At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Qatar Creates will present the documentary exhibition "Building a Creative Nation”, at the ACP - Palazzo Franchetti, from May 14 through November 26, 2023. This will be the first time that Qatar's newest cultural institutions are highlighted outside their home country.
ELEMENTAL, Herzog & de Meuron, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Philippe Starck, and UNStudio are just a few of the internationally renowned architectural firms working with Qatar Museums to establish five new cultural facilities in Qatar. The new constructions will be overseen by Qatar Museums, tasked with maintaining and expanding Qatar's cultural assets through managing the nation's expanding network of museums, heritage sites, festivals, and public art installations.
To portray each project as a thoughtful architectural response to a component of Qatar Museums' cultural nation-building program, the Palazzo Franchetti exhibition combines renderings, pictures, sketches, studies, models, video, and immersive multimedia. Each future institution, whether it is built from scratch or through adaptive reuse, demonstrates Qatar's dedication to architecture as a tactical tool for achieving the nation's forward-looking cultural goals, as stated in the Qatar National Vision 2030, mainly its aim to develop a creatively diverse and innovative society through investment in the built environment.
As the primary sponsor of Building a Creative Nation at the ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, Qatar has contributed funding for a special exhibition of the work of renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma as part of its commitment to advancing international dialogue through architecture. One of the most well-known architects now practicing in Japan is Kengo Kuma, who is praised for his integration of architecture and nature and his emphasis on natural light and natural materials, mainly wood. The Yasuhara Wooden Bridge Museum, the Garden Terrace Nagasaki Hotel in southwest Japan, the Yunfeng Spa Resort in China, the V&A Dundee, and Japan's National Stadium, the showpiece for the 2020 Olympic Games, are just a few of his well-known structures. The show, “Onomatopoeia - Selected Projects,” will look at the entire spectrum of Kuma’s work in diverse materials. A large-scale metal pavilion designed by Kuma will occupy a central space in the walled garden of Palazzo Franchetti.
Located on the Persian Gulf, Qatar has seen many new developments in design in the past few years. The young country is home to unique infrastructures designed by world-renowned architects, including I.M. Pei, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Rem Koolhaas. Following the country’s museum-building project last year, Qatar Museums announced that OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, and ELEMENTAL will be designing three new museums in Doha that explore the themes of Islamic art, contemporary art, and the evolution of the automobile industry, respectively.
Discover below the projects featured in "Building a Creative Nation":
Art Mill Museum / Architect: ELEMENTAL led by Alejandro Aravena
Lusail Museum / Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Qatar Auto Museum / Architect: Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), led by Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal
Qatar Preparatory School/ Architectural concept: Philippe Starck
Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar / Architect: UNStudio
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