Job Discussion Forums

[mesquite]

At the beginning of the 21st century, an architectural paroxysm shook Doha. Gigantic towers began to soar up one after the other, higher than any buildings built in the city ever before.

On every corner enormous steel-beam skeletons appear where empty lots had been the day or week before. The natural landscape of dunes and beaches vanished overnight. The smash and scream of steam shovels and equipment never cease. The dust and digging carry on night and day.

Unfortunately for the cityscape, there is no single vision behind these ugly scenes and ugly buildings, no unifying plan, no disciplining authority. Capital, greed, and speculation drive everything, releasing fantastic energies, distinctly local.


The immensity of the towering structures, with their peacock -like embellishments and 'look at me facades' reveal cold ambition, speculation, competition, domination and sheer desire for height, size and money. Esthetics don't count. There is no beauty in most of these horrific edifices.

While the locals keep building these monstrous structures, they fail to comprehend how anyone (especially they themselves) could actually live in one of them.

How ugly it all is!! No air, no light, no space. Just abominable skyscraper after skyscraper littering the futuristic skyline. Only at night, is there an unnatural beauty but the dawn shows the towering skyscraper ugliness for what it is. The piercing structures are just pha---c symbols of greed and ambition. Some buildings have no architectural merit or justification, with their small windows and abnormal proportions, they are blots on the cityscape. Added to this is the problem of no parking. While they dig deeper, the land continues to sink.

This is no nightmare. It is the new reality of a very ugly part of the city, a very ugly reality I have left behind while I enjoy natural beauty on my isle of tranquility.

[veiledsentiments]

Sadly true of much of the Gulf. Only Oman had the good sense to put in rules from the start... enforced restrictions on building height and exterior design.

VS

[lollaerd]

�Heart of Doha� construction work to begin An artist�s impression of the �Heart of Doha� project.

DOHA: Dohaland, a subsidiary of Qatar Foundation, is all set to begin the construction work of its signature project �Heart of Doha�. Under the patronage of H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, Chairman of the Qatar Foundation, the foundation stone will be laid at a special event on Wednesday at a specially build venue at the Corniche.

�Heart of Doha has all together brought in a new language of architecture by understanding the essence of the place which led to rediscovering its poetry,� said Jawaher Al Khuzaei, Assistant Manager, Public Affairs.

�We have finished the preparation stage of the first phase of the project which is expected to be completed by February 2012. Embodied in traditional Qatari architecture are the timeless aspects of beautiful proportions, robustness, simplicity, ornament, along with tried-and-tested local responses to the hot climate and intense daylight. Local traditions have been studied and analysed to distil the essence of Qatari architectural character rooted in the past, appropriate for the present and looking to the future.�

The first stage � Phase 1A has Diwan Emiri Quarter which includes Emiri Diwan annexe, Emiri Guard head quarters and the National Archives. It also has a heritage quarter which includes the Eid prayer ground and four heritage houses � a Company House, Jalmoot House and Houses of Mohammed bin Jasim and Abdullah bin Jassim. Dohaland is working with Qatar Museum Authority to make the best use of the houses.

The first phase infrastructure includes central cooling plant, utilities and waste provision, basement service roads and parking. In the second stage, which will is expected to begin this year and conclude in 2013 a multimedia centre for arts, central hotel and serviced apartments, luxury shopping street, exclusive town house, a primary school, the Ferjan Square mosque and see the first satge of rebirth of Al Kahraba street. The later stages will include a connection to souq wakif, a retail mall, more hotels, offices apartment, shops, a tram system and an underground Metro station hub apart from to Nakeel Square.

�We have also done archiving of photographs of the area prior to demolition. The area will be for mixed use and will have house more than 25,000 people.� The project with an estimated cost of QR 20 bn, and an area of 35 hectares is expected to be completed in 2016 in five phases. Heart of Doha will become a hub of activity as a place to live, work, shop, visit and spend time with family and friends once completed

THE PENINSULA

[lollaerd]

Mega Heart of Doha set to break ground

Cranes prepare the Heart of Doha site
After months of preparation, demolitions, planning and campaigning, work on the QR20bn Heart of Doha will officially be launched this Wednesday.
Project owner, Dohaland, will host a groundbreaking event under the patronage of HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad at the Corniche which will set the ball rolling for the development of first of the five phases to be finally completed in 2016, officials said yesterday.

