values and those of adjacent buildings. From the perspective of the State’s interest in controlling and managing utilities, many will be surprised that it has been allowed.

The organisation of plans in apartment buildings often reduces opportunities for enjoyment by the occupants. This example shows how the wall-mounted air-conditioning units have been related adjacent to windows with some degree of common sense compared with those above. Here they may be unsightly but they do not impinge upon the use of the balconies. The projecting balconies provide an element of shade and protection from rain to the rooms behind, and you will note that small pipes have been cast into the concrete upstand in order to shed rain. In this case, as in many other examples, the pipes are too small and will both rust and block within a short time creating problems for the rooms behind.

The other point to notice about the photograph is the habit that developed of fixing, usually, two angle irons and stringing cord or rope between them in order to hang out washing. Generally apartment buildings used the roofs for this purpose, but issues of territoriality and privacy led to this solution which kept clothes within their owners’s apartment, though created irritation in some nationals and expatriates. It is a commonly perceived problem in many parts of the world.

Going back to air-conditioners, this is an even more recent building than those above and, as you can see, the siting of the air-conditioning units has been just as disappointingly determined and the work effected. The building itself has a degree of eccentricity in its massing and detailing, but the air-conditioning units have no design connection whatsoever with the styling of the building. The cabling is a mess and it is difficult to determine how the M&E consultant came by his decisions. Perhaps no designer was involved, only the supplier; but even then a neater design and installation should have been produced. Note that the units are grouped immediately above a constricted entrance to the building, and that the units appear to be lower than head height judging by the doorway on the left. Why is it that designers appear to have no control on the overall design of their buildings, and what does this lack of concern do for those moving around the building? It is disappointing that so much effort is put into the design and control of the appearance of buildings, and yet this is allowed to happen.

In contrast to the above examples, it is readily apparent how these two buildings are air-conditioned. To many this is a relatively inexpensive way of cooling a building as it is cheaper to buy a number of relatively small units than install a central system. Often this type of installation is visible from the street, as in the lower example, and rarely do architects make visual provision for them nor, as in these cases, do they protect them from the elements or from mechanical damage. The point is that air-conditioning units are not considered as design elements of a building. Massed as they are in the lower photograph they are almost attractive, though the associate wiring is a mess. With a little more consideration, they might have been located and dealt with so much better…

Here, along a building of a more industrial character, there is no attempt whatsoever to hide the air-conditioning units. Note that although there is shading to one of the windows above the air-conditioners – and I don’t understand why they are not all protect in order to reduce the solar load on the building – they themselves are unprotected from the elements.

This first building has a relatively simple form of enclosure for its wall-mounted air-conditioning units. I’m not sure of the material of their construction, nor of the reason for the gap between the base screen and the vertical elements, but at least it is a relatively simplistic response to the need both to protect the unit from solar gain as well as improve their appearance. Of course it would be better if the units themselves were better designed and, even better, if a more integrated design response could be produced. But they are a relatively new item, and it takes years for better solutions to be produced for a problem which goes largely unnoticed. Incidentally, note that the adjacent window has no protection either from the sun or the rain…

This second building has a more complete design solution to the protection and hiding of air-conditioning units. However, there are problems with the solution. There appears to be no capping unit to protect the top of the air-conditioners from the sun; the leads for the wiring into the unit were obviously not well considered and make a poor entry into the housing unit; and the sloped base to the unit will stain from a combination of retained dust and rain. I can’t say what has caused the staining that already has built up. It may seem like a lot of criticism over a relatively small problem, but it is only by making incremental design improvements that we get progress. Many designers will believe that the improvements are a major step forward from some of the installations still be seen around the country, this being found on a barasti construction on the outskirts of Doha.

The photograph above, and this to the side illustrate one of the many problems with the old fashioned wall mounted air-conditioners – their stability. Walls are 200mm thick and this type of air-conditioner is around 500mm deep. While the main elements inside the unit have much of their weight near the inside face of the wall, they are always dry-mounted, sometimes with pieces of wood or stones to level them up, but there is no seal around them other than a wooden or plastic trim on the inside. For this reason they can be inherently unstable. Here an owner has elected to provide additional support to a unit which is obviously unstable.

However, times change and now more effort is sometimes made to conceal environmental control systems. Contrast the variety of systems above with these two examples of air-conditioning systems that have been located on top of two feature towers. Of course, with designs such as these – free-standing towers designed in a pastiche of traditional Qatari architecture – there is little choice; either the units are placed on top of the structures, or they are located at ground level and, hopefully, hidden in some form of appropriate enclosure. The first of these two solutions is, perhaps, more appropriate than the latter but, as can be seen from these photographs, the space available for air-conditioning equipment is severely constrained by the amount of space available, access, and the circular form of the space containing the orthogonal air-conditioning and other units. Access appears to have been designed differently for each tower, though it is not apparent why this should have been the case.

There is another reason these two towers are illustrated here. This has to do with the architectural problem discussed above and relating to the general problem of services being exposed to view. As suggested in the previous paragraph, designers are increasingly considerate of this problem. But they tend to resolve the problem of view only from ground level. The advent of tall buildings has introduced the ability of seeing air-conditioners from above as is plainly the case with the above two photographs where the arrangement is a disgraceful mess, particularly in the lower photograph. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for designers to understand what they are creating, and how they adapt their designs to deal with this issue. These two little buildings may be pastiche, but they deserve better.

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A number of buildings were constructed along the Corniche for the Government in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Government House, the earliest of these, was constructed to the east of where Grand Hamad Road now meets the Corniche, and north of the suq al-samak, or fish suq.

To the west of this, and immediately opposite the Diwan al-Amiri, was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shown here from the south-west. Its façade mixes square, rounded and flat pointed arches in a very two-dimensional design which treats the south and north façades, but leaves the east and west to reflect only the double-loaded corridor planning of the building. It is only the pointed arches which show any hint of the part of the world in which the building is located though, to be fair, the deeper set windows and some mushrabiya suggest that it was designed for a hot climate. Regrettably, it is not a building which demonstrates anything of the tradition of the country, or even the region.

These three photos are of two government buildings designed and constructed as elements of the new building programme in the nineteen eighties. The first photograph, of the Ministry of the Interior, shows a sensible approach in some ways to the problems presented by design in the climate Qatar enjoys. Two features – the projecting roof and floors, together with the vertical fins – serve to protect the fenestration from much of the sun that might fall on it. The arches serve to pay lip service to traditional Qatar architecture, though the large mass of building and, particularly, the long, unrelieved, roof line do not. This view of it is taken from the Corniche, and from its north face where the oversailing features and fins are not needed; but it was still a reasonable solution to the problem of designing an office block.

The second and third photos are of the extension to the Ministry of Finance building, a design from the famous architect, Kenzo Tange. It also faces north. The design makes no attempt to use any of the national architectural vocabulary but is accomplished in the manner in which it relates to the old Government House to which is is attached. The end of Government House can be seen on the right of the extension. The balcony on the top floor was not seen as a solar protection device but a verandah to take advantage of the views north across the corniche. The glazed screen to the left is protected from solar gain by the main building. The architecture might be seen anywhere and does nothing to promote Islamic design, however I like the way it resolves the problem of adding to what was a historical building – Government House – by allowing the latter to slide under it.

This photograph is here to demonstrate a similar shape of Islamic design to that applied to the walls of the first apartment block, but one which is more associated with the architecture of the other side of the Gulf, Iran. To my view it looks slightly incongruous in Doha although there is a very arguable case to be made for Iranian architecture bearing in mind that commerce in the Gulf states has historically been established by Iranian merchants, and that ordinary domestic architecture owes much to the architecture of the other side of the Gulf.

But its proportions, detailing and finial design do look to me like transplants from abroad. While this is not necessarily a bad idea, its reflection of a source so near to Qatar is to me more confusing than straight copies of inappropriate Western architecture. Whether this is good or bad, I’m not sure, just confused. Looking at it from this point of view I expect it to be covered in turquoise and beige tiling and for the interior to be domed or at least arched. Somehow it seems disappointing to see it with a horizontal soffit though there are many aswaaq in Iran and elsewhere with horizontal ceilings, generally because they are constructed of timber. This development, incidentally, replaces part of the old suq to the east of the wadi whose route is now the main road through the old suq, the whole of the suq now being to the east of Grand Hamad avenue which drives thorugh the old development from the south to the corniche at its northern end.

Here is a very interesting example of a new building in Doha where a Catholic church was opened in early 2008. Internally it has a relatively traditional plan with a radiating congregation facing an altar raised above seven steps. The altar area is illuminated by light from an octagonal drum at the highest point of the rising volume of the body of the church. Outside, however, although you can see something of the rising roof and octagonal tower, the volume of the church is partially masked at its main entrance by this façade which has strong associations with Islamic architecture.

I can’t believe that the design is deliberate, but the central entrance reminds me of a Persian iwan in its scale and location, and its flanking by blind arcading suggests the horizontal hypostyle hall prayer area of a masjid, though this arcade does not reflect what happens inside the building. The massing and detailing of the building is extremely plain but there is certainly a hint of modern interpretation of traditional local architecture. It is only the lack of a burj – and, in this photograph, the obvious lack of nationals – which tells the casual viewer that this is not a masjid.

The two blocks seen in the next two photographs are very typical of the kind of design which does nothing to promote Islamic / Arabic architecture in Qatar. The first is of a staff housing block in the south of the city. The use of small openings and large wall surfaces might, on the face of it, appear to be sensible. But I suspect that the walls are constructed as they are everywhere else, of a single skin of concrete block finished internally and externally with a rendered cement skim and painted. These walls pick up solar heat very quickly, radiating a lower wave length into the rooms. When the rooms are small this can be uncomfortable, the wall mounted air-conditioning units being of little use in maintaining comfort near the walls.

This second example is of a kind where little seems to have been done to create a comfortable environment for the occupants. It appears to be an office block on the upper two levels but, apart from the provision of wall-mounted units, there is no treatment to protect the windows from solar gain. The fact that most of the curtains appear to be closed appears to support this. The small detail above the top row of windows is an indent, not a projection. Incidentally, it is better to have air-conditioners cooling the top of a space rather than the bottom.

As a complete contrast to the usual blockwork and rendering solutions above, you should know that even outside the New District of Doha or other up-market area of Doha, different solutions to modern design are being practised. Here a three storey block has been constructed adjacent to a residential area. Most of the plant appears to be hidden behind a fourth storey screen.

As an aside it is worth remembering that not every street in Doha is well designed, or is even designed to the standards I am illustrating. In some parts of the town there are streets which have been developed over time for mixed use and the accommodation of expatriate workers. This photograph shows a common treatment. Note the reinforced concrete column and blockwork walls, the standard construction method, the lack of pedestrian consideration and, what I would guess, is illegal development.

Here is a more modern example illustrating a number of different issues. Firstly, the legal walls have been raised, I think for privacy, as there is evidence of a lamp on the top left which suggests a first floor terrace rather than a room lies behind it. This high wall together with the trees gives considerable shade to the passage though this is a function of the low sun angle demonstrating that there is protection from the sun near dawn and dusk.

Although the passage is not really a sikka due to its greater width, it is obviously used as one as the surface has been smoothed by traffic, probably vehicular as well as pedestrian. I have argued elsewhere that the traditional, narrow sikkat are a good environmental response, and that wide passages should be avoided. As a general principle, passages such as this are ambiguous and end up being misused as can be seen by the dumped material. The passage would have been better designed at a traditional sikka width. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it is also likely to be safer as it has at least one entrance giving onto it.

The passage is also mirrored by a similar unpaved passage the other side of the paved road. It is a poor planning decision to have crossroads such as these – whether or not they are supposed to be used by either vehicles or pedestrians. There is the certain possibility of accidents. It also demonstrates that vehicles are parked in them, an issue which can cause conflict between vehicles and pedestrian movement such as children playing.

I have mentioned elsewhere the manner in which Qataris have been given land to build new houses. Much of the inner area of Doha, however, remained in private hands and some owners continued to live there. On the other hand, others moved out to new land and housing and let out their old houses to the expatriate work force. Many of these expatriates were, in fact, accommodated in the old houses of the people they worked for. The result of this has been that there is a lot of rental housing both new and in old accommodation mixed with the houses of Qataris who have elected to remain in the centre.

These four thumbnails illustrate the typical character of a part of the inner ring of Doha where you can see single and multi-storey buildings, mainly residential, relatively wide roads, but only the beginnings of a clear hard and soft landscaping approach, and two problems yet to be resolved – municipal rubbish bins in the road and utility works apparently continually under way. Qataris who chose to stay in these areas usually did so as their plots are large enough to ensure continuing privacy from their new neighbours. Though this may initially have been the case, the continuing development of tall structures makes this increasingly difficult, particularly for the women of the family. In addition to this, those people they see around their house plots will be mainly expatriates. There is a very strong contrast between these urban scenes and those associated with the areas into which qabila have gone and, of course, the Senior Staff areas. The former is probably the better comparison as the Qataris there are a more representative cross-section of Qatari society.

