Hotel in Qatar

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have released plans for a 70,000 square metre hotel and residential tower in the Marina District of Lusail City in Qatar, the State on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The design is the first of two ZHA projects commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani for Lusail City’s integrated community master plan, which, when complete, will become Qatar’s first sustainable city, providing entertainment, employment and accommodation for up to 450,000 residents and visitors.

ZHA’s design for the 38-storey hotel and residential tower takes inspiration from the desert hyacinth, a flowering plant native to the Arabian Gulf region. The building consists of a nine-pointed podium surrounding a central core defined by the interlacing, flowing geometries of the hyacinth.

The facade system utilises the traditional element of the ornamental mashrabiya to protect the building from the hot Arabian climate by reducing solar gain. The building’s fluid form and calligraphic and geometric patterns also take inspiration from the region’s architecture, creating relationships between programme elements by connecting domes to ceilings, ceilings to walls, and walls to floors.

To coincide with Lusail’s environmental sustainability initiative, ZHA will be working with global engineering leaders Arup and Atelier Ten to develop a sophisticated building model to optimise building performance. The hotel and residential tower is scheduled to be completed in 2020, with subsequent phases of the Lusail City master plan to be announced at a future date.