Environmental building response

Traditional buildings were developed over a long period of time to create a sensitive solution to the particular characteristics of the environment in which they were constructed. These characteristics varied over the Arab world and, even in Qatar, varied between the coastal and interior developments due to the different conditions obtaining in those areas. As a result, the architecture differs slightly.

Qatar enjoys a hot, humid maritime climate on its littoral with drier conditions in the interior. It can be relatively cold in winter and summer brings temperatures into the mid-40°s Celsius. The diurnal temperature range in the interior is greater than that on the coast. Rainfall can be heavy and localised, and hail is not unusual. Winds are strong from the shamal and the littoral experiences diurnal breezes on- and off-shore.

The manner in which a tent responds to environmental conditions is very much different from that of a building constructed of hasa, stones and juss, mortar. The tent has been described elsewhere.

At its simplest the heavy masonry walls take up energy from the sun by solar gain relatively slowly but, by the same token, give off their heat slowly and, importantly, there being a time lag for this process. Testing has demonstrated to be in the region of four hours. The solar energy gain is stored in the walls and then emitted as radiation which can have an effect on those sitting too near the wall. With a relatively small potential for obtaining and using cool air in the summer months, the buildings are designed to have tall volumes in which night air is collected, the openings closed and that air used until the internal conditions – warmed by the heated masonry walls – require the occupants to open the doors and windows to vent the hot air. These openings are left open through the night to allow the structure to cool down and the air inside the building to be replenished, when the process begins again. These volumes are ventilated, as is described below, and this complicates the above simple description, but this is the reason that Arab houses tend to have – to Western susceptibilities – very high ceilings. I should also mention that the courtyard acts as a reservoir for cool night air as well as the rooms as it is through the courtyard that the air enters the surrounding rooms.

In winter there was a tendency to keep the rooms of the house closed in order to retain any heat they had in them. The relatively low sun doesn’t penetrate much of the courtyard and, in a tight urban situation, isn’t able to give much warmth to the vertical masonry either. Warmth was provided by small fires and, to a small extent, by body heat. In some parts of the Arab world rooms were provided for summer or winter use. In Qatar, this apparently wasn’t a feature, but there was a tendency to alter the use of rooms through the seasons in order to produce the optimal living conditions for all the family.

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Traditional air conditioning

Before you read write these notes on traditional air-conditioning, I must point out that there are some significant differences between what I have learned in Qatar, and the experience of the wind towers in the Bastakia, Dubai which has been well documented in the book by Dr Ann Coles and Peter Jackson. I shall make notes on this a little further down the page.

Wind towers

The main feature of buildings which relieved the blank walls was the badgheer. The badgheer is a form of construction which permitted air to be channeled into buildings for the purpose of ventilating the internal, enclosed spaces. It is of three types:

• the vertical openings, hawaya of the familiar wind tower of which there were a number extant in Wakra in the early part of the twentieth century, but of which there is now only one in the whole country, in the Baharna district of Doha;
• the horizontal air-gap to be seen both within rooms and on the open parapets of buildings;
• and fretted carved plaster panels – naqoush mefat’ha.

The burj al hawwa, or wind tower was designed for use in dense urban situations where there was a need to draw air down into the compact, courtyard houses. Wind towers were not found inland in Qatar as there was no need for them. Without the construction of such tall towers there would be no possibility to take advantage of the prevailing winds and breezes either from the shamal or from the on- and off-shore breezes associated with developments located by the sea. The section below illustrates the manner in which the burj al hawwa worked.

The array of windtowers above are in Dubai, not Qatar, as there is only a single original example left standing in Doha. However this windtower is part of a complex constructed for the purpose of filming, and is situated near Zikreet in the north of the peninsula. Unlike the examples above, the top of each wind opening has a simply decorated pattern, much in keeping with those in the Gulf generally, and Qatar in particular. The pattern is reversed and reflected in the treatment to the top of the windtower. The use of the mangrove poles is also relatively authentic. The windtower is sympathetic to the architecture of Qatar which is simpler than that of its neighbours where their footprint tends to be larger and the degree of decoration considerably greater. Other details of the compound are not quite right; for instance the badgheer on the walls are designed for effect rather than veracity – but this is a film set, after all.

Here is another wind tower in Qatar, this time in the central suq which has been completely replaced by buildings constructed to replicate traditional architecture, more or less on the old urban pattern. You can see similarity between the two towers and, while I can’t speak for the tower at Zikreet, this in the suq is relatively effective, bringing the air down into a narrow passage which allows the air to move out and into the pedestrian system. Looking up the wind tower, in the second photograph, you can see the cross-bracing that has been introduced at 45° in order to strengthen the structure. To some extent the mangrove poles built into the vertical corner columns also provide a similar function. Note that there is no device for moderating the air moving down the wind tower, probably as this is not meant to be used as a working tower. Were it to be a working tower, then there is likely to be a need to prevent strong wind or shamal-borne sand moving down the tower. It is also worth noting that this tower is narrower than the reconstructed burj al hawwa, the only authentic tower in the centre of Doha, the base of which is shown a little lower down the page.

In Qatar, as in the rest of the Gulf, the wind towers were constructed on a square plan and contained a cruciform device on the internal diagonals which allowed air to funnel down into a space at the bottom of the tower. This took place both through the direct impact of breezes striking the exposed face of the diagonals, as well as through the principle of convection on the other three faces when the structure was warmed by the sun and ambient air.

From the photograph above you can see that, externally, the burj al hawwa had mangrove poles sticking out of it at regular intervals all the way up. Those on the inside of the tower provided a natural built-in ladder for access and repair, and there appear to be two reasons for the external extensions. Firstly, there is an obvious need for tensile stability to be given to a structure weak in tension because of the materials of its construction – hasa stones and juss mortar. Not only do wind towers generally have mangrove poles built into them, but the poles are also normally found across the springing of decorative arches, as beams in the trabeated form of construction, and within the structure of walls for bonding corners as mentioned elsewhere.

The second reason was provided by the need to have a safe platform for new construction as well as a basis for the refurbishment which was necessary periodically in order to maintain and safeguard the construction. These, in combination with the internal ladders would have given relatively safe access. Finally, as shown in this photograph, there was a grille of poles fixed horizontally across the inside of the air channels in order, I believe, to prevent birds flying into the building.

The space at the bottom of the tower acted as a distribution volume as well as a place where any sand or dust carried by the winds could be deposited prior to being led on into the compound. This was accomplished by the provision of a small step, usually 150-300mm in height and which caught the heavier grains of sand. The top of the opening between the tower and the distribution room was kept relatively low – about 1500mm – thus increasing the velocity of the penetrating wind.

When necessary, for instance in winter and in a shamal, the bottom of the shaft would be simply sealed through the closing of wooden shutters, bawabat al hawwa. I understand that this space at the bottom of the tower also had a drain to allow any rainwater penetrating to escape. Adjacent to the bottom of the wind tower there was a distribution space which led both to rooms as well as to the courtyard. Through the use of the burj al hawwa it was possible to provide considerable ventilation to the house – both to its main rooms as well as to the open courtyards.