A projection of what the intricately-linked smaller lanes will look like
The Heart of Doha will be built on a 35hectare sprawl at what is popularly known as Musheireb (officially: Mohamed Bin Jassim Area).
Construction, after months of clearing ground, will begin at Phase 1A (the Al-Rayyan and Jassim Bin Mohamed Streets) and will extend all the way into 2012.
Phase 1A sits on historic sites and will include the Diwan Amiri Quarter and Heritage Quarter as known in the master plan chalked up by Dohaland with help from experts of Harvard and Princeton universities and the Agha Khan Foundation.
The buildings in the Heart of Doha will be positioned in clusters and with fa�ade articulation to respect the prevailing climate rather than compete against it.
The Amiri Quarter includes the Annexe, Amiri Guard Headquarters, and The National Archive, while the Heritage conclave will have the Eid Prayer Ground (Qatar�s first), and four Heritage Houses.
Landscaped streets will run between the major blocks of the development, while smaller access lanes and pedestrian routes will criss-cross more randomly affording greater protection from the intense sun.
�Like any prosperous city, Doha today has its pristine air-conditioned, high-rise skyscrapers which proclaim modernity� � but the big commercial towers have displaced Doha�s once-thriving and close-knit inner-city communities,� senior public affairs officer Jawaher al-Khuzaei said during a presentation yesterday.
�Dohaland is attempting to reclaim the traditional way, the adobe courtyard houses, the closely woven network of streets, the link to the sea,� she added.
The development will be of an inner urban scale, relatively dense, with blocks of interconnecting buildings interspersed with a network of squares and courtyards.
Major infrastructure work will be laid in Phase 1A including a central cooling plant, utilities and waste provision, basement service roads, and parking.
The Heart of Doha will have an entire underground city so people can enjoy pedestrian areas and peaceful squares with minimal disruption from traffic and deliveries.
Another spur of development will kick off at Phase 1B this year when construction of shops, cafes, offices, apartments, hotels, a primary school, the Ferjan Square mosque, and re-birth of Al Kahraba Street all start to unravel.
Phases two, three, and four, will be rolled out starting 2011, with the razing of current buildings and structures to give way to a retail mall, re-development of Sikkat Al Wadi and Nakheel Square, tram system and underground Metro station. The Heart of Doha, while able to accommodate 27,000 people will discourage the use of vehicles and will offer better connectivity across the wide city area.

Comment:
Those cranes destroyed the homes, lives and the businesses of thousands, they have ruined the livelihood of thousands of men and families. Many of these men had to send their families back home. Without these little guys, nothing in this city would have been built. Now they are scrabbling for affordable accomodation. Even though prices are going down, most places are way beyond the means of these smalltime entrepreneurs. One of the nicest and most interesting places in Doha destroyed without a thought for the men who built up and sustained the heart of Doha while the locals were fleeing to the suburbs.

[Rawdata]

[MrScaramanga]

[veiledsentiments]

That is what we in Egypt always called "Louis Farouk" and when one watched the local "news in English" one got to see a group of not terribly large men perched on this oversized furniture looking bored to tears (while discussing "bi-lateral relations") with an overplay of things like... my favorite being... the music of Disney's Fantasia.

Not offended rawdata as I was not suggesting that what Oman was displaying was grand architecture, but it is not the gawdawful chrome and glass plastic monstrosities of other Gulf cities. I HATE them. And I have to say that in the 3 different places in Oman that I lived, there was not one building that displayed the problems you mention... which you can also find in downtown Abu Dhabi - that odd exterior plumbing thing. The world is full of shoddy construction.

It is actually the same reason that I like Washington DC, there is a building height limit. In Oman, I like that there is a law restricting what color your place can be painted. (white to shades of beige pretty much) Do they still enforce the law that air conditioners must be covered on the outside? Like everywhere, there are good and bad neighborhoods and rules are probably enforced better in Muscat than in the small villages.

JMHO, of course...

VS

[lollaerd]

More than half of the towers are half empty.
High rents, no takers.

Ezdan to build Asia Towers

Source ::: THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar�s biggest property developer by market value, Ezdan Real Estate Company, has joined force with Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company and Al Sarri Trading Company for the Asia Towers project, which has an estimated cost of QR2.5bn ($686.5m).

Ezdan Real Estate Company will own 32.5 percent of the project, while Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company and Al Sarri Trading Company will each own 33.75 percent. Asia Towers, one of the largest real estate projects in Qatar this year, is slated for completion in three years. The development will see four residential towers built on a 30,000 square metre plot of land in Doha�s West Bay area. Each of the four towers will be 55 floors high with 1,600 residential units, and will have a built-up area of about 560,000 square metres. The project will also include commercial and entertainment facilities as well as hotel apartments.

