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Qatar to tender four museums

17 March 2023

Qatar Museums is expected to start tendering contracts for work on four upcoming museum projects this year.

The tenders are likely to be keenly contested as construction project activity in Qatar has slowed significantly following the 2022 Fifa World Cup. According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects, there has been a sharp decline in awards since 2020.

 

The four museums will be the Orientalist Museum, the Art Mill, a children’s museum and an auto museum. The buildings will be delivered using design-and-build contracts while the associated infrastructure packages will be completed as traditional lump-sum contracts.

The Orientalist Museum, located in Lusail, will focus on showcasing the impact of Middle Eastern and Islamic art on the global stage. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the museum building will cover an area of 51,986 square metres (sq m) across four floors, comprising exhibition areas, an auditorium, a library and educational facilities.

The auto museum will illustrate the development of automobiles from their invention to the present day and how they have influenced the culture of Qatar. Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the architectural firm of Rem Koolhaas, designed the museum.

Chilean architect Elemental has designed the Art Mill project, which involves the restoration of an abandoned flour mill, resulting in a building that will feature over 80,000 sq m of exhibition and performance space.

Qatar has delivered significant museum projects in the past. In 2011, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction was awarded a $434m contract to build the Qatar National Museum in Doha. That museum was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

Turkey’s Baytur Construction & Contracting was awarded the main construction package for the Museum of Islamic Arts in 2004. The US firm IMP Architects was the design consultant.

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Colin Foreman

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