One final device is worth noting here. Although I have never seen it I have been told that wet hessian was sometimes used at the bottom of the burj al hawwa in order to help cool the breezes as well as filter dust. I don’t know how effective this might have been as I would have thought wet hessian would be relatively impenetrable and dry out rapidly.

These two photographs have been added even though they have nothing to do with wind towers, however both of the structures reminded me of them and seem to have an association with the traditional architecture of the country. The first structure, on Al Bida with tall buildings of the New District of Doha behind, appears to have two chimneys elevated to a height where their exhaust is judged to have no or little nuisance for those moving in and around the building.

The lower of these two photographs shows a structure created for pigeons. The outline of the structure resembles the primitive wind catchers that used to be seen in the old barasti settlements, but here provides a degree of shade and a vertical housing system for the owner’s birds. Many Qatari families keep birds and their housing can be seen in the private gardens around the peninsula. A structure such as this is sensible though, as is found with many similar devices, the top shading device can not provide adequate shading throughout the day.

In addition to this I understand that the opening in a badgheer might also be used as a filter and conditioner by the use of scrub stuffed into the opening and watered. This is a device I have heard used in the windows of buildings in the middle of the desert.

The Bastakia, Dubai

There is an important difference here between the single wind tower in Doha and those in the Bastakia in Dubai, so I would like to make a little detour and put down some notes on these differences – and similarities.

The Bastakia was established on the south side of the Creek in Dubai by sunni Iranians moving from their homes in Bastak on the other side of the Gulf at the beginning of the twentieth century. I don’t know why they selected this part of the Creek but it is significant in terms of orientation that their houses were aligned almost parallel to the Creek at this point, though slightly turned to be generally aligned pointing north-north-west or even north by north-north-west. This is similar to the direction in which the wind tower in Qatar is oriented. In Dubai the majority of the towers align to within 15° of north and a large number within 5° of this direction.

The significance of this is in the way alignment affects air flow into a wind tower. Multi-directional wind towers – in contradistinction to uni-directional wind scoops which face a single direction – contain a cruciform arrangement in their centre to catch the wind and bring it down into the space below it. Though it might be thought that the more effective arrangement is to have the flat face of the tower oriented into the prevailing wind, it has been demonstrated that the tower is far more effective when the tower is oriented at 45° into the prevailing wind.

When the wind hits the tower at 90° there is a smaller area available to the wind and it appears that there is turbulence created by the currents moving down and striking the fins of the wind catcher at 45°. This inhibits and slows the speed of the currents down into the space below the wind tower. Three of the four quadrants are available to the air moving out of the building due to negative pressure and the effect of warmed air moving upwards, but even though this might imply that this will encourage winds into the fourth quadrant, the effectiveness of the tower under these conditions is not as good as when the tower meets the winds at 45°.

When the tower is oriented at 45° to the prevailing wind there is a larger area available to catch the wind and, meeting the wind currents at 90°, the air moves more directly down the tower, and with less turbulence at its entrance. In this case there are two channels of the quadrant available for air moving into the tower and, of course, two for the air moving out of the tower.

I should also mention that the cornice at the top of the towers in Dubai is often a cantilevered, curved feature which helps to direct the air down and into the wind tower. These features are refinements which must have been considered or arrived at accidentally over a long period of time and then passed down from master builder to master builder, craftsmen who kept the plans and designs of buildings in their heads and, working with their clients, were able to produce workable and attractive solutions to their clients’s requirements.

The above description relates to wind towers generally, but there is a significant difference between that in Doha and those in Dubai. The difference is in how the tower relates to the space at its base, and probably has to do with two characteristics – wealth and environmental conditions.

In Doha, as can be seen in the sketch further up the page, the wind tower sits on a room about twice the area of the tower. The room is provided with a sand trap and there are doors leading from the space enabling air to circulate into the spaces adjoining it. In the Bastakia, by contrast, the wind towers sit on top of a space which is a usable room and significantly larger than the room in Doha. In fact the room is favoured to the extent that the owner is likely to have a bed sitting directly underneath the tower to take advantage of the breezes coming down it. Children used to sit under it during the day to carry out homework and it was essentially used as a pleasant resource for the family, the man of the house using the bed at night while his wife slept with the children elsewhere.

This use implies that there was not the amount of sand and dust moving into the building as, with the Bastakia being situated on the Creek and near to the sea to their north, it was the sea breezes, particularly in the afternoon which brought the cooling effect and which carried little sand. It is also significant that this was the time when the sun will have begun to heat the buildings and when the cooling effect is needed – more so than in the morning. In Doha the winds caught by the multi-directional wind tower move with the shamal down the length of the country, obviously carrying a significantly greater amount of dust or sand with it than is the case in Dubai.

Tests have demonstrated that air currents within the space below the tower tend to move round the outside of the room, climbing to exit from those quadrants with negative air pressures in them and, in the process, keeping these spaces comfortable with between a 3°c to 5°c difference with the outside temperature.

Elsewhere I have discussed comfort being a function of a combination of temperature, humidity and air movement over the skin. Unfortunately it has not yet been possible to take humidity readings in parallel with the temperature readings made in the Bastakia, but the temperature values alone are significant and experience of living there has demonstrated that even at the height of summer, it is possible to remain comfortable indoors.

One of the curious factors of air movement within a room is created by the relationship between the base of the tower and the ceiling of the room. As I have described above, the widths of rooms are constrained by the lengths to which mangrove poles can span safely. The Bastakia rooms are often very long in order to create large, usable rooms and, like Qatar, the rooms are high in order to keep the hot air away from those using the room. But the base of wind towers are no more than two metres from the floor of the room they ventilate so that, while this is no problem for the air being channelled into the room, air moving out has to be brought down and under the lip of the tower in order to make its escape.

I don’t know the extent to which the incoming air movement was able to clear the hot air trapped above the level of the bottom lip of the wind tower but it is unlikely to have cleared it entirely. Perhaps this is an area where the mechanics of the wind tower could be improved.

I should also have mentioned that the wind towers are generally situated at the north end of the rooms to which they are attached. This appears to be the optimal arrangement for cooling these spaces. It is evident that there are a number of conditions which affect the use of wind towers. These will include the:

• wind speed and orientation,
• ventilation orientation,
• the height of the wind tower openings,
• orientation of the room with respect to the wind tower, and
• the placing and use of doors and windows to the room.

Both the wind tower in Doha and those which used to exist in Wakra were multi-directional and were able to pick up both the shamal as well as onshore breezes to their east which would have carried less sand than the shamal. The Doha wind tower is situated now at a greater distance from the shore line so the onshore breezes are likely to have little or no effect, particularly as they have to traverse more heated land than previously.

The people who settled in the Dubai Bastakia were apparently more wealthy than those who settled in Doha. Their houses were not contiguous but generally stood as individual units separated by sikkat which provided shade and cooling to pedestrians, though opening up the boundary walls to potential heat gain. Their footprints were larger than houses in Qatar and were developed as courtyard houses with, often a depth of two rooms to each of their sides compared with the single rooms of Qatar. They were also developed as two storey enclosed buildings with the families using the ground and first floors, the ground floor favoured in winter, the first floor in summer. To some extent this mirrored what happened in Qatar with families living on the open roofs in summer, a practice which, while being practical and cool was also subject to the unpleasantness connected to pre-dawn dew, a characteristic also a problem in the desert.