Ezdan Real Estate Chairman, Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, and Sheikh Nasser bin Ali bin Saud Al Thani, the Chairman of Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company (QGIRC), who is also Chairman of the board of Al Sarri Trading Company, signed the partnership agreement here yesterday. Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah told a news conference yesterday that the project would contribute to the overall economic growth of the country and will boost the Qatari real estate sector.

This project, he said, was a launching pad for other future projects that would be developed by Ezdan, which has a wealth of experience in the real estate sector, including Ezdan hotel towers, which were designed to host major events and conferences in the country.

He said the number of residential units owned by Ezdan was equivalent to, if not more than, the residential units available in hotels in Doha. Qatar�s real estate sector had continued to maintain a reasonable growth rate and had managed to steer clear of the challenges posed by the global financial crisis, he noted. Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah said the financing for the project would be done through loans from local and regional banks, adding that the venture was seeking funding sources and that talks being held to this effect with local banks were positive and were expected to be finalised soon. Sheikh Nasser bin Ali, who also addressed the news conference, said the partnership agreement was the beginning of a strategic alliance with Ezdan and underscored the excellent prospects for the country�s real estate sector�s growth and sustainability.

[lollaerd]

Master plan to prod shift in population
1/28/2010 7:2:4
Source ::: THE PENINSULA / BY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Qatar�s population distribution is likely to undergo a shift with the implementation of the Qatar National Master Plan 2010-2032. The master plan, prepared by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning, focuses on comprehensive development of the country�s major townships and their neighbourhoods. Areas that are currently scarcely populated, especially in the country�s north, are expected to emerge one of the most vibrant locations. The draft master plan suggests more concentration of population in many areas that are lying desolate.

The document, which is expected to be approved by the higher authorities in the middle of this year, has conceived developing special zones for Qataris. Suburban areas where the nationals have traditionally lived would be specially designated for them. The master plan has proposed developing similar exclusive zones for the citizens in the city too, where those living in the suburbs can move into if they want to, Stan Wypych, Senior Planner/Project Coordinator for the master plan told The Peninsula yesterday after his presentation on the concluding day of Qatar Projects 2010. Wypych said Doha would be turned into a really �livable� city. The focus would be on public-private mixed land use to reduce land taking and reduce carbon footprint. The draft master plan has proposed developing three urban centres: Greater Doha-Doha Downtown, West Bay and Airport City.
The master plan will give clear information to developers and businessmen about what type of development is planned in the country and where. The public would also come to know which would be the ideal places to live in the country�s changing phase.

The document, which outlines the country�s development for the next 20 years, stresses encouraging both the nationals and expatriates to use the public transport system. �Currently, the private-public transportation ratio is 20:80. We want to change it to 60:40�, Wypych said. There was no shortcut to solving Qatar�s problem of traffic congestion, he said. People must largely shift to the public mode of transportation. The proposed metro will help this to a large extent. Mowasalat was also doing a fantastic job, he added. The master plan has also proposed developing a large number of pay-and-park facilities.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Sectionpage.asp?section=Local_News

West Bay in a skyscraper jungle. There are hundreds of unoccupied or semi occupied skyscrapers jammed together. Their carbon footprint must be enormous. Who will be riding the metro? Workers probably.

[lollaerd]

This is the project that is supposed to counter the effect of the cultural paroxysm in West Bay (which is getting uglier and uglier as well as more and more crowded. Half of the buildings have no natural light as they jam packed together. You'd have to be crazy to pay 18,000 QR or more to live in one of these high rise boxes.


A place to dwell at the Fireejs of Musheireb

Source ::: THE PENINSULA
Doha: Dohaland�s stand at Q-REX 2010 will bring people closer to the structure and neighbourhoods of the future Doha. With a clear focus on communities and people, the Fireejs of Musheireb at the heart of Doha will truly be a place to dwell.

Dohaland is the Official Sponsor of the 5th Qatar International Real Estate and Investment Exhibition Q-REX 2010 being held at the Doha Exhibition Center from March 3 to 6.

�We have worked very hard to ensure we partner with the very best companies to join us in this very unique project, and are delighted to have been able to do so. We want to make sure Musheireb is everything we dreamt it would be and more. QREX always comes at an opportune time for us. People got a chance to see Musheireb - Heart of Doha project master plan last year, and this year shall get a preview of the details of Phase 1-A and 1-B at the QREX Dohaland stand,� said Imad Nached, Director- Marketing, Dohaland.

