March 7, 2008
Greetings from Qatar
Education City
I am spending my afternoon in the business class lounge at the Doha airport. It’s my own fault. I was supposed to be on a 9:45 flight to Dubai but I somehow imagined it was the 11:45 flight. My brain is clearly not at its best. And, so, here I am, making myself at home. Next flight: 17:45.
I’ve been in Doha since late Sunday night (or maybe very early Monday morning), mostly attending and speaking at a conference called Tasmeem (design in Arabic) Doha staged by a far flung branch of Virginia Commonwealth University. The event was held in a part of town known as Education City, a cluster of US university outposts (complete with a Starbucks) on a vast, campus — like the rest of Doha, it’s very much a work in progress — that’s being master-planned by architect Arata Isozaki.
I am too tired to blog coherently. I’m just going to attach a few photos and captions, and say more when I have the energy.
Isozaki building at Education City. Perhaps the nicest building in Doha.
Isozaki on the inside.
The wiggly towers of Doha.
A few of the 800 new towers, mostly non-wiggly, that are either under construction or planned for the near future. Why? Don’t know. This seems to be the “if we build it, they will come” school of planning.