Compared with Qatar where development of courtyards favoured the north and west sides of the compound, in the Bastakia, the houses were developed with the main rooms on the north and south side of the courtyard. Storage and functional rooms were located on the east and west, storage taking up a significant amount of space. This seems also to have been the case in Qatar though not to the same extent which I assume to be a function of comparative wealth. Kitchens in both countries were enclosed, as they were in adverse conditions in the khaimaat of the badu but in Qatar, the outside was favoured when it was practicable.

The Bastakia houses were also generally true two storey buildings. This meant that, where there were wind towers they vented into a first floor room rather than down to the ground floor where, in Doha, they had a role in bringing relatively cool air movement into the courtyard. The owners of houses in the Bastakia were able to set out funds to build more than a single wind tower, some of them having up to three wind towers. These towers were not cheap. They had to be relatively high in order to place the opening as high as practicable in order both to catch the higher, faster winds as well as keep the openings away from the roof structure which would be relatively hot.

The life of the family revolved around the courtyard and its adjacent verandahs and rooms in Qatar and in Dubai. Extended families occupied the houses with, perhaps, up to thirty living in the compound, the women organising and controlling the life of the house as I have written about elsewhere, and the men going about their business and entertaining male friends and passers-by in their majaalis adjacent to the sikkat where, when the shuttered windows were opened, anybody might enter.

There is considerably more decoration on the buildings of the Bastakia than there is in Qatar. Not only is there more it has both a different scale and character from the more conservative architecture of Qatar. Perhaps this is due to the wahabi influence in Qatar I have described earlier, and the more figurative designs brought over from Iran by the sunni who would have recalled their artistic traditions in their new buildings. There are many subjects wrought in the decorative areas such as grilles and screens, but that of flowering vases seem to predominate. The other notable feature to me is the peculiar scale of the decoration which seems out of scale with the buildings and their occupation. But perhaps that is due to my being more familiar with Qatari architecture and decoration.

Finally, I should mention screening of the wind towers. I have mentioned all the issues before but it is worth repeating them here. One of the difficulties with having open access is the potential for ingress of:

• sand and dust,
• rain,
• birds, and
• intruders.

I have dealt with sand and dust with regard to the wind tower in Doha. Provision was made at the foot of the tower in an attempt to minimise the nuisance this brings. In the Bastakia it appears that, because of its situation with regard to prevailing winds and the location to water, dust and sand is not the problem it was in Doha.

In Doha a simple drain deals with any rain water which gets into the building via the wind tower. I don’t know how this was dealt with in the Bastakia though I am aware that wooden boards were used to block the quadrants when necessary. This also was the case in Doha, I’ve been told, though the provision for water egress and sand collection together with the fact that it was in small room which could be readily closed off, may have also made this less essential.

Pigeons were mentioned to me as a problem and I understand that screens were sometimes introduced though, with the materials available to the household, this would have been likely to slow down air movement considerably.

Security and perceived security have always been issues with Qataris. Just as in other countries, it is possible to enter other people’s properties if you really want to, and security is really only provided by systems and devices which slow down potential intrusion. Wind towers are not really insecure as the effort needed to get into them is greater than the effort needed to get over an outer wall or, perhaps, through a protected opening.

The horizontal badgheer

The horizontal form of badgheer is found both in the walls of rooms at ground and first floor as well as on open parapet walls, its purpose in both cases being to bring air into the space it serves at a low level.

It has traditionally been the custom of Arabs to use their rooms mainly sitting on the floors and it was therefore important that breezes should be directed to the floor, sweeping it with relatively cool air. This was also true of the roofs where families might sit in the evening and sleep at night, their privacy protected by high walls, warrish, or raised parapet walls, sitara, usually to about head height – 1800mm.

In both cases the badgheer was constructed of a material such as faroush and consisted of two vertical panels in line with the wall and located between the walls’ stone pillars, the upper one being located nearer the internal space in relation to the lower one. Winds striking the upper panel were deflected downwards through the gap of about 100mm between them, and then moved over the surface of the internal floor clearing it of any stale air. When it was necessary to protect the inside of a room from the shamal or from rain a fraym fat’ha al badgheer, wooden shutter, was closed over it on the outside. These shutters were often omitted and are usually of a crude design and construction.

Although this was the traditional way of providing ventilation to the first floor, there was another way of effecting this as is shown in this photograph as well as can be seen in a photo further up the page. Here there appears not to have been a problem with privacy and so, instead of a badgheer, a timber grille was provided for both security and some form of privacy. I don’t know when one was necessary rather than the other, but suspect it was due to the lack of visitors to the compound it overlooked. It is interesting to see how dramatically it alters the character of the building. It also visually softens the junction of sky and building compared with that provided by a solid building roof line as is discussed below.

The badgheer was not used solely to provide breezes on roofs, but was a major element of enclosed rooms where its purpose was to introduce air movement within them when there were light winds available, and to wash out warm air which had built up, usually during the latter part of the day. This sketch shows a typical arrangement. Bear in mind that those using the space generally sat at floor level and so the breezes would have brought a degree of comfort directly to them. It is notable that not only did the badgheer provide and direct air movement, it also created an indirect light source at a low level to the room.

Its main disadvantage was that there was often no control available at its opening to moderate wind and associated dust, and to prevent rain ingress. Consequently, a relatively simple shutter was introduced on the outside of the opening. The photograph is of a system on an old building in Wakra taken around 1975 and shows a relatively sophisticated construction with the shutter fitting into a wooden frame. From its appearance this would be a relatively sound manner of excluding wind and its attendant sand or dust, but might have been less effective at preventing rain ingress due to the junction of the shutter and its frame being exposed directly to falling rain.

A small wooden batten was fixed along the bottom lip of the upper panel to which a wooden flap was hinged. The shutter was able to stand in two positions – up, when it leaned against the upper panel of the badgheer, and down, when it closed off the opening. A short string was usually attached to its outer lip in order to be able to bring it down when needed. Although the shutter was neither dust nor rain proof, it obviously provided optimal protection against at least the dust and rain. Although this sketch replicates the photograph above it, I have also seen a simpler device which just overhangs the bottom panel of the badgheer and which, although not being as sound as this illustration, is likely to perform better in rain.

A variation of the open badgheer was that used when located in the wall of an enclosed room. The structure is similar to that of the ordinary badgheer but has a fraym fat’ha al badgheer added to it which enables the space to be closed if it is raining, or when a shamal drives sand at the building. The fraym is constructed of a wooden panel set at about 30° with a small overlap to the face of the building in order to shed water. Above can be seen four of them with, curiously, two open naqsh carved panels. I don’t know how the panels were secured against rain and sand ingress.

The third form of ventilation system, naqoush mefat’ha , is rarely seen in Qatar. Extant examples can be seen at the old palace of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah at Rayyan, the wind tower building in the centre of Doha and in some of the buildings in al Wakra. The system took the naqsh relief carving which is seen on many buildings, but had the carving taken right through the plaster panel, normally about 50mm thick. Its chief drawback was that it made the panel extremely fragile and it could not be easily sealed off in high winds or rain. Consequently its use appears to have been limited to areas where closing is not important, mainly staircase walls and at high levels in certain rooms where it had the added advantage of allowing the exhaust of warm or hot air at the tops of rooms.

