OMA’s Qatar National Library officially opened

Qatar National Library
Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

The Qatar National Library (QNL) in Doha, designed by OMA, was officially opened on April 16 by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and the CEO of the Qatar Foundation, Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al Thani, in the presence of multiple heads of state from the region and beyond.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

QNL encompasses the National Library, the Public Library, the University Library, and the Heritage Collection, which consists of valuable texts and manuscripts related to the Arab-Islamic civilization.

The public library houses over a million books and space for thousands of readers over an area of 42,000 m2.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

The National Library is part of the Education City, a new academic campus which hosts satellite campuses from leading universities and institutions from around the world. Other OMA designed buildings on the new campus include the Qatar Foundation Headquarters and a new branch for the Research Institute.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

The library is conceived as a single room which houses both people and books. The edges of the building are lifted from the ground creating three aisles which accommodate the book collection and, at the same time, enclose a central triangular space.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

This configuration also allows the visitor to access the building at its center, rather than laboriously entering from the perimeter. The aisles are designed as a topography of shelving, interspersed with spaces for reading, socializing and browsing.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Hans Werlemann

The bookshelves are meant to be part of the building both in terms of materiality – they are made of the same white marble as the floors – and infrastructure – they incorporate artificial lighting, ventilation, and the book return system.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

The heritage collection is placed at the center of the library in a six-meter-deep excavated-like space, cladded in beige travertine. The collection can also operate autonomously, directly accessible from the outside.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

Rem Koolhaas: “We designed the space so you can see all the books in a panorama. You emerge immediately surrounded by literally every book – all physically present, visible, and accessible, without any particular effort. The interior is so large it’s on an almost urban scale: it could contain an entire population, and also an entire population of books.”

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan

Qatar National library is the latest expression of OMA’s long-term interest in the library, which goes back to the competition for the National Library of France in 1989.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti

Following the Seattle Central Library in the US and the Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville in Caen, France, this is the third library built by OMA. The project was led by Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Iyad Alsaka, Vincent Kersten and Gary Owen. Source by OMA.

Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan
  • Location: Doha, Qatar
  • Architect: OMA
  • Partners in charge: Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Iyad Alsaka
  • Associate in charge: Kunle Adeyemi
  • Project Team: Sebastian Appl, Laura Baird, Andrea Bertassi, Helen Billson, Benito Branco,Nils Christa, Daniel Colvard, Tom Coronato, Anita Ernodi, Clarisa Garcia-Fresco, Dina Ge, Mauricio Gonzales, Bermy H o, Vincent Kersten, Keigo Kobayashi, Dimitri Koubatis, Jang Hwan Lee, Oliver Luetjeus, Bimal Mendis, Joaquin Millan Villamuelas, Barbara Modolo, David Nam, Sebastian Nau, Rocio Paz Chavez, Francesca Portesine, Teo Quintana, Miriam Roure Parera, Peter Richardson, Silvia Sandor, Tjeerd van de Sandt, Louise Sullivan, Anatoly Travin, Yibo Xu
  • Executive team and on site team: Vincent Kersten, Gary Owen
  • Sub-Consultants: ARUP
  • Acoustics: DHV
  • Façade: ABT
  • Cost analyst: David Langdon
  • Interior, Curtains, Landscape: Inside Outside
  • Construction Document Phase: CCDI
  • Client: Qatar Foundation
  • Collections: 21.000 m2
  • Reading space: 3500 m2
  • Exhibition space: 1500 m2
  • Administration and offices: 3.000 m2
  • Children’s Library: 800 m2
  • Restaurant: 600 m2
  • Special Event Area: 600 m2
  • Year: 2018
  • Photographs: Iwan Baan, Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Hans Werlemann
Qatar National Library
Photo © Iwan Baan
Qatar National Library
Photo © Hans Werlemann
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti
Qatar National Library
Photo © Hans Werlemann
Qatar National Library
Photo © Hans Werlemann

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