The Musheireb project will be completed in five phases, with Phase 1 due for completion by 2012, and the entire project to be completed by 2016. Phase 1-A covers the construction of the Diwan Amiri Quarter, which includes Diwan Annex, Amiri Guard and the National Archive, and a heritage quarter that includes the Eid Prayer Ground and four heritage houses.

Phase 1�A infrastructure covers the construction of a central cooling plant, utilities and waste provision, and basement service roads. Phase 1-B covers the construction of a multi-use Cultural Forum, central luxury hotel and serviced apartments, offices, a shopping street, townhouses, a primary school and a mosque. Phases 2 will include a retail mall, hotels, office apartments and shops; and will reinforce the connection to Souq Waqif.

The project�s development, now moving beyond master planning and into project realization stage, will be led by a core team of industry experts. Time Qatar, a joint venture between Turner and Dohaland, provides project and construction management services; Rider Levett Bucknall is the executive cost consultant. ARUP, AECOM, and Allies and Morrison will handle master plan design regulations and site planning approvals. ARUP will also be in charge of infrastructure, while Urbis will provide retail expert advice. As part of Phase 1A, the cluster of three civic buildings was designed by Allies and Morrison (Design Architect) and Burns McDonnell (Executive Architect). The Phase 1-A first construction contract for enabling works was awarded to Bauer International Qatar LLC in 2009.

Dohaland also selected four major international design architectural firms: Allies and Morrison Architects, Mossesian and Partners, Adjaye Associates, and John McAslan & Partners. In the last quarter of 2009, Aedas was appointed as Phase 1B�s executive architect. The Dohaland stand at the exhibition will highlight the theme �A Place to Dwell� showcasing how the neighborhood of the company�s QR20bn project Musheireb was designed to bring people together and revive the social traditions of the old city. Dohaland will also hold a symposium on March 4th, 2010, �Musheireb Symposium 2010 � Seven Steps to a New Architectural Language� on the development of the architectural principles applied in the project to date during the exhibition. Five of the architects involved in the project will be talking about their perspectives and involvement in Musheireb through the symposium to be held on Dohaland�s Knowledge Enrichment Centre on the Corniche.

�Musheireb is designed to be a place where people will feel connected. Today�s high-rises, congested streets, and inhomogeneous architecture have adversely affected the quality of city life, and lack the sense of connectedness, sense of community found in the Doha of former years. Our Chairperson

H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned always maintained that we need to return the city to the people,� said John Rose, Director -Development, Dohaland.

�When we looked at the old neighbourhoods of Qatar, and this is true across the Gulf region, we were inspired by the fundamental importance of community in architectural design. These Fireejs, or neighbourhoods, encompassed the culture, traditions, and values of a unified society and expressed in their very design, ideas like extended families, kinship ties, societal activism, local economy, collective identity, and a high degree of environmental awareness. Skyscrapers and superhighways do not do that,� added Rose.

At Q-REX 2010, Dohaland will detail the layout of these Fireejs within the Musheireb development.

[wilberforce]

I spent one night in Doha recently on route to my new job. The buildings are getting uglier and West Bay is too crowded. Parking is a major mess.
Doha Manhatten is what they ain't.

[wilberforce]

2000 places??? Not enough! Some of the apartment buildings alone have 400 apartments. If this parking lot is near the Sheraton some people will have a twenty minute walk or more in the blazing sun to their office at the other end of City Center!!!

West Bay set for revamp


The contract awarded to Qatari Diar Vinci Construction covers the design and building of a car park with around 2,000 spaces An architect�s drawing of the car park and the landscaped gardens with the Sheraton hotel in the background