These following group of photographs illustrate something of the setting out and carving of naqsh panels in the Gulf. In setting out designs in general, non-destructive methods such as charcoal or, nowadays, pencilwork would be used to mark out panels, and this was sometimes so in Qatar as can be seen in the second photograph. The designs seem to come from the inventiveness of the craftsman and I have never seen them drawn out first when ordinary projects are being worked on. The patterns themselves appear to be based on patterns found in the Saudi hinterland or in Iran, as might be expected, so it is difficult to ascribe any designs to a Qatari type, though it would be arguable that the simpler, more direct designs could be thought of as being typically Qatari. This second photograph illustrates craftsmen working on a panel for a prestigious new development and the design was discussed and developed before carving.

The third photograph was taken elsewhere in the Gulf and it can just be seen that the pattern is marked out by scratching as was mainly the case in Qatar and in Iran where I have seen similar work carried out, and is shown in practice in the first photograph. It is also notable that the panel being carved was cast in two levels in order to obtain a more interesting three-dimensional effect.

Not all naqsh work is carried out with formal precision; it used to be possible to find examples that were unusual in their setting out such as this example from Wakra, the first illustration taken from an old publication of the Ministry of Information. Originally, relatively simple designs were made in the juss plasterwork while it was going off, or drying, though this was restricted to areas where the panels were relatively small and their designs simple. It seems that some of the owners or their craftsmen believed it necessary to relieve the flat finish of their walls in this way. This example is eccentrically rotated at about 45° from the horizontal and is located in an important position adjacent to a doorway, seen in the first photograph. My guess is that the patterns on each side of the doorway were considered to be symmetrical, and that both squares were intended to be set at 45°. A more orthogonal design, also cut into the finishing juss can be glimpsed above the door. The freshness of this simple design is characterised by the small feature carving outside that main pattern at its corners. Its other characteristic is that the setting out of the pattern was made with a knife. Because of this both the basic geometry and the inscribed patterns can be seen.

This incised design was also one of two elements set on each side of the above door, drawn directly into the juss finish to the wall, but at a lower position than that above. Again, the setting out is not quite accurate but better than the inclined square designs. Interestingly this detail has eight point geometry for the internal divisions but six point geometry for the containing semi-circles.

Compared with the example above, this is a regularly set out panel, probably cast on the ground and the fret pattern carved there. It is a relatively fine panel and would have been fragile, requiring skill in carving and care in putting in place. The panel has an unusual feature in that the setting out of the geometry is extremely unusual for Qatar, the twelve point pattern used for the circles not having their vertices established at the top. This is strange as it is far easier to establish a pattern like this with the setting out points for the circles on the horizontal lines. But the benefit has been to create a lively wavy line along the four circles.

Contrast the fresh, spontaneous work in the two photographs above with the more studied layouts shown in these two photographs. In the first the work has been started but not yet achieved any depth. The pencilled setting out is clear and, in the lower left corner, the scribing of a pair of dividers can be seen. In the second photograph the lines of carving have again been drawn with both a pair of dividers as well as a coloured pencil. Note also the difference in colour and texture between the weathered juss above, and the pre-cast gypsum panels of these two examples. Nowadays the panels are usually cast on the ground and allowed to dry before being worked on, giving a slightly different character to the finished piece as well as a different, white, colour. The equipment I have seen used to carve the panels was, nearly always, simple pen-knives.

By contrast with the panels shown above, here is a photograph of some naqsh badgheer panels in the process of being carved for a roof parapet in Dubai. These are certainly panels you would not expect to see in the Qatar peninsula. There are five comments I’d like to make – apart from the damage to the bottom of the right panel which look as if they’ve been caused by slips with the chisel.

• First, the panels are not particularly high and are relatively open. As a consequence the holes enable the air to pass through readily, but do not provide as much privacy as would be expected in Qatar.
• Second, the patterning is naturalistic with a fairly large scale design. This form of pattern is very rare in Qatar, though I have seen it on a smaller scale.
• Third, I’ve not seen this kind of open carved naqsh used on roof badgheer systems in Qatar. They’re relatively common within enclosed spaces, particularly above ground floor level, but it seems that the flat, staggered, vertical panel system illustrated above is preferred.
• Fourth, you can see that the patterns of the three panels are very similar, though not quite the same. In Qatar there would be far greater differences between adjacent panels.
• Fifth, it would be unusual in Qatar to have the design scribed so heavily. You can clearly see the differences between the two photographs above.

I’m a little surprised to see these panels being carved in situ as I would have thought it would be easier to carry out the work at ground level and then lift them into position. Perhaps the answer has something to do with the weight and the relative fragility of the carved panel.

With regard to the passage of air through the holes in the badgheer, I also suspect that the Qatari badgheer is far more effective in channeling air across the roof than the Dubai form of fretted panel. My experience of humidity in the Gulf is that it’s far worse in Dubai than Doha, which is why I’m surprised that these devices are so different. Having said that I think the higher badgheer systems in Qatar might reflect the more strict Wahabi influence of the latter, placing more importance on privacy than comfort.

Here is a detail of a small example of naqsh carved in Qatar. There are three things to notice. First of all the surface of the plasterwork has not been finished but left as it came out of its mould, though this is not always the case. Secondly, the basic pattern has been set out with pencil and straight edge. The final setting out has been made with a pair of steel dividers – witness the inscribed arcs and holes created at the centres of those arcs by the dividers which can be compared with the photograph above. Finally, the carving has been carried out with a sharp knife, and not very accurately. It seems to be a combination of these methods that gives Qatari naqsh its particular character. There are more examples of Qatari naqsh work on this site which deals with pattern in Islamic art.

Simple tools are used to set out the panels. String, a straight edge, a pair of dividers, a pointed tool such as a nail and a knife or chisel of some sort are all that are needed. Sometimes rulers are used to measure distances but craftsmen often design and execute the panels without recourse to anything else but their experience and, as such, can do what they want – though, as I have mentioned elsewhere, it is the practice to have panels made in pairs and reflect each other across a room.

I have added this photograph in order to show something of the character of a working area for the production of naqsh panels. None of the panels on display are finished, those on edge having been worked on but not yet completed. The panel standing on the right is likely to weigh something in the region of 80 kilograms, or 175 pounds. The panel on the floor is being worked on, the practice being to finish the carving work, then measure and trim any panels that might require their sizes or shapes amended, with the final cleaning of the panels left until after they have been offered up and fixed in place.

Contrasting with this I have included this photograph in order to show how traditional naqsh work has progressed. These are a row of pre-cast concrete panels awaiting transportation to site where they were to be fixed in place framing windows in one of the State’s important developments. The original patterns were drawn up and transferred to plaster and carved. Rubber moulds were taken and the pre-cast panels cast from the moulds. You can see that the work is repetitious, there being an argument that each panel outline should be different in order to reflect the manner in which naqsh panels were traditionally different.

Finally, in order to show that not everything is geometric, I have added this naqsh detail, though it is the only example I have ever seen of a representational carving in a traditional Qatari building. Set out in pencil, and executed in situ a craftsman has added this small feature in the far corner of a Rayyan majlis, a humorous sketch in the form of a stylised crested bird. I understand that the design is typical of Pakistan and is likely to have been added by a carver from that part of the world, illustrating that it is not just Arab and Iranian craftsmen who work within Qatar.

