Take a Spin in Doha With Rem Koolhaas
It’s rare, says Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, that the “complete repertoire of a modern city emerges more or less at the same time.” Doha is an exception; after the Brits emancipated Qatar in 1971, the capital city was razed and rebuilt. Koohlaas first visited in 2006 and fell for the city’s natural beauty, as well as its focus on art and innovation, before eventually designing the National Library. This month, Koolhaas mounts Countryside, the Future, a joint exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim with studio AMO. The project explores nonurban spaces, and features Doha’s entirely indoor dairy farm, created during Saudi Arabia’s blockade of 2018. As Koolhaas calls it, “instant countryside.”
Illustration by Cassandre Montoriol.“The desert is very beautiful, three-dimensional, with lots of dunes.”
By Martin Argyroglo/Othoniel Studio.The “astounding and experimental” National Museum, designed by Jean Nouvel.
By Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti/Oma.In the Koolhaas-designed National Library, “You enter in the center and you’re surrounded by a landscape of books.” In a country of less than three million, the space had a million visitors in 2018 alone.
Illustration by Cassandre Montoriol.Travel by bike, Jeep, or the city’s distinctive teal taxis.
By Pieternel Van Velden.From Countryside, the Future.
Illustration by Cassandre Montoriol.The chain Shater Abbas is “incredibly cheap, but unbelievably good food.”
By Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti/Oma.“From the very first moment, education was the absolute priority; this was instigated and maintained by the nonprofit Qatar Foundation.”
Illustration by Cassandre Montoriol.The oceanside Sharq Village & Spa.
By Samar Kassab/© The Museum of Islamic Art, DOHA.A piece from Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art.