The West Bay area in Doha is to get a major facelift and the much-needed parking space with the completion of an ambitious car park project in front of the Sheraton Hotel by 2013. As reported earlier in Gulf Times, Qatari Diar Vinci Construction (QDVC), a joint venture between Diar and the French construction major Vinci, has been awarded the project to build the underground car park and landscaped gardens at a cost of QR1.22bn.
�QDVC has been awarded the contract to design and build an underground car park and the landscaped gardens fronting the Doha Sheraton Hotel, in the financial and diplomatic district of the West Bay,� a company spokesperson said yesterday.
The contract covers the design and construction of a car park with around 2,000 spaces for Sheraton Hotel guests and the general public. The car park will be fitted with an electronic system to guide drivers to vacant spaces that would be a first in Qatar.
The state-of-the-art project will be a major trendsetter for Qatar�s multi-billion dollar development plans and add to the many novel features being added to the capital city like the Dohaland, the New Doha International Airport and the metro rail system.
According to the terms of the contract, the project will be completed in 34 months. It will have a maintenance depot and command centre for the future Doha light rail system as well as three electricity substations and the landscaping of a 73,000sq m area which includes fountains, basins, play areas and restaurants.
Also included in the project will be the construction of a cut-and-cover tunnel between the car park and the future Doha Convention Centre which is already under construction.
The project will meet the much-needed and long-standing demand for parking space and leisure facilities in the West Bay which is the prime financial district in downtown Doha.
Besides the Sheraton Park site project, QDVC is now working in Lusail on the Car Parks and the LRT (Light Rail Transit System), on the PS70 Doha North sewage joint venture, the Qatar-Bahrain causeway joint venture and in Eritrea on the Dahlak Island resort.

[wilberforce]

The restaurants here were cheap and conveniet for the Gulagers who lived nearby. This was a lively exciting shopping area - outdoors and the real Doha. All gone in the name of mallification The usual turfing out scene. Imtiaz, QU and Lang Sols. This is the way things operate. Don't want someone??? Get rid of them ASAP. Just turf them out like old rags. No consideration! Destroy lives. That's what is played out time and time again!

More misery for Musheireb residents

The area where electricity was switched off on Monday, starting from the Arab Bank Roundabout to the right up to Abdulla Bin Thani Street
There was more misery for people in the Musheireb area after electricity to several more buildings, housing shops and residential units, was cut off on Monday. The move came after Kahramaa had issued power discontinuation notices on October 18 to hundreds of shops in the country�s first business hub as part of clearing the area for urban regeneration. �We were sitting in our shop in the morning hoping for a miracle, but around 9.30am the power went out. After staring in the dark for a while we slowly started moving out of the area,� a shopkeeper on Abdulla Bin Thani Street said yesterday.

A whole block, starting from what is popularly known as the Arab Bank Roundabout all the way to the Abdulla Bin Thani Street, was switched off.
Shop keepers and residents were seen yesterday moving out inventory and furniture to various destinations across the country, after having lived and engaged in business for years in the once bustling heart of Doha.
�It�ll take us at least 4-5 days to completely remove everything from here, including lights and fixtures,� an official of a stationary shop said.
�Our new shop isn�t ready. In addition to losing business, there�s also the cost of relocation,� he said, after emerging from his shop.
The only people smiling yesterday were the transporters. Their business is booming as hundreds of tonnes of goods worth millions of riyals are moved out of the area.

�We are charging QR500 per trip per truck. This is for within city limits. If it�s outside Doha it is more. Truck rental for commercial entities is also higher,� a truck owner said. Others, however, remain continue to stare into an abyss. �The deadline for us was the same. But nothing is happening today. When we asked a Kahramaa official on Monday about our status, he said �you will be next week,�� a textile shop-owner said. �I�m not moving out as long as there�s power. The weather is somewhat acceptable now. Once the power is cut, I�ll start to shift inventory to my room,� he said. �There hasn�t been any business here anyway. I�ve been selling at cost and below cost,� he added.
Former tenants and businessmen have criticised the incoherent eviction system which is causing grief, uncertainty and loss of business.
The demolition in Musheireb, being carried out in phases, began in October 2008. The first to go were phases 1A and 1B where re-generation work is already underway, with phases 2 and 3 under the axe now. Phase 4 is marked for demolition in June 2011.
For the remaining shops on the Musheireb Street past Abdulla Bin Thani Street, the waiting game, meanwhile continues.

[lollaerd]

Some of the new buildings in West Bay are really unattractive, architectural monstrosities is correct. They are supposed to be going green so maybe they will stop packing in these new buildings. There are over 20 hotels in Dafna alone. I heard Holiday Inn is opening soon. The Center has a hotel on either side. Ruined perfectly good parking lots and now there is a big parking shortage. You have to be very careful because the police cruise regularly issuing parking tickets. A nightmare to find a place.

[barbiebedia]

I have mix-feeling experience about Doha
I was there with my husband in 2008.

We saw a lot of beauty sigths, for example the Wind Tower and the Zoo were amazing!

By other hand we had bad situations, a little boy tried to ask money, but we didn't give him and suddenly he kicked my husband knee!

And we had a room of the fantastic, elegant Sharq Village and Spa (The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company), but the waiter was outrageously unfriendly...