Within the inner ring of Doha there remain a number of areas where progress has not matched pace with the development of the centre and, particularly, the New District of Doha. The reasons for this are various but one of the chief ones can be seen here, the size and shape of the old lots which has much to do with the ownership patterns that have developed over a long period of time. While the land market in Doha is buoyant, decisions on acquiring and developing land tends to favour discrete, sizeable plots on which buildings can be erected that will return a profit to the owner. However, due to the manner in which the labour market works it is often more profitable for an owner to keep an old building and use it to run a small business as well as house his own labour. In this way it is thought that the value of the property will remain and increase, the owner will have no problems housing his labour, and there will be no need to use financial resources which may carry with them a degree of speculation. What results is an urban scene comprising everything from single to eight storey development, side by side.

Closer in to the old centre of Doha this photo, taken at dawn, gives a good illustration of the architecture of the nineteen sixties and seventies with their typical ad hoc roof treatment. Roofs were always a storage area as well as being the location for galvanised steel water tanks. These and wall mounted air-conditioning units are such common items that nobody thinks of masking nor protecting them. This photo also illustrates the scale of the new developments moving into the old areas of what is now the inner ring of Doha.

Since their introduction, there has been a problem with the placing of individual air-conditioning units in the walls of buildings. Generally speaking one opening would be left in the wall of each habitable room with an adjacent power point to provide it with electricity. The opening would be provided with a crude timber lining and the interior of the room trimmed with a wooden frame about 100mm in width. Outside there would be nothing to protect it. Thirty or more years later, there seems to be little change in some places. Here there has obviously been considered a need to provide a an unplanned wall-mounted unit and a crude hole has been knocked in the wall. I assume this has yet to be trimmed and tidied up, but whether or not it will have the kind of protection that is occasionally provided as shown above, I can’t say.

In addition to water tanks and air-conditioning equipment, telephone poles with their attached wires and television aerials have always been important features of the urban landscape. Elements such as these have tended to go unnoticed and unremarked upon by most people, but give character to urban scenery. This photograph, for instance, is instantly evocative of the inner urban areas of Doha. One of the characteristics of early urban development and the concomitant introduction of television was, literally, the rise in television aerials. The masts were particularly tall and each would usually incorporate a box containing a motor enabling the owner to rotate the aerial, so tuning the programmes for best reception. These were supplemented by a range of sizes of satellite dishes, adding further interest to the skyline.

The buildings above are essentially two storey commercial development. Behind them there was constructed single and two storey residential development. In the inner areas this would have been on the footprint of previous traditional buildings but, in the above areas, it was more likely to be on new sites using the recently introduced technology of cement blocks and reinforced concrete roofs.

The increasing height of new development can also be seen in this photograph, but here is an example of how a land owner has attempted to maximise his returns from what is a very small plot. A two storey building has been constructed with the first floor cantilevered out and a small second floor development added, an open terrace protected by a combination of precast concrete parapet on the right and, for the most part, a wooden parapet to provide a small degree of safety. On the ground floor there appears to be a retail unit housing a tailor. The architecture itself is typical of the late nineteen sixties as can be witnessed both by the cantilevered first floor detailing but, more significantly, by the detailing of and around the windows.

In many ways it is sad to see how the centre of Doha is deteriorating as development is channelled into other areas. Normally the market would redevelop buildings such as these as the land, increasing in value, warrants a more expensive building on it. But there is so much development going on elsewhere that it takes time to organise redevelopment on what are usually relatively small sites. Here is a building, probably from the nineteen seventies, showing many of the characteristics of this type of two-storey development which have been allowed to deteriorate through lack of maintenance.

This character of development is generally in mixed use with some commercial activity on the ground floor and the first floor given over to expatriate accommodation, usually labour brought in by the building’s owner. The first photograph here shows the concrete rotting, probably due to its being a poor mix in the first place. Other causes tend to be the absence or poor placing of steel reinforcement, saline content of the water or sand or just poor placement. You can also glimpse one of the two television dishes bringing the modern world to the residents.

The second photo illustrates a number of characteristics of this type of building. Ad hoc un-rendered blockwork additions to the ground floor, a random selection of materials to create a roof to the extension, un-trimmed openings for wall-mounted air-conditioners at different heights, unprotected from solar gain, wires running all over the place and a lack of at least a painted protection to the walls. Buildings of this sort were not designed for the climate and can be extremely uncomfortable in both summer and winter. Air-conditioning can help but many expatriate workers often sleep on roofs in summer.

You can see in the first of these two photos that there is a mixture of constructions. The walls have been built with concrete blocks but the roof support is of shandal and there is a neat little traditional detail where they meet the walls, a device used to reduce the span of the poles. This house seems to represent something of the transition from traditional to modern construction.

This second photo shows a very typical old door which I would guess had been built around the nineteen sixties. In contrast to the old teak doors with their heavily decorated enf, raha hinges and wooden qifl, these door were produced for the increasing numbers of houses being built, and had no details reflecting Qatar’s traditional architecture. The enf is much slimmer, the only decoration being vertical fluting along its length, and the lock seemed invariably to be a steel bolt and brass padlock.

These houses were taken over by expatriate workers relatively quickly as Qatari owners moved out into new accommodation. It is interesting to see how a fluorescent light has been added above the door as has a bell switch and, later, a Municipality number on the wall. In addition to this you can see the character of steel water pipes which produced water with heavy brown sedimentation.

This next photo was also taken in the inner area of Doha. The spray painted sign – lilbiy’a 5215726 – is a ‘for sale’ notice along with the telephone number of the owner. There is not yet an estate agent system as exists in many countries in the Western world, though there have always been individuals who deal in property as middlemen. People in the neighbourhood will be aware of the sale and those with an interest in buying property can find these houses readily. I don’t know how quickly these properties are bought, nor how they are developed. There are certainly the funds available for relatively small developments, but my understanding is that new developments on these plots are usually constructed with the intention of providing accommodation for the growing workforce, and that larger plots are preferred as they are easier to plan.

But the photo is also interesting for the doors. Following the traditional use of teak doors on the old buildings and the newer timber doors illustrated above that were common a generation or two ago, new technology in the nineteen sixties introduced steel doors.

