OMA's Qatar National Library offically opened

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.

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Architect: OMA
Client: Qatar Foundation
Location: Doha, Qatar, UAE
Completion: 2017
Gross floor area: 45.000 m2
Net floor area: 32.000 m2
Gross volume: 304.704 m3
Partners in charge: Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Iyad Alsaka
Associate in charge: Kunle Adeyemi
Design Team SD, DD and CD: 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, Benny Ho, 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

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

From the architect: Qatar National Library contains Doha’s National Library, Public Library and University Library, and preserves the Heritage Collection, which consists of valuable texts and manuscripts related to the Arab-Islamic civilization. The public library will house over a million books and space for thousands of readers over an area of 42,000 m2. The library is part of the Education City, a new academic campus which hosts satellite campuses from leading universities and institutions from around the world.

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

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. At that moment, the “electronics revolution” seemed “to eliminate all necessity for concentration and physical embodiment” of knowledge (S,M,L,XL). The whole raison d'être of the library was being questioned: Would we still need libraries? Could libraries survive the digital culture? With Qatar National Library, we wanted to express the vitality of the book by creating a design that brings study, research, collaboration and interaction within the collection itself – a collection that consists of over one million volumes, among which are some of the most important and rare manuscripts in the Middle East.

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

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. 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. 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 of infrastructure – they incorporate artificial lighting, ventilation, and the book return system.

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

A column-free bridge connects the library’s main aisles, allowing for a variety of routes throughout the building. The bridge is also a meeting space: it hosts media and study rooms, reading tables, exhibition displays, a circular conference table, and a large multipurpose auditorium, enclosed by a retractable curtain designed by Amsterdam studio InsideOutside, who were also responsible for the landscaping.

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

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

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

The corrugated-glass façade filters the otherwise bright natural light, creating a tranquil atmosphere for reading. The diffuse light is directed further into the core of the building by a reflecting aluminium ceiling. Outside, a sunken patio provides light to the staff office space in the basement, and at the same time acts as transition space before entering the world of books.

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Ellen van Loon: “Classically, libraries were vibrant spaces for the exchange of knowledge. With the immediate accessibility of information in the current era, the library’s role as public meeting space is more significant than ever. We pay tribute to the region’s rich culture with the Heritage Library, excavated from the ground like an archeological site, holding historical and priceless Islamic texts for visitors to study and contemplate.”

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

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.”

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Iyad Alsaka: “The library is a testimony to Qatar’s significant regional role and influence in bridging knowledge, tolerance and greater dialogue within the region and to a global reach. QNL is an extraordinary public space in the region that will promote knowledge sharing, physically and digitally.”

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Hans Werlemann, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy of OMA

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