National Museum of Qatar

Location
Doha, Qatar

Owner
Qatar Museums (QM)

Team
Museography Acoustic Consultation - Threshold
Architect - Atelier Jean Nouvel
Acoustics and AV - Ducks Sceno

Size
30,000 square meters

Schedule
Completed 2019

Awards
2018 : laureate MIPIM in Best Future Project
2018 : LEED GOLD Certification
2018 : GSAS 4 Star Certification from Gulf Organization of Research & Development (GORD –GSAS Authority)

The National Museum of Qatar is housed in an organic architectural design that rises from the desert like the Desert Rose formations found under the Qatari sands. Threshold Acoustics worked with Atelier Jean Nouvel in the museography design of the main museum to bring its interior spaces to life. We modified the base building approach and helped them integrate acoustics into the displays into the wall and ceiling system design.

The story of the Qatari peninsula and the Qatari people unfolds throughout twelve interwoven gallery spaces. Within each gallery, intimate spaces for testimonies and song grab patrons’ attention as they traverse through the overall soundscape and visual story of Qatar projected on the walls of the museum.

Museum goers are enveloped in a sensory experience with varying levels of acoustic separation, from significant to subtle as needed, in this new monument to the people and history of Qatar.

“All artifacts and exhibition pieces are shown in the round, while the tilting walls are filled with carefully mapped projections of artist-made films. The effect is quite successful and makes for a strong retort to those who argue that museum walls should always be flat.” - Matthew Messner, Architecture Newspaper, 2019