Pygmalion Karatzas
Architectural, Fine Art & Commercial Photography

Project ID:

Name: Liberal Arts & Science University

Type: public / academic / university

Architects: C+A architects, Kazuhiro Kojima & Kazuko Akamatsu

Location: Education City, Doha Qatar

Photography: Pygmalion Karatzas

Photo shoot date: September 2013

Project description:

Education City hosts branches of some of the world's leading universities. This building - for liberal arts and science - is the first step of a masterplan for the expansion of its 2'500-acre campus. The design of the two-storey structure is based on three principles. 'Double roof/double wall' - responding to the extreme climate, the entire building is wrapped by a secondary skin of GRC panels. 'Mosaic' - an arrangement of internal atriums and external courtyards evokes the mosaic-like layout of a typical Islamic city. 'Geometric pattern' - a quasi-crystal pattern, based on 90, 60 and 30 degree parallelograms, is used for the facade and aluminium shades.Located on the shores of the Persian Gulf outside Qatar's capital, this is a project in line with the expansion of "Education City". With no existing buildings on site, the context comes from strength of the desert light and the geometries of Islamic design. The double roof and the double skin provide protection against the heat. The outer skin is made of GRC (glassfibre reinforced concrete) panels suspended one metre away from the main volume. By painting the back of the panels yellow, the colour reflects onto the exterior white walls of the main body of the architecture. The expression of the architecture therefore changes continuously. Since this is the first co-education college in the country, views into the FLA are controlled by aluminium panels casting vailed shadows. The wind-catcher tower is a traditional motif in the Persian Gulf and here it provides ventilation and smoke-extraction from the semi-underground parking area.[text by Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the architects, c-and-a.co.jp]

​

Image Copyright: Rights-Managed © Pygmalion Karatzas.

Image Licensing: High-resolution images are available for editorial and limited commercial use.
Edition Type: Open edition print.
Fine Art Prints: Images are available in gallery-quality fine art prints on various sizes, media and framing options.
Please inquire for further information for usage licensing and prints.

Archive stat.: