The 36,000 m2 Museum of Islamic Art is located south of Doha’s Corniche on a newly created island 60 meters from the shore. Protected by a C-shaped peninsula, the limestone and granite building is physically isolated yet visible from all around the capital city, emerging timelessly from the Persian Gulf.

A search for the essence of Islamic architecture within its wide-ranging cultural and regional diversity revealed the paramount importance of the desert sun and the simple geometric forms it so powerfully brings to life. The exterior of the museum is thus sculpturally modulated by the sun’s play of radiant surfaces against deep shadows, visually faceting away the building’s large mass.