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Pretty interesting dune. Btw does anybody know any interesting site with arabic modern arts?

no impression….at all…..

Fantastic space, open but entirely contained, blends in with the desert around it.

Now cue the haters that plague this site.

dune.
nomadic and desert references, probably as much context as you actually can accumulate on such a site.
nice, big in size yet subtle in appearance.
I only wonder how heating/cooling works in such a tent-like structure. cooling the whole volume would be nonsensical, not?

hmm.that’s the most boring thing you can do in a desert.

I am appreciative of Vinoly’s continued efforts to create great gathering spaces using tensile structures. A tent structure in the region seems very reasonable.
However, the rendering’s for this project and the lack of details seem somewhat offensive. This was the best scheme that was produced. I will give some thought to a possible set budget and demands by the client that ended up controlling this project.
My problem really stems from the fact that this project seems inexcusably flat. Sand colored tensile fabric roof, white gallery walls, zinc clad exterior walls where necessary. This is further contrasted with red cars. I would, for the sake of an art gallery, have made this a monochromatic rendering.
Perhaps I am missing that the roof structure is in a way utilizing the outside light. It just seems given the scale and the possibility to make a great statement for the artistic community of Qatar, a lot was left to be desired. Especially given the details on some of RVA’s other projects.

Fits right

Museum in a desert has to be reminescent of its surroundings?
This design answers the question I guess.
Seems Sustainable,EXTREMELY HAPPY that there is NO GLASS used here!!
Desert + glass structure in the exterior , not a good idea (sustainablity) in desert! Need to know more about the project,
Excellent so far!!!

that building will creat a new definition of sahara

It’s certainly sympathetic with the landscape.

giant tent..

fantastic, beautiful, thoughtful.

i guess the effect they were aiming for was to merge the building into the landscape…..in doing that, they managed to create something that at least looks like it belongs in the area….
…most other desert architecture being featured on d site nowadays, looks like its implanted from other planets, as far as the relation to the desert goes….

very nice.

looks ok…the main idea it’s ok ..
but the outside finishing will be very important to fit in the landscape…

Its like a sanddune

sooo, it looks like a pile of sand… in the desert. hmmm.

Nice job! Better than building another tall tower with some fountains in the middle of nowhere…

Best desert-plan in a long time!

love the tensile/desert tent resonance. it does feel like it’s missing some zip. contrasting trim?

The dark tan structures in the ceiling seem to be emitting something…air con? Looks like a golf cart or camel will be needed to get around. Function follows form.

The Arabs have a very particular and dare I say peculiar taste.
Sorry to generalize.

this is almost as bad as architecture gets.

It is a strict imitation, it doesn`t reach to the abstract expresion, much closer to a desert photo that to any interpretation of the “desert” idea. The “tent” reference works in the same logic, feels like a missed oportunity.

Can’t we integrate a building with desert sites without it looking like a giant dune? Building-as-landscape? Is that truly contextual or is it the ultimate lip service?

hmm…. vanilla?

boringggggggggggg. how depressing- a sand dune in the dunes that holds art that is modern.

What is the location of the museum? Its relationship to the landscape is lovely, but if it’s as isolated as it looks, it will continue to encourage driving rather than greener forms of transportation.

patronizing. like a european architect building a museum of southern cuisine in mississippi shaped like a pile of grits. i think it might be awesome.

The shape might have something to do with the dunes but as an exhibition space you don’t get any quality out of the outside form. The Klee Museum by Piano has the same problem. Why can’t buildings look like buildings and support the art? Why does a museum has to give the impression to be something else?

So, like, nobody gets the whole outside vs. inside thing? The outside looks like the desert, blends into the landscape; inside, a modern-looking museum shows that Arab art is more (historically and presently) than outsiders might suppose? Treasures hidden under a pile of sand — but then the form of the wind-swept dune is itself a beautiful, natural architecture. Isn’t that the essence of art — the tension between appearance and content?

PS, a Southern museum in the shape of a pile of grits *would* be awesome!

Hmmm…fabric architecture? I prefer the physical model than the 3D renderings.

Well I have to say as an enthausiast of Arabic Traditional Architecture its about time to see something like this… we are sort of tired of all the fancy-high-glazed towers that architects are forcing on us in this part of the world and its good to see something different that sits in the desert and fits nicely.
And the fact that the museum will display modern art as well as early quranic verses its only appropriate to design something that is inspired by a historic context and re-interpret it in a modern way… after all pioneers of modern architectecture like Le Corbusier are all heavily influenced by the vernacular architecture of the Mediterranean and its time to see that architects designing buildings in the gulf are getting inspired by the vernacular architecture of the gulf.
I just hope that developers won’t get too greedy and build 80-storey offices and residential glazed towers right next to this museum and ruin the place.

A tent in the desert! wow!
Very clever, and original, amazing!

This remind’s me of Shonetta’s “pearls of wisdom” that beat rem and zaha to get the comission. Fabric is vernacular, but here it’s used the way the arab’s didn’tuse it. You can’t say you went local just by using fabric for you’re EXCLUSYVELY formalist option here. It’s really a kitsck in my point of view.

The curved linear organization is smart. It will make for lots of changes in vista. The lateral section reminds me of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris: a large pavilion enclosing an interior streetscape.

I’m torn with the tent/dune reference. It is smart that it can read as both. Maybe the color is a bit too literal.

Rafeal in a lecture just two weeks ago about the batterease power station, was blaming people in adding there signature to the middle east. as it is an architecture zoo. I asked him if he will be offered to build there, and he disgustingly replied with never. Same as Rem in the old days. These people are just beggers to money.
Anyway , it is not original , it is just a tent, and he rather do a beautiful one for god sake.

this is so expectet…is such a boring things

now that’s so very obvious in the desert…
lame sh***
unnecessary redundant. and even not very impressive.

Beautiful! amazing the work of this Uruguayan architect. I love the natural context of integration into the landscape.

Fantastic i love it

this thing is absolutely awesome, like a giant car showroom under an unwashed dish cloth. I’ve heard vinoly is a fabulous pianist too.

Personally I think the space is pretty boring.. Flat to be precise.. Come to think of it, the exterior looks nomadic and somewhat contextual.. Now thats a plus point.

Has anyone bothered to think of the impact of regional weather on buildings in the desert???

I think that a tent in the desert is a fantastic idea, given the proclivity to sandstorms and other violent weather. A tall, shiny skyscraper would certainly be scoured to pieces by an incoming sandstorm, while this large tent, reminiscent of a sand dune, would presumably allow the storm to pass right over it, unharmed.

ok no!, if you peoples want to check an interesting project of this kind check Toyo Ito’s park in Torrevieja

one trick pony, granted expected fromVinoly. The lack of interior renderings shows perhaps an unresolving of the dramatic exterior. It fails to inspire me but I am curious to see more

Museum of Modern Arab Art by Rafael Viñoly Architects
A very pretty desert art museum shaped like sand dunes.

impressive dune form achieved with such a simple and logic structure

yes, this is a nice project. definitely respect its surrounding by trying to blend in.

Quite similar to OMA´s LACMA roof