Qatar National Library's state-of-the-art building, located in the heart of Education City, is a community space for Qatar’s residents and helps facilitate the effective exchange of ideas and communal learning. The 45,000-square-meter building encourages visitors to explore the progression of knowledge from the past to the present. It achieves a delicate balance between information availability and accessibility on the one hand, and content preservation and conservation on the other.

1. Qatar National Library
PHAROS UNIVERSITY IN ALEXANDRIA
ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE 2 EA331
DR. NOURHANE EL HARIDI

2. Qatar National Library
Architect: OMA, Rem Koolhaas
Founder: Fundación Qatar
Project Time: 2008 - 2017
Location: Education City, Doha, Qatar

3. Qatar National Library
Instead of simply extruding it
upwards to give it volume like
many other buildings do the
design team decided to only lift
one edge and the opposite two
corners of the square.

4. Qatar National Library
This design decision gives the
building its «diamond» shape
which can be perceived from the
outside, however there is still one
more layer of organization,
history.

5. Spaces
The library has two main entrances
located underneath the two lifter
corners. Both take you straight to the
center of the building, with the only
difference that one leads to the street
level and the other to the underground
level were the heritage books are found.

6. Spaces
Once inside the library provides 31,000
square meters of usable space divided in
the following categories:
• Library – 25,900m²
• Office – 3,000m²
• Exhibition – 1,500m²
• Restaurant/Bar – 600m²
• Total – 31,000m²

7. Spaces
From the center of the library
you really feel like you can
actually see it all. And although
that is not entirely true since you
cannot see the offices and
service spaces, that was
certainly the intention of the
design team.
The open space is flooded by
natural light that comes in
through the corrugated glass
facades on three of the sides.

8. Spaces

9. The Heritage Library
Located in the underground floor the Heritage
library is dedicated to preserve and display some
of the most important cultural and historical
items in the building:
• Climate-controlled display cases in the
Heritage Library and throughout the building
to showcase the collection.
• The dedicated Conservation and Preservation
Laboratory that actively works to restore and
protect items in the Heritage Library.
• The Digitization Laboratory, which digitizes
items from the Library and other collections
and makes them available to scholars
worldwide.

10. The 21st Century Library
The contemporary library which takes up most of the
space and is meant to serve the students from campus
is equipped with the latest technology which is meant
to integrate seamleslly with the user experience ,
enhading accessibility and efficiency.
• Automated self-checkout and return stations, and a
radio frequency identification book sorter system,
allow for convenient access to the Library’s
materials.
• A people mover system transports library users
around the perimeter of the building and
throughout the shelving tiers, making the collection
easily accessible for all visitors.
• A wide range of computer systems, tablets,
interactive screens and audiovisual equipment
throughout the building.

11. Materials
Concrete, glass, marble and aluminum are the
four main materials that the visitor perceives
when visiting the library.
From the outside, the parts of the buildings that
aren’t glass have been covered with
prefabricated concrete panels that make it seem
as if the whole building was made of that
material, when in reality it isn’t. The concrete has
been left exposed in its natural color and an
almost reflective surface.
Once inside you find yourself surrounded by
three materials, a white marble floor that extends
everywhere you look, a matching white
aluminum ceiling and the magnificent corrugated
glass walls.

12. Stracture
The structure of the building is made entirely of
steel. Two steel frames make up the top and
bottom slabs with 34 columns supporting them.
Using a steel structure in a building this “flat”
and exposed to the sun of the Emirates was an
important challenge since the high temperatures
would have an impact on it and the corrugated
glass. In that sense special constructive details
had to be developed to accommodate the
unusually high tolerances.
The steel frame was then covered by
prefabricated concrete panels which give the
library’s exterior it’s final look.

13. Mohtady Mohamed 5317388
Mohamed Yasser 5317338
Mohamed ElShazly 5316259
Sherif Ashraf 5317156
Omar Abdelaziz 5317228
Mohamed ElSayed 5313427
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