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External decoration and aesthetics

With time the top of the walls – where there was no badgheer – were developed with an artistic device. At its simplest this was limited to the raising of the corners by the addition of, generally, quadrant rounded mouldings which relieved the horizontal line and gave the effect of entasis to a potentially visible drooping corner. On larger buildings crenellation with a saw-tooth device were introduced giving a combed outline to the top of the buildings. Some people consider this to have evolved from the need for fortification but, where fortified buildings still stand at Umm Salal Muhammad, Wajbah and al-Zubara and al-Athba in the north, this was not the case, the fortifications generally relying on ayyin – holes in the wall for the insertion of rifles or fetha al murakaba – observation holes in defensible buildings.

A more fanciful variation of this explanation is that the crenellations were constructed in order to make sure that there was no place for djin – evil spirits – to settle. It is certainly true that the Arabs of the Gulf have demonstrated a traditional concern for spirits of this type and there is still a concern that owls – potent symbols of bad luck – should not be associated with, or settle on buildings. It is more probable that crenellating the top of buildings was an aesthetic refinement developed by the master builders for two reasons.

Firstly, there are not all that many opportunities for decoration afforded by the construction and material of traditional Gulf buildings, and the roof lines would have presented a large potential opportunity upon which to demonstrate some form of skill, if not artistic licence. This is supported by the name for this device, shurfa which is derived from the verb ‘to enoble and confer distinction’. Secondly and, I believe, just as important, the skyline of a building can be seen to meet the blue sky in a direct and abrupt manner. When the skyline of a building is crenellated the sky and building form a combed interface which is more restful to the eye and aesthetically satisfying than a straight, hard line.

A more prosaic rationale is given by Hassan Fathy in his unpublished work on mosque architecture. He states that the early designers created a junction between earth and sky by crenellating the tops of walls, and that the void of this area represents the sky or soul, and the solid of this area, the earth. He goes on to state that each pair of solid and void symbolizes the contact between earth and sky at an individual level and that, set in a row, they symbolize the equality of mankind, there being a hadith stating that, to God,

all people are as equal as the teeth of a comb

although the translation of Fathy incorrectly has this as ‘believers’ being equal.

The example of crenellation above is on an old building that has since been demolished. This example is a modern reproduction accurately copying the traditional shurfa detail and more accurately represents the argument I have made in the preceding paragraph. At a distance this detail softens the interface of sky and building; but there is an added interest here. Somebody as fixed a horizontal wire which, at this distance, goes some way to destroying the effect of the traditional detail above it, hardening the effect. Compare this photograph with that above it to see what I mean.

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Decoration

Apart from the above form of decorative treatment the most common decoration on buildings both in coastal settlements and, more rarely, in the desert, was naqsh carving. This first photograph is of a partially restored old palace where the entrance gate has been magnificently and extensively covered in naqsh carving. This degree of carving would only be executed under relatively stable conditions and, in this gateway suggests to me a more complete coverage than would have been the case originally. In keeping with the rules that govern traditional carving, the naqsh work is symmetrical about the centre. Within a majlis this translates into the work being mirrored on both sides of the room though not necessarily about the centre of each side as this photograph illustrates.

Representational art is expressly forbidden in the Quran and, with the area being under the sway of the Wahabi, patterns formed by simple divider and ruler geometry were directly carved into wet plaster – the most lively forms showing distinct asymmetry due to the speed with which they were carved. On the simplest buildings the naqsh was related to the entrance door as could be seen at Wakra. In more developed form it was used as a series of panels around the doorways – naqoush suwr al bab. When there was more time and money available, the decoration was introduced within the niches created by the pier form of wall construction. It was either carved on site or the panels were carved on the ground and offered up when complete. The two photographs above illustrate the difference in character between hand-carved panels and pre-cast, albeit the photographs are of slightly different scales.

This photograph is of a detail incorporated into an opening in a recently constructed mosque in Doha, and shows a typical modern interpretation based on the development of naqsh design established along strict geometric principles. The pattern is not as simple as it may appear at first glance as this form of geometric design encourages the eye to wander over it without establishing a real focus. This encourages reflection in the viewer. On further inspection it can be seen to be not only unlike traditional naqsh but obviously based on the type of Islamic designs more common in northern Islamic states than in Qatar. It does, however, have a resonance with traditional naqsh, even though it has no geometric similarity to the traditional Qatari form either in pattern or scale.

This perforated form of naqsh, in its traditional carved form, was used mainly in urban buildings within the peninsula where there was a need to bring air and, to some extent, light into the building and where privacy wasn’t of paramount importance or where there was no possibility of its being breached. It was also found, but more unusually, in rural buildings. You can see in the example immediately below and to the right that, when the same or similar pattern is constructed in a different material, in that case, on a precisely cut steel door, there is a very different feel to it, again less Qatari and more Islamic/Arabic. Qatari naqsh tended to be simple in concept and, usually, was created as an assembly of patterns rather than as a continuous repetitive treatment such as shown in this and the photograph above.

Here is a photograph of another pre-cast panel, this time used as a screen to provide a degree of privacy in front of windows in a commercial building in the centre of Doha. Again based on twelve-point geometry, it is finer in its detailing than the example above, but also dissimilar from traditional Qatari naqsh work in its selection and character of geometry. What is not really evident from the photograph is that the pattern does not coincide geometrically with the pattern of the glazing behind it. When viewed through the windows from the interior of the building, this produces an unfortunate effect that could easily have been avoided with a little more thought. As an aside, it is also unclear how the outside face of the glass is cleaned due to the difficulty of gaining clear access.

The two details in the photograph below demonstrate different approaches being used in Qatar. That on the left is a pre-cast concrete panel which, compared with the finer construction of the steel panel to its right, has more in keeping with traditional Qatari naqsh designs. The decoration on it is relatively typical of its sort, showing a fairly well developed pattern comprised of three main elements; the ground and two forms of six-point geometry. All three of them are found in naqsh panels in Qatar. The patterns are not integrated to the extent to which those on the right are.

The pattern on the right is very different from that on the left. The panel is on a steel door and is a classic, twelve-point geometrical pattern, probably copied from an example in Egypt where this form of pattern was highly developed. You can see how that on the left is very different from that on the right, much simpler and easily seen to be developed from the rapid carving of plaster as are the two below which are also pre-cast concrete.

The main recipient of this form of carving was the majlis which, as the most important room established for receiving and entertaining guests, was the obvious place to demonstrate decoration. The panels were located above the windows either in a single band or, when the ceilings were high enough, in two bands. The particular rule in Qatar which applies in the location of these panels is that every panel along a wall within a room must be of a different design, although the pattern must be mirrored in the panel facing across the room. One small variation to this rule is that sometimes there is the evidence of the artist altering a single panel so that there is a degree of asymmetry within the room. The same principle is often to be found in traditional Persian carpets, the rationale being given that there can be no perfection in something only created by man. In the palace of the late Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah in Rayyan, there is a beautiful little detail where a craftsman has carved a small, single, stylised bird on a panel in the south-east corner of the large majlis.