Not only were pedestrian doors such as these made of steel, but so were the vehicle gates that were let into the walls of the public housing developments all over the country. Fabricated out of flat steel panels and with steel strap decoration welded onto them they are extremely common, as were the welding shops that sprang up to respond to this new market. These two pairs of gates are very typical in their construction and size of those made for public housing projects, though these particular houses are not public houses but constructed in a denser urban area. Note that although they are exactly the same size, the decoration of the gates gives the impression of two different scales, adding textural interest to the urban street scene.

Commonly the doors were painted with bright primary colours but, when the buildings began to fall into disrepair, the doors reverted to their rusted steel colours and textures, as this photo illustrates. When you walk round the inner ring road where the majority of housing has now been let to ex-patriates, most doors tend to look something like this one.

The detailed pattern shown on the door above has also been used on this pair of blue gates. Light blue was a very common colour for metalwork to be painted, and the pattern was also extremely common as a detail, most probably because it would have been relatively easy to invent and to fabricate from a piece of cold steel bar, requiring only to be wrapped round a piece of pipe as a former and then spot welded to the flat steel panel forming the basic gate. Although there is a vague relationship to traditional design in Qatar, it appears that expedience has been more important to the fabricators than tradition.

It is interesting to see how this gate has been decorated to produce two patterned areas. Curiously, the wicket gate – in the centre of the right hand leaf – has not been picked out separately but is hidden within the patterning. That gate has a modern lock to it but the bar that closes the two main gate leafs is traditional in concept, although the steel bolt on the right leaf closes into a welded pipe on the left leaf – a design detail that adds considerably to the strength of the bolt fixing, though will be a problem if either of the two leafs drop due to their weight and the weakening of the uprights holding them.

This gate with its wicket standing open is typical of many of the gates in old urban Doha. Its width signifies that it was probably built around the nineteen sixties when many owners required their properties to contain the merchandise that was a growing element of their businesses, and for lorries to have access. These larger gates were found on properties that incorporated residential and commercial activities, or those that were just commercial, though in this latter case there was invariably residential accommodation associated with them where the workers employed by the owner would be housed. The bicycles outside this gate suggest this is still the case. The gate itself bears one of the more sophisticated designs to be seen around Doha, but the light blue paint has long since faded.

The local steel-welding industry found themselves working hard with the developing of housing and its concomitant need for secure pedestrian and vehicular entrance gates to the new properties. With increasing movement around the peninsula there was also some consolidation of other properties around the country giving a small degree of security but, more important, defining new or existing rights. This photograph illustrates the entrance gate to to a beach property on the east coast of the peninsula. It is interesting to see that the strap pattern from which the gate is constructed is the same as that used in the gate above and, in fact, on many gates throughout the country. It is also notable that there is neither diagonal bracing nor a steel sheet to give it the necessary bracing needed in order for it to maintain its shape and not distort.

This old house has been rented out to expatriate workers. There are three things to note here. Firstly, the building has been painted and appears to be kept in good condition by those renting it. Secondly, the wall has been raised to give increased privacy and a small cloth screen has been added, projecting from the entrance to improve this privacy. Thirdly, two trees have been planted outside the building and are kept watered. My experience of this type of housing is that they are kept clean and work relatively well for the occupants, if often a little overcrowded. The building has the obligatory television ariel on the roof but I can’t see any mirzam to lead water off the roof. Nor does there appear to be an air conditioner on display though I believe there must be at least one, presumably venting into the courtyard rather than to the public space as in the neighbouring example. There are, however, openings high in the walls to vent warm air.

Here is a two-storey residential building under construction. The windows have a detail which makes far more sense from a functional point of view. Both the semi-circular arch and the stepped base of the detail are reminiscent of traditional Qatari architecture, and the hooding helps to cut down direct solar gain on the windows as well as keeping rain away. The projection of the first floor helps to shade the window from high sun, though I have to admit it doesn’t in this photograph. I can’t recall the orientation though I know it was early morning so there may have been solar protection later in the morning.

The detail is not new, however. This photograph is a detail of a building constructed in the nineteen seventies and which would have been extremely fashionable at the time. This type of window treatment gave both solar protection as well as securing the head of the window from rain ingress. The detail wasn’t that well considered from the point of view of the rectangular aluminium window behind it, but that part of the window was usually hidden by the drawn back curtains.

This photograph, taken in Wakra, is an older version of the same detail. Although I mentioned above that it provides a degree of protection from sun and rain, my understanding from the early designers was that rain was the problem, not the sun. There are a couple of interesting points to note with regard to this particular rain hood. The first is its strongly raked styling. Commonly the vertical elements would be parallel with the wall but here they create a significant design feature. The second point to note is the fact that the roof finish is likely to have been traditional because of the number of maraazim inserted to shed water rapidly from the roof and so avoid water penetration and structural damage. Interestingly some of the maraazim are positioned not only over the rain hood, but over an air-conditioning opening.

Another way of protecting windows is illustrated here, but it is really not being used in a sensible manner. I suspect the reason for its incorporation has more to do with giving the rectangular openings of the building what might be thought of as an Islamic treatment. The use of mushrabiyah is mainly for privacy, though it is true it will moderate sunlight and, particularly, daylight passing through it. Here the high location of the mushrabiyah within the window opening will cut down the amount of sun falling on the glass but will have no function as a form of privacy. I might also add that the tall proportions of the sliding window behind it will guarantee that it will not slide properly but will tend to rack or tilt, jamming on its rails as attempts are made to move it sideways.

Here are yet two more types of shading system, these having their roots in southern Spain. The 45° propping device to the horizontal feature adds elevational interest, but the feature would be more effective if located more closely above the windows. It may have a useful function here in the summer months. The angled shutters are, however, much more useful as well as bringing a more three-dimensional quality to the façade of the building. Views from the building tend to be directed down into the owner’s garden, providing a degree of privacy to the neighbours’ properties – when they are developed.

Here is what appears to be a similar use of mushrabiyah though, in reality, it is significantly different. There are two areas of interest for me. Looking at the lower floor particularly, there is a strong feel in the rhythm and repetition for Qatar’s traditional architecture though, perversely, it seems to have more resonance with some of the development of the nineteen seventies. The other area of interest is in the theoretical and actual use of the mushrabiyah. The balcony appears to have little depth and provides more of a walkway than a usable space. But it could be argued that its width is there to position a mushrabiyah at a sensible distance from the wall. However, the higher element of mushrabiyah provides some solar protection for the wall and window, but the lower element has no real function whatsoever. In technical terms the windows and wall require different types of mushrabiyah.

If it is argued that the purpose of the mushrabiyah is to provide privacy from the street, then there is an argument to be made, but the fact that the mushrabiyah is discontinuous in its height means that privacy has not been provided effectively. This argument would also apply to the treatment in front of windows and the wall when you would anticipate different treatments. The decision to have a continuous mushrabiyah treatment in front of windows and walls is not a bad one, and the continuity it provides for the urban scene is relatively sound; but it could have been improved with more consideration. Having said that, I quite like it as a development of small scale detailing.

This is an example of a mushrabiyah screen taken to its logical conclusion in a modern building. The mushrabiyah forms a continuous screen protecting the façade of the building. It is suspended away from the constructional façade at such a distance as to shield it from direct sunlight, thus reducing if not eliminating direct solar gain from the structure. It would be easy to improve this system by the addition of natural plant growth within this volume, particularly if openings are made in the structural wall to take advantage of that landscaping and benefit those using the building.

The photograph to the right has been included as there are a number of points to make about this example of modern architecture in Qatar. The first is to note the relentless urban character of this sikka, perhaps because of its width calculated, I would guess, both to meet the numbers of students it is likely to take as well as to be in scale with its adjoining buildings. However, traditional architecture in the region had narrower sikkat than this and in other parts of the Arab world there are significantly narrower proportions. Planting would have helped to relieve the sikka through colour, movement, smell and association. However, although it may be over-sized, the use of colour in the panels of the adjoining walls goes a small way to relieve the urban character for those having to use it. But the feature I should like to call out particularly is the rather elegant chain detail hanging from what I believe to be a series of maraazim. The scale of the maraazim are very much Western in character and have no real rapport with traditional Qatari architecture. While the detail is taken from traditional Japanese architecture – where the drain would be directly below the chain – it fits well here and is an interesting development. My only concern for it is that in many parts of the world it would not be allowed in this position within a thoroughfare due to the danger of people walking into it, being injured, and suing.

Here is an up-market house on the outskirts of Doha. Evidently somebody has taken a great deal of trouble to design and execute a building with classical allusions. Leaving aside issues such as proportion, rhythm, the correct use of pediments and cornice, and the proportions and relationship between columns and capitals, this is very similar to the example further up the page. There is the same square building, long unalleviated parapet line, square window openings and projecting wall-mounted air-conditioning units. However, the most extraordinary element of it is the traditionally designed Qatari naqsh design used in the entablature above the windows. I assume that it is a way of introducing ‘Islamic’ or ‘Qatari’ detail of some sort into the house design. But, if that was the intent, why only there?

Now, contrast the apartment building and up-market house with these two photographs. Essentially these window openings and their treatment fulfill all the requirements of Islamic / Arabic design. They are modest, do not overlook neighbours, protect the glass from direct sunlight and rain while allowing reflected light to gain access to the interior of the house. Their shape, while not – for obvious reasons – traditional in their three-dimensional form, are very much characteristic in plan and elevation of Qatari traditional design and, on the inside of the windows, their decoration with a development of traditional naqsh geometry seems entirely appropriate. My only criticism might be that it would have been more effective if the hood projected further away from the building. I should add that this house has been designed as a traditional introverted building, despite it having to abide by the planning regulations which required it to stand back from its boundaries by six metres.

Not quite as effective as the preceding example in terms of its potential to overlook its neighbours – but certainly designed and constructed along traditional Islamic / Arabic lines – is this example of balcony treatment. The use of mushrabiyah is well established in many different parts of the Islamic world. Consequently it is considered to be one of the characteristics of Islamic / Arabic architecture as well as reflecting perforated Qatari naqsh panels. Light, falling on its face, causes sufficient contrast to prevent views through the mushrabiyah, ensuring privacy. At night, of course, the reverse is the case and so it is necessary to screen it after dusk to ensure privacy within the interior is protected. Usually this is effected, as it is in the West, with curtains or blinds.

This form of mushrabiyah treatment has been used in the Arab world for centuries, and elsewhere in these pages you will see how it was used over the last century carved from naqsh in the traditional buildings of the peninsula. This house has an attractive group of feature windows providing views out as well as assisting as a light source as the mushrabiyah is illuminated by the sun’s movement through the day. The curved façade of the mushrabiyah with its semicircles above and below makes it a particularly attractive design element. Incidentally, note the window on the far right has a slightly raised moulding around it which will help to prevent rain running down the face of the building and being driven into the window.

This is an example of an opening which was something of a signature detail of a particular architectural company in Qatar. The ziggurat style of edge trim, coupled with a naqsh treatment – I don’t know if it’s pre-cast or made in-situ – seems to me to reflect traditional Qatari architecture in a very acceptable modern manner. However, like the preceding example it does nothing to provide privacy for neighbours and, without mushrabiyah, does not protect those inside, though the depth of reveal will help by reducing the available sight lines.

The Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar has some interesting architecture within it, though I have not yet covered it other than to look at one or two of its details. Here is such a detail, an excellent example of design used to preserve privacy while admitting light. The benefit of this character of design is that the mushrabiyah will admit light either directly or indirectly received from the adjacent wall surface. It is virtually impossible to see through the mushrabiyah from outside though somebody within the building will have a view, albeit limited. to the outside. Traditionally, devices such as this are used to provide a view to a specific point, either for security or to a place where a visual focus, usually associated with planting or water, is located.

This photograph of a screened walkway on the same complex has been placed here to illustrate two aspects of mushrabiyah design. The most obvious is the fact that the pattern of the design appears to be irregular but, at the same time, seems Arabic in concept. In Qatar, traditional naqsh panels were mirrored within rooms and somehow, illogically perhaps, this suggested to me that this should also be the case here. However, the only part of the design which makes me uneasy is the central, linear element which I feel should have been at right angles as can be seen further along. Nonetheless, I feel this is a successful example of interpreting traditional Arabic design.

The second aspect is the degree of openness which a mushrabiyah may take. It does not need to provide complete privacy but may, as in this case, provides a secure boundary to a walkway while, at the same time, providing a degree of interest to those passing through it.

I have included this photograph as it is interesting from two points of view. Here we have both windows and balconies protected by mushrabiyah. Though not as sophisticated as the examples in the photos above they do represent an attempt to use a traditional device in a modern manner. The window industry in Qatar has developed sliding rather than swinging windows so the glazing behind the windows will almost certainly be sliding, but there may be a consequential difficulty in cleaning their outer surfaces. But the photo also shows a significant example of spalling, where the bottom surface of the cantilevered balcony has fallen away leaving the balcony with significantly reduced structural integrity.

Spalling has been a problem all over the country, is relatively easy to avoid and is particularly associated with a poor understanding of building techniques and control. Two factors tend to govern the problem in Qatar. Firstly, suitability of the concrete mixture; this is mainly a function of inaccurate measuring and mixing. Secondly, the placement of concrete with regard to the steel reinforcement is poorly effected. The steel needs to be adequately protected from moisture ingress to prevent it corroding and pushing off its concrete cover. Sometimes this is because the steel is trodden down in the shuttering prior to the concrete being poured, but often the reason for the steel being too close to the surface is that the reinforcement is wrongly located at the bottom of the slab in a cantilever, rather than being at the top, as is correct. I know that I’m simplifying it greatly, but I also know these to be serious problems in small building works in Qatar. Hopefully, the problem is improving, but both these photographs, and that below, illustrate that it’s not.

Here, on a building that is no more than twenty years old, is a dangerous example of spalling. The rusting reinforcement of this entrance canopy has split the lower section of concrete away and there is now limited adhesion, most probably a mechanical propping, that is preventing a large element of concrete to fall. If anything or anybody is below it when it parts company, there will be serious damage but, like many such example, it seems to be ignored. In buildings under multiple occupancy it may be understandable or at least explainable, but in a villa such as this, it seems irrational to neglect the obvious danger.

This may be rather a sad photograph for many; it is of the Oasis hotel being demolished. One of the better hotels in Doha of its time it was constructed, I believe, in the late 1960s very near the northern end of the airport runway and looking directly out across Doha’s east bay. The reason it is here, however, is for its sensible use of large mushrabiyah to provide some degree of protection on its south-facing main frontage. While the style of the façade bore no relationship to the traditional architecture of Qatar, the use of mushrabiyah was necessary to reduce solar loading while allowing some degree of daylighting to the spaces on the entrance side of the building. This is an effective way of treating building façades, its chief difficulty in design terms being that relating to scale.

These two photographs illustrate a more sensible approach to the detailing of new buildings in Qatar than some of the more recent examples. I have argued elsewhere that there is a need to produce buildings that respond to the particular characteristics of the climate, and that this is generally not recognised by buildings that seem designed to make a statement for either their owners or architects. Yet here is a modest building that has identity and style and achieves this to some extent by the selection of a traditional device designed to protect the façade of the building from unnecessary solar gain. Although there is no decorative treatment to connect the building with the traditional architecture of the country, examples such as this were to be found in the architecture of Qatar of the fifties and sixties, admittedly imported from the Indian sub-continent and east African coast. Both louvres and mushrabiyaat are still to be found, particularly the latter. But examples of louvres such as those shown in these two photographs have, through their scale and deployment, a modern character suited to the use of the building while showing a thoughtful design response for its location in the peninsula.

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Villas

Before looking at villas generally, it might be useful to consider the government’s ‘Marmar’ or Guest Palace as it represented the face of the State to visiting Heads of State and dignitaries for some time. This aerial view of it, taken from the south, gives an indication of its scale compared with the residential development that can be glimpsed to its north. It illustrates, particularly, the concept of a single building – albeit with ancillary accommodation servicing it – set within a high security wall. Its pointed arches and green glazed roof tiles established a new standard when constructed in the 1950s. Conceptually, this is the type of residence to which most nationals aspire.

So far it is mainly details of the commercial urban scene in Qatar that have been looked at. However, residential accommodation represents the major part of most cities and perhaps more can be learned from aspirations and values by looking at how people present themselves. Any visitor travelling around Doha will have been struck by the size and architectural styling of the houses that are springing up. The larger houses are particularly striking as they represent solutions to a series of difficult design decisions for architects due mainly to their size and the particular demands of clients. In this photograph a wide architectural vocabulary has been developed to produce this heavily articulated building with its topiary ficus trees outside providing some contrast and relief to the boundary wall.

By contrast, this house is more representative of houses being built for Qataris, though I am not able to say if this is lived in by a Qatari family or an expatriate one. I think it’s the former, but could easily imagine it being the latter. Some effort has gone into the design of the window openings but the location of air-conditioning units above them are unsightly from the outside and will be difficult to access inside due to their height. An interesting point to note is the patterning of dust that has attached to the pre-cast concrete boundary wall panels. The reason it is shown here is that it is a cleanly designed piece of work, and an unremarkable example of some of the villas being constructed in the peninsula. As such, it is remarkable.

As I have written about elsewhere, Islamic and traditional Gulf architecture were introverted, designed to be experienced from the inside out, and specifically attempted not to embarrass neighbours by producing ostentatious buildings, this being in line with Islamic tenets. Modern buildings, as you can see above and below, have been developed as fillat, the apparent goal of every new house owner. This distant view of a villa in the desert, complete with its surrounding wall incorporating corner towers, perhaps defines how the villa sits in the collective imagination, particularly of those whose families have their roots in the desert. Its isolation and protective nature are intuitively recognised as a suitable setting both for safeguarding the privacy of family life as well as creating a safe retreat from all those difficulties that increasingly assail us.

The origin of Gulf villas may be considered to have been Renaissance Italy, the style percolating down to the Gulf through the northern Arab States over time. However, the theoretical villa has changed in this process and now is envisaged as a large building within as large a walled compound as possible. Whereas some Qataris have large areas of land at their disposal, many do not but still attempt to build as much as they can within their land. This aerial photograph illustrates what everybody strives for conceptually if not in reality. But the photograph at the beginning of this section and those below are more representative of the reality.

This example of a villa is of a slightly different type from those above. It represents a number of developments that act as primary or secondary residences within the peninsula, as well as having a notable style. Located adjacent to the sea north of Doha this complex is large enough to demonstrate the scale of some of the developments now being built either in desert or littoral locations. In addition it exhibits a number of architectural elements that are interesting to see in Qatar reminiscent, in some respects, of architecture in the west of Saudi Arabia. The style is heavy, utilising semi-circular and flat headed arches, visually reinforced corners, battering and elements that resemble maraazim, though with open balustrading instead of traditional badgheer that have some resemblance to shurfa in breaking up the longer lines of the development. There are also two flat domes that are more reminiscent of masaajid than residential architecture. The arched glazed structure at first floor level is the only novel element that breaks with the otherwise traditionally derivative detailing.

Villas are the mark of the owner. They represent status and a number of issues which I have made notes on in other areas of this site. The two important issues to bear in mind here are that they are the first modern houses in which many Qataris have lived and so have little experience of how they are best used and, secondly, that much of this character of development does not accord with the strict precepts of Islam found in Qatar.

This villa is interesting for two details. The first is the continuous verandah running round it at first floor level which, while partly screened, still permits views from outside into the first floor windows, but doesn’t prevent views into the neighbouring properties.

The verandah will certainly afford some protection from the sun, but with different effect on its faces due to the line taken by the sun during the day. It is a good example of form not following function, but form being maintained for some perceived symmetry of design. Notice that the villa also has areas of sloping roof. For those not familiar with construction in the Gulf, the concrete tiles will have been placed on a sloped concrete base, a form of concreting which local contractors have difficulty in placing.

However, the detail which is really interesting is the focus on the water tanks and their ineffective cover. Firstly, it is extraordinary that a designer or owner should treat this functional element as such an important element of design but, secondly, it is irrational that the solar shading should be located in such a manner as will not properly protect it. This is a common problem with student designers where they believe a shade element situated exactly above water tanks will protect them, when it is obvious that the sun’s path will leave them exposed.

This villa has a number of interesting features to note. The form of the building is a curious combination of fortified structure and wind tower, two forms that are not found together in traditional architecture of the peninsula. The corners are reinforced as you would expect of a fortified building, and this feeling is reinforced by the crenelated parapets, yet the corners are paradoxically weakened by the incorporation of glazed blue panels.

The top of the corner elements have a vague design association with wind towers but I can’t guess at their function. The pointed arch of the first floor windows seems out of place but not so much so as do the central first floor feature and entrance canopy. The selection of the two-tone blue panels is a reminder of the importance of this particular colour in many Gulf buildings.

This villa is typical of many of the private houses being constructed around the peninsula. There is little architecturally to commend it, and it appears heavy within its lot. However, the owner is doing what few do, and that is plant outside his boundary wall. Technically the land is not his, but in doing so he is observing an old Islamic tradition in taking responsibility for the public land immediately adjacent to his house. The casuarina will eventually produce a softening effect for the front of his property, and this might be added to by planting inside the boundary wall which will display over or above the wall.

There are some buildings that really catch the eye and make you stop and look hard at them. In an Islamic sense this is, of course, wrong but, from the point of view of townscape, these buildings are points of reference and attractions in the urban scene.

This building is extraordinary however you look at it. Obviously based on the traditional fortified structures in Qatar, it somehow misses the better features these old buildings possess and replaces them with modernised versions that have little to commend them. The building appears to be based on a cruciform plan with a round tower at each corner and projections on each face. The battered towers with their shurfa treatment, repeated on the tops of the main walls as well as the boundary wall, are the most significant reference to the past, but there are also features which may be an interesting development of traditional architecture. There are a number of squared, projecting elements which are similar to fat’ha al murakaba. I suspect they are devices for bringing light into the interior while maintaining privacy and, if this is the case, they are a neat solution to the problem. It’s a little surprising that there are no maraazim as they tend to crop up on many buildings using traditional features.

From the examples above, together with this, it appears that some of the clients now constructing their villas are having their designers produce interpretations of traditional Qatari architecture in their villas. As both these examples demonstrate, it is not easy to take a traditional vocabulary and adapt it to modern needs. Both buildings have features that appear to have little functional use – the the corner towers in the first example, the wind towers here – though this example might be thought to replicate more faithfully Qatar’s traditions. Given that State planning regulations require buildings to be set back from their boundary, and a boundary wall being a security requirement, this appears an interesting interpretation, one that appears relatively successful with the exception of the lower two towers which looks sadly out of place both in their relative height as well as their lack of congruency and geometry with the taller tower. Of course, none are usable wind towers.

Here is another example, a building under construction that appears to be a more successful example of new styling than some of the pastiche to be seen around the country. The recessed planes surrounding the openings are one of the ways in which traditional architectural character can be brought into the present, and the asymmetry of both the windows and the large scale panelling recesses gives life to the façade, again in keeping with traditional design, as is the stylised device used to raise the corners. The wind tower presents the usual problems, however; it is far too low. The interior of the tower appears to have the diagonal divisions required of a burj al hawwa, though the divisions of the tower are incorrect and the tower is not high enough to be truly functional. It is probable that air will move into and down it, making the issue of the disposal of wind-borne particulates an interesting if not aggravating one.

If any of this sounds negative it’s not meant to be. Clients all over the world ask for designs which appeal to them. In many ways the design of these particular villas illustrates the strength of conviction that most Qataris feel, as well as the pride in their country that is evident in many areas of their lives. There is also the possibility that the redevelopment of Doha’s old, central suq is having an effect.

The villa in this photograph has some basic similarities with that fortified style above though, paradoxically, with a more dominating presence due, in the main, to the heavy articulated cornice treatment and the massing of the entrance wall with its guard or servant accommodation and gate. However, the cornice treatment and the pediments over the windows are certainly not Arabic but of Italian origin, and the planning form of the building with porte cochère and reinforced corners is also a classic Western style. Lip service to Arabic design is seen only in the patterning and use of arched forms to contain them, but it is essentially a Western villa which has been designed here. There appears to be a secondary gate to the right of the photo which might be an entrance to either a service yard or two the haramlik part of the house. The two might be combined, of course.

There are an additional three interesting points to note. Firstly the gates are wide and have been left open, meaning that there is little privacy at the entrance to the site. Secondly, the utilitarian marking of the external kerbs in yellow and black have been taken right inside the compound where you might expect a more upmarket treatment of surfaces. Thirdly, it seems strange that two refuse bins occupy pride of place right in front of the entrance. My belief is that these are details which illustrate a transient design style, one in which decisions on taste and understanding are still developing.

This photo is of an upmarket villa seen at night from an overlooking roof. It is a good example of a large villa design, the house sitting in the centre of its plot surrounded by a security wall and with similar, though smaller, neighbouring villas to each side of it. Both the vehicular and pedestrian entrance gates are of steel framed obscured glass allowing some interest at night from the street; a pedestrian can be seen in silhouette in front of the vehicular entrance gate. The long unrelieved parapet provides no scale to the building: compare it with the photograph above. The projecting arched window surround detail provides a small amount of shielding from oblique sunlight while paying lip service to traditional design. It is a fairly common design feature in Qatar. But, while some privacy might be provided by the peripheral date palms, the windows provide neither privacy nor security.

I have mentioned boundary walls in a number of places both on this page as well as the Gulf architecture page from a design point of view, and on the security and protection pages from a security point of view. Generally the comment has been generated by the move from the old concrete block walls with their reinforcing concrete columns moving to pre-cast concrete panel constructions. But as you travel around Doha, particularly, you will be struck by the effort that now goes into the design and construction of these boundary walls together with their entrance gates – the latter also an area for particular comment. Bearing in mind what I have written about an Islamic approach to design it is interesting to see how highly developed some of these boundary walls are becoming.

Virtually every residential villa in Qatar has a boundary wall around it and I have argued elsewhere that the perceived issues – mainly of privacy and security – might be dealt with in ways other than constructing a visual barrier. If you look carefully at this photograph you will see that the boundary wall design incorporates gaps between columns and panels that produce a degree of transparency to the wall. This is an important development and, hopefully, may see greater transparency created in the future as has happened with the example in Bahrein. The use of heavy planting to create security is sensible while, at the same time, producing an attractive display, something apparently sought by owners of most modern residences.

As for the architecture of this villa, it is a little disappointing to see the mixing of design styles with Western pitched, tiled roof inserted between features derived from the development of the traditional architectural features, particularly the shurfa. The buttressed styling to the walls and the detailing of the fenestration are both unfortunate.

One of the characteristics of villa design is the planning requirement to have the main building set back five metres. Development against the boundary wall appears to be permitted, provided it is ancillary and no more than a single storey. Here, however, is a rather different type of addition to the residential scene, what appears to be a dinosaur at first floor level, and close to the boundary – in fact apparently extending into the public realm with its tail. However, as the boundary in this case is adjacent to an access road, the problems of overlooking are significantly reduced. There is also the curiously inappropriate architectural addition to the top of the building to attract attention. I assume from the obvious expenditure that the owner is a national and that this may be a play space for his family, its form illustrating a sense of humour. In many parts of the world were planning permission to be sought it would not be granted and, if built, would require demolition. But it has to be said that such eccentricities certainly make the urban experience more interesting.

Earlier I wrote that there are some buildings that really catch the eye. Of course, not all buildings in Qatar are designed along Islamic or traditional lines, real or imagined; some are heavily styled as is this one in a manner that must have seemed modern, if not contemporary – even though of Western architectural origin. Also it is not a villa but an office, however it is similar to many villas and so is included for that reason. There are a few villas in Qatar designed in a similar style that incorporate unnecessary structural features and where the structural expression is illogical. At first sight it seems to be of a style that is inimical to Qatar, but there are some features that are sensible – the incorporation of close soft landscaping, projection to create shade and an interesting semi-circular window – but there is much else that is unattractive. The battering, for instance, is illogical, but not unattractive compared with the orthogonal structure beside it. But it could have been better, and might even have suggested design links with local traditional architecture.

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Mixing of classical and Islamic styles

This example, for instance, is neither Islamic nor classical though leans more to the latter than the former with its coloured banding, columns, pitched roof and the continuous straight arches, broken by the exaggerated central keystones. The inset circular planters are an attractive and novel feature of the wall which, itself, is expensively finished, but it is the entrance gateway structure and contained gates that is so remarkable in its size and dominance. It appears that this mixture of styles and influence is becoming more prevalent in Qatar, suggesting an eclectic selection of designers or craftsmen were involved, or that there is a burgeoning requirement for this style from clients. It has to be noted that it is often difficult to know the extent to which the styling of a building is the result of a client’s direction or a designer’s suggestion.

The incorporation of classical styling for modern buildings in Qatar is an interesting development, one on which there are some notes here setting out the background to classical architecture in its Western origins. What is evident, and can be seen in many of the photographs on this site, is that there are a wide variety of different forms of classical vocabulary used on new buildings in Qatar, as well as considerable differences of understanding of the manner in which classical architecture is structured.

True classical architecture was based on good spatial proportions and a desire to produce a ‘better’ physical environment for those moving in and around the building. The provision of classical buildings for people coming from a totally different socio-cultural tradition is discussed elsewhere, but it is reasonable to bear this issue in mind when looking at classical buildings in their modern context.

It is apparent that the theory of classical architecture is not generally understood and that more emphasis is placed on the incorporation of architectural elements that are thought to be classical, or are derived from them. Generally this appears to be practised as a two-dimensional exercise and not spatially. But even this form of application is rarely coherent or internally consistent.

These three photographs show a building under construction in Doha. It is not selected because it is either a good or bad example, but solely to illustrate an example of classical design in Qatar. However there are a number of features that deserve comment.

In contradistinction to the usual setting of such buildings with their enclosing walls, this one presents a substantial front to the world, one that is reinforced by the relatively light fence in front of it, but which would have benefited by the omission of the masonry element. The main façade appears to be designed of a single material with Ionic columns holding up an entablature without a central pediment but with a pair of low, curved broken features similar to swan’s neck pediments, at the end of each of which are small squared columns carrying rounded cones. The lack of a substantial pediment emphasises the columns which now appear to be out of proportion.

The entablature – the horizontal element supported by the columns – is curious in that the architrave, its lowest part, is a copy of the cornice, the highest part, and appears illogical. The frieze, the central part of the entablature, is the largest of the three elements and is broken by buttressed features that appear to be similar in design intent to the triglyphs found in Doric but not Ionic designs. Regrettably, the construction joints of the cornice do not line through logically with these features.

Just as curious is the manner in which the corners are articulated with stylised attached columns that are theoretically in conflict with the masonry corner behind them. The stylised Ionic columns, incidentally, are straight with no entasis designed into them, and it appears that the number of flutes on them are too few. There are a number of other issues where there is a lack of clarity or difficulty with design consistency, and not all these relate to the classical style of design.

This detail is of a corner in the Pearl complex, north of the New District of Doha. The development displays more of an Islamic feeling than does some of that found on other new commercial developments, but in this corner there is still a confusion of classic and Islamic elements to be seen. Take the balustrading, for instance, of which there are three types, two classical and one Qatari, or a version of it. The balustrading, top right, has a classical form with its handrail, newels and balusters over-designed and that, at the bottom of the ground floor, has a definite Italianate or Roman feeling to it. In contrast, the balustrading on top of the ground floor element is a derivation of Qatari architectural detailing, based on the badgheer systems used to bring breezes down onto roof surfaces. Here, of course, it is ineffective. But it is not just in the balustrading treatments there is diversity, the arches show a wide but uncoordinated selection of styles, only one of which can be found in traditional Qatari architecture, and the dome and gable wall also show mixed parentage.

One of the general difficulties with pastiche can be seen in the photograph, the mixing of architectural vocabularies within a coeval design. Each of these designs is interesting to look at from a theoretical point of view but, in more general terms, it is the environmental and socio-cultural aspects that are fascinating and deserve more focussed study. There is a little more comment on one of the socio-cultural and Islamic design pages, but there is more to be written.