The KEO project for Qatar Financial District

KEO International Consultants has made public the pictures of the future Barwa Financial District Doha, capital of Qatar. The huge project for mixed use complex will create a new business community in Doha and a new landmark for the city. Raj Patel, Principal designer KEO, describes the project: “Two nautilus – mollusks having a large spiral shell wrapped – in opposite directions form a spiral which produces a dynamic flow of mass and space. The geometry of the opposing spirals creates the movement that brings out the south-west of the site that the towers become visible landmark from the West Bay area and from the main roads to the west. ”

The project has an outer ring of 6 office tower rising clockwise from 20 to 35 floors. The inner ring of 4 towers, 3 of which of office tower and a tower-hotel, rooms in a counterclockwise 31 to 50 floors. The position of the 9 towers for offices and their opposing variations of heights help to keep the broader view and to ensure that all buildings can come daylight.

The office towers are connected by a closed two-story atrium flanked on both sides with shops both on the ground floor on the first floor to create an intimate and bustling commercial center. The square at the top level will open with numerous restaurants and bars. The axis of the main road towards the north-eastern corner of the site culminating in the Prayer Hall that provides a geometry of development.

The facades of the project came the natural materials like terracotta and stone, artificial materials of glass and screens of metal. The coating of glass towers and terracotta emerges from a solid base clad in travertine. The glass facades are protected from sunlight by means of a metal screen whose purpose is inspired by the mashrabiya traditional. The “mashrabiya” is a typical element of traditional Arabic, used mostly on the road: it is a bow-window trellis with inlaid wood, often covered with colored glass.