The rooms of traditional buildings developed in response to two factors: the width was dependent upon the span of the mangrove pole danjal, and the height was related to a need to contain sufficient, cool night air to pass a comfortable day. This produced rooms with a narrow, high proportion quite unlike those we are used to in the West. In addition to the environmental benefit of having a high ceiling, there is a strong psychological rationale caused by the dislike of the badu who would be oppressed by low ceilings.

I should make a final note on the use of pre-cast decoration. New residential development in the New District of Doha for the government Senior Staff has sites which are thirty-five metres square. The government was able to take advantage of pre-casting to produce standardised boundary wall units which has given considerable uniformity to the area and are considerably more attractive than the standard rendered and painted block and concrete walls which were used previously. The pre-cast panels are modelled in order to produce a more lively appearance and are mostly plain though there are some decorated with naqsh designs. You can see in the top photograph the three basic elements which make up the wall – the decorated panels, supporting columns, and the horizontal base unit to take up any irregularities in topography. The photo below is a detail of a pre-cast panel with a Doha Municipality logo on it. The Arabic reads ‘Doha City’.

Doha Municipality has made a number of different pre-cast units in their attempts to improve the appearance of the urban scene. These four pre-cast units are part of a continuous barrier on the ‘C’ ring road and make an attractive grouping with a good sense of scale. I don’t know why the units are raised from the ground nor why the blocks which raise them are not of the same material but I suspect it may have to do with permitting dust and sand to pass under rather than pile up against the units. I would have preferred to see an more local geometric design to enliven them and it is sad that some organisation has stencilled the bottom of one of the units. But I think the main problem is likely to be in the casting. The second unit from the right show significant damage which I believe is due to the way in which it was made. The units are relatively thin and apparently not dense as moisture has been able to penetrate and create the damage. In the photo above of the Municipality logo you can see the surface crazing which characterises these pre-cast units. A heavier texture might have been the answer. I know that it is thought that a smooth finish will shed dust, but experience is that dust sticks to any kind of surface.

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Services

Finally a note on utilities, by which I mean the supply of light, water and sewerage to traditional buildings. I shall make more notes on this in a separate section.

I don’t intend to deal in any detail with this provision for tented structures. It’s understood that water was obtained from a bi’r in the desert and there was no sewerage. Light and heating was provided in the first instance from fires which were fuelled from material found in the desert together with droppings from the tribe’s animals. Bear in mind that wood was too expensive to buy and use for fuel though charcolas was bought as a trade item. Food was cooked on the fire by the women of the family and, usually, coffee would have been provided from the same fire by one of the men of the family. Sometimes this would have been carried out on a separate fire on the male side of the tent compound, particularly likely when it was for guests. Where there was lighting, other than that provided by the fire, it would have been by means of paraffin lamps, the paraffin purchased in the nearest conurbation or from passing traffic.

The coming of wealth to Qatar brought the means to obtain a better standard of living. Normal commercial forces, together with a generous State, encouraged people to upgrade their traditional houses.

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Sewerage and water

In urban areas septic tanks were the normal means of dealing with sewage within the compound. Potable water – known as sweet water – was obtained from wells in the compound often relatively near the septic tanks, providing the possibility for cross-contamination. Compounding this was the problem of salination of the sweet water, particularly near the coast where the salt water table was relatively high and increased in concentration with sweet water abstraction.

Incidentally, it is worth noting that there was a ready supply of potable water both under the ground as well as under the sea. The ancient civilisation of Dilmun was centred at nearby Bahrein – whose name means ‘two seas’ – and was so named from the belief that they were founded – both land and sea – on a sea of sweet water. A better quality of water was sold from donkey carts which travelled the streets loaded with the ubiquitous plastic containers or oil drums. This was obtained from privately controlled bi’r in the desert.

Traditionally, water was often stored in porous earthenware pots which, operating on the evaporative principle, kept the water relatively cool. In those days the water varied in quality and was not too safe to drink as well as containing a number of other items. I have seen water from such pots drunk through a qutra in order for the drinker to filter it. Hessian was also used to filter water.

Eventually, a water distribution system was installed and extended to provide potable water to all houses, the water being a mixture of ‘sweet’ water and, once the first desalination plant had been built, desalinated water. In the beginnings, though, there were a number of difficulties relating to its design and installation. Rapid growth, forecasting, design standards, materials, the inaccuracy of contractors’ work, the sporadic pattern of development and a number of other factors created a range of problems that had to be dealt with by the Ministry staff and their consultants. This resulted in continuous difficulties for consumers wanting to be provided with a safe and adequate supply of potable water as well as flooded areas when pipework was breached.

As mentioned previously, there had always been a system of suppliers who moved around the furuwq delivering water from donkey carts. It rapidly became necessary to supplement this system as the greatly increased demand outstripped the Ministry’s capabilities to respond in the initial years. Water tankers became a common sight, pumping potable water to the galvanised steel water tanks located on the roofs of the new, and old, houses. In fact many people preferred this form of delivery as not only were there problems with adequate supply from water mains, but cross-contamination from sewerage pipework and septic tanks, due to negative pressures in the potable water system, increased the demand for tanker-borne deliveries. Water tankers such as that shown in the above photograph, taken in the 1980s, were a major feature of the urban scene for a number of years, similar tankers also supplying effluent treated water to landscaping, a system that required intervention and control from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs in order to regulate and safeguard both the public and their own workforce.

There is an interesting point to make regarding the heating of water in houses. In the past water was drawn from the ground or was bought from a circulating tanker and stored inside the house where it was heated when needed. With development, galvanised steel water tanks were placed on the roofs of houses to provide a head of water to the new kitchen and sanitary appliances now located within the houses. Inside the house, water heaters were provided in kitchens and bathrooms, and these produced hot water during the colder months of the year. In summer, the sun heated the roof-top water tanks and the internal water heaters were turned off, the hot water taps providing cold water, and the cold water taps hot water. This system is still, to some extent, operating within the State though the more up-market housing relies on relatively cheap power to both cool and heat when necessary.

Nevertheless, some owners shade their cold water systems on their roofs. This example is located on an old house and shows how a simple barasti shading device can be used to shade a water tank, or anything else for that matter. The material allows air to circulate through and around it while providing sufficient shade to keep a water tank relatively cool. Some may think it an unattractive solution but here, adjacent to landscaping elements, it does not seem out of place.

I have mentioned elsewhere that it is a common failing of architects to consider roofscapes and the location of utilities in the design of their buildings, being apparently unaware of the ramifications of the latter’s additions at a later date. I certainly can’t remember when I last saw provision for utilities incorporated in design drawings on residential buildings.

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Lighting and power

As mentioned previously, lighting was originally by paraffin lanterns, the paraffin being bought again from a donkey cart loaded with drums. These carts could still be seen in Doha in the late seventies.

One disadvantage of bringing fire into the house in this manner was the likelihood of fire. It was common to see soot-blackened walls and ceilings and, from time to time, the heat generated from the lights would cause a fire in the matting of the ceiling.

Soon, the electricity system permitted a connection to a mains system, and this was taken up with alacrity. The early seventies saw public street lighting starting with the Rayyan Road, and this was rapidly moved out to provide a supply to the most important feriqs.

Within the house, wiring would be strung across walls usually with an unshaded bulb hanging from the end of it. This, too, was a hazard, but began the change in living habits of the inhabitants. For instance, schoolchildren could now study their books at night, and other tasks which required good light could be practised at night. Of course, power outlets were also provided – usually on the same circuit – and this permitted equipment to be bought and utilised by all members of the family.

One interesting design point emerged from the manner in which modern utilities were incorporated into old buildings. A small number of traditional buildings were re-built on their existing sites for a variety of historical reasons. The work was carried out by a team of builders under the direction of a master builder. Although elements of the work were carried out to modern design standards – for instance, the incorporation of sewerage – the team were insistent that elements such as the orange ‘Pyro’ electrical cable should be face-fixed to the walls and not led in conduit, as this was the way in which the original buildings were developed. This gave the cables an unsightly prominence, but was a minor issue compared with elements such as wall mounted air-conditioners being incorporated in a similar manner to those which must have first being located in houses.

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Cooking

Families traditionally cooked outside. The pots used for traditional meals tended to be very large – as they still are – in order to contain the meat required for traditional meals, particularly machbous, which is a style of cooking rather than the meal shown itself. The top photograph shows a meal of mutton on a bed of rice, both plain and saffron. The lower photograph shows another traditional meal of grilled fish, plain rice and different salads, the whole arrangement served on a sufra – usually a woven mat. Notice that the top photograph shows the meal appears to be served with a sheet of plastic under the tray. The lowest photograph shows a tray of puddings served, like the meals above it, on the carpet for those sitting there.

Where the original fuel would be wood or charcoal, today it is gas which is run from cylinders. This is still preferred over electricity for the majority of cooking, other than for smaller requirements such as toast, Western coffee and the like. Elsewhere I shall deal with this subject in a little more detail.

I said earlier that families cooked outside, but they also cooked inside as well. Obviously, when the weather was bad there would be pressure to move indoors but there seems to have been two areas involved. The first was the covered areas of the plot, the second, one of the internal rooms.

The covered areas were a common place for a number of activities but were ideally suited to larger meals and the ability for the women to keep an eye on most of the activites of the family. When the family cooked inside it would usually be over a fire and often on a pot suspended by a rope tied to the centre of one of the roof beams. It was common to see soot staining to walls and ceilings both from fires as well as from lamps providing illumination.

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Air-conditioning

This may not be considered relevant to traditional buildings but I think it would be sensible to put a note here as there are a number of buildings which have been refurbished and which incorporate air-conditioning in their new life as exemplars of the past. But first, a little history…

When air-conditioning first became a feasible option in Qatar in the nineteen seventies, agencies scrambled to sell wall-mounted units and, very soon, the country was throbbing with units hanging out of holes in walls, their condensate dripping onto the public or private land below. In the beginning I believe that no thought was given to masking the units for three reasons:

• they were seen to be a part of the new and unfamiliar development and, as such, there were no expectations or education,
• architects didn’t – and, to a large extent, still seem not to – incorporate the requirements of utilities in their designs, and
• there may have been an element of displaying new acquisitions, something which was also to be seen in habits such as the reluctance to take shipping labels off new cars, keeping new furniture wrapped, and the setting out of furniture in rooms.

This lack of thought still continues with new buildings so it is not surprising that there are difficulties with the incorporation of modern utilities in refurbished old buildings. Here is a photograph, taken on a new and expensively finished building, showing an exposed air conditioning unit next to a screen masking a small window. A similar screen might have been considered for the air-conditioning unit.

As you can see, these two photographs were taken from the same photograph, but illustrate two points. The top photographs illustrate a very typical arrangement for air-conditioners where even relatively new developments – here a row of shops – have air-conditioning poorly integrated with their façades, in fact not integrated at all. This type of arrangement is very typical not just of shops but of residential areas which I have mentioned previously, and severely detracts from the comfort of the space immediately outside the shop. The only thing in their favour is that they are above the height at which they might be walked into.

In order to ameliorate one of the main problems of this arrangement, the shopkeepers have located tins on the pavement in order to catch the condensate and stop it splashing onto the pavement and running away, thus creating a nuisance if not a hazard. But in doing so they have created another danger of walking into the tins, and which is also an ugly solution.

I’ve included this photograph as it illustrates the most commonly seen treatment of building façades, particularly in its use of perforated naqsh or mushrabiya and the treatment of wall mounted air-conditioning units. Although there is no solar protection made to the windows there is a useful device of a small projecting rain hood above the windows to help shed water moving down the face of the building over the window. This is an important detail because the seals between window units and the window opening can not be relied upon.

There are two other issues to note in this photograph. The first is the common problem seen all over the State, that of unprotected air-conditioning units. Many architects neither see them as an element to be treated both architecturally as well as environmentally, protecting the unit from the sun and rain as well as treating it aesthetically. The second point to note is the the lack of consideration for treating and protecting – in a similar manner to the air-conditioning units – the water tanks on the roof. Architects’ drawings never show them and most seem unaware that something can and should be done about them.

While I’m about it, I should add this photo taken in one of the older areas of Doha. Television has always been popular in Qatar and every house used to have at least one aerial to pick up whatever was available from inside and outside the country. But there has been little control on it and, in some areas of the country the result is a mess of aerials and cables.

The photograph also illustrates a little bit of local design where an owner has added dentate crenellation to the top of his parapet. I have written earlier on this page about the possible origin of this detail, and it is interesting to see it here in a situation where it is not needed but can only be a design feature. Having said that I have to admit it looks attractive to me in the way it combs into the sky, and has a resonance in the traditional architecture of Qatar.

Here we see the common treatment and use of domestic roofs. The water tanks are fibreglass nowadays. These tanks used to be constructed of galvanised steel and were the source of brown water from their rusting. There are still problems with steel being introduced into water systems but it is increasingly rare in new buildings. You will see that there is no solar protection to the water tank. This can be a bonus. It used to be the practice to obtain hot water from the solar-heated water tank in summer, cold water being drawn from the internal hot water tanks where it had time to cool.

There are two other things to note on the roof. Firstly, steel starter bars are often included as a mark of faith in changing planning regulations in the hope that another storey or more might be added to the structure at a later date. Some of these starter bars are not continuations of the columns below but short steel cages hammered into the drying concrete as the roof is constructed. Secondly, there is little or no waterproof treatment of the roof other than a coat of a proprietary material which, more often than not, permits water ingress with time.

Returning to air-conditioning, separate units were and still are preferred as they are less expensive than split or central systems. Curiously, it is not unusual to see houses which have both central systems as well as split or wall-mounted units, for reasons I don’t want to go into here.

This may not be the right place to put this photograph but it might be useful here as it shows the inside view of a wall-mounted air-conditioning unit. Not just that, it illustrates a very common standard of location, attention to detail, the surrounding wooden trim, and the location and quality of the attendant, necessary, electrical socket outlet and connecting wiring. This is not uncommon.

Here is another photograph taken in the wind tower house, showing the installation of an air-conditioning unit in a traditional building. The electrical wiring is in and has been painted white, but the condensate hose has yet to be fitted and led outside. It is also notable that there appears to be a blanking plate, presumably hiding a lighting point to which cable has been led, on the face of the column on the right. Whether to hide cabling or not has always been a source of fierce debate. Here they seem to have both systems.

The arguments that were made about this treatment at first dealt with the need to have air-conditioning at all bearing in mind that what was being re-created was traditional architecture. However, the arguments that prevailed suggested that,

• traditional buildings can, quite properly, be added to in order to take advantage of modern developments,
• in today’s conditions it is necessary for there to be a higher degree of comfort than there was in the past,
• air-conditioning helps to preserve furniture, fixtures and fittings within the serviced room,
• rooms, such as those now developed as museums, would be used at different times from those their original use would have seen, and
• it is not possible to use traditional air-conditioning systems as they rely on an occupant tuning the building constantly dependent upon prevailing weather conditions.

So, now these buildings are preserved for those who may never have seen the kinds of building their parents were brought up in, but in a manner which doesn’t reflect the original conditions. I suppose it can be argued that there is a distinction between the traditional building in its construction and fitting out, and modern additions to it – the air-conditioning, lighting and provision of water. My own view is that they should be kept in their original condition, kerosene lamps and all.

Although I complained earlier about the lack of consideration for the screening of utilities, there are signs of change. Here, a café near the sea on Al Khalifat has air-conditioning units screened by a design based on traditional naqsh carving, though the pipework is still exposed. Their incorporation into the design of the building and its landscaping is questionable, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

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Modern construction

I don’t intend to write much here about modern construction other than to give a brief description of the basic materials and methods used throughout the country. The main reason for this is because, except for a handful of projects which use pre-cast units fabricated on- or off-site, the same materials are common to all projects. However, as you can see from this photograph, times are changing and construction methods have had to change. I intend to write more about this later.

Reinforced or mass concrete, concrete blocks and cement mortar are the major building materials in Qatar as they are in many parts of the world. The only differentiation between projects is quality control and this, to a large extent, depends on the character and quality of the workforce and their supervisors, and the knowledge and expectations of the client.

The most prestigious project in terms of concrete and its control was, probably, the Gulf University, constructed at the north end of the New District of Doha. International companies of contractors and engineers were responsible for the detailed design and construction of the unusual project. Similar high standards were used on the five hundred bed hotel on the point of the New District of Doha where pre-cast units, manufactured on site were hung on a steel frame erected as a design/build project by foreign contractors.

Although foreign contractors came into Qatar to carry out projects, there were significant efforts made for skills transfer in order that the local contractors could build up their expertise and become dependent. Today there are significant numbers of contractors operating at all scales of construction.

Ownership of the construction companies is in the hands of nationals but, by and large, the day-to-day running, project management and workforce are all ex-patriate. Consequently the standard of work varies enormously with no real advances being made in design or techniques.

These four photographs illustrate the character of three different scales of development in Qatar. As is the case all over the world, the workmanship that goes into any scale of project can differ widely, independent of that scale. Small is not necessarily going to produce a poor result, and vice versa, though it is a truism that the larger companies tend to be better organised now than they were, and this might produce better quality work.

The small project at the top right illustrates the use of formwork to create concrete column, barrel vault and arch features designed by the architect. Concrete blocks for walls and columns require no great skill in constructing though the applied marble cladding needs to be placed by a skilled mason. The site is not as tidy as it might be but it does reflect the character of small scale construction in Qatar.

The second photograph was taken of a multi-storey structure in the centre of Doha which used a combination of in-situ concrete work combined with pre-cast concrete floor planks and concrete blockwork. The work appeared to be relatively neat and accurately set out. There was some leakage between formwork joints, a problem particularly in hot climates, but the site looked organised and tidy, usually a sign which translates into good workmanship.

The third and fourth photographs are here to illustrate the scale and character of some of the developments under way in Qatar. They were taken on the New District of Doha and, while not unusual for a developing country, show a considerably greater scale of building activity than would have been the case ten years ago. If you look around the urban design pages you will see more of this activity in and around the capital. The upper of these two photographs shows, among other things, the character of the sub-soil conditions obtaining in the New District of Doha, an area reclaimed from the sea in the nineteen-seventies. Note the length of the piles. The lower photograph illustrates the character of some of the new architecture being constructed there with the City Mall on the right, one of the largest commercial developments in Qatar.

Fire hazard in buildings under construction

Construction can be a dangerous activity. Many believe this to relate to mechanical problems – construction workers being hurt by materials, processes, the accidental movement of vehicles and equipment, or by their tools – all this more likely if the working areas are dark or untidy, and if they are tired. It is certainly true that construction sites are dangerous places and they and workers need significant safety controls if workers are to be able to work in relative safety. But these two photographs, taken in November 2005 and May 2006 respectively, illustrate the danger of fire. The Al Nasr twin towers have suffered fire twice now, the second occurence affecting both towers. I understand none of the construction workers was hurt though a number of fire-fighters were. Qatar’s press believes that the state’s fire-fighting capabilities have not been able to keep in step with the rapid increases of the construction industry.

This third photograph shows the top of one of the towers some time after the fire was put out. Fire, apart from the obvious danger to those working on the building, can dramatically affect materials and their fixings. Often elements of the building must be taken off and replaced as the fire not only damages elements of the building, some of them hidden in ducts, but compromises both the integrity of fixings as well as the capability of completing associated works.

Here you can see the smoke-blackened exterior, but you can’t smell it. The damage caused by smoke, even in small quantities, can take a long time to clear away. In a building which has not been fitted out this may not be so difficult, but is made considerably more of a problem when there are any soft furnishings. It is also extremely more expensive and usually requires throwing away anything into which the smoke has worked its way.

This problem is common all over the world and shows how dangerous sites can be even though buildings appear to be constructed out of fire-proof materials. While the materials of construction might well not be inflammable, there are always flammable materials lying around and with heat producing processes in operation. With no compartmenting of the building in place, fires can escalate rapidly. In many ways buildings under construction can be more dangerous to those within them than finished buildings. Nowadays there is significant interest in the problems of assuring safety in the event of fire during construction, something more difficult to design than with a completed building. However, with poor controls and practices allowing materials to be assembled in dangerous juxtaposition, it is not surprising that fires happen. Having said that, most deaths and injuries on construction sites are not due to fire.

I intend to write about the issues relating to fire safety associated with buildings in use elsewhere but it is interesting that, in Dubai, there are the beginnings of a concerted attempt to make occupied buildings more safe. While this relates to buildings which are held to be particularly important, safety measures which include pinpointing horizontal and vertical positioning within the building for fire-fighters is an obvious necessity. I should also point out that this seems to apply to completed and occupied buildings, not necessarily those under construction. Lives, property and assets are valuable, as are the operations which drive the activities within buildings. Business continuity is only assured through the safety in use of buildings.

The most significant problem with the materials used seems to be related to the aggregate. Qatar is a limestone peninsula and the aggregate is, of course, limestone. Regrettably the local limestone is relatively soft and deteriorates relatively rapidly when wet. Although it is an extreme example, the photograph here is of one of the pre-cast bench units on the Corniche where the aggressive sea action has badly damaged the surface of the unit. The material to the right, on which the units are set, are gabions – wire baskets filled with rocks, used to form a relatively stable base for further construction. This requires aggregate to be properly protected within its concrete mix, which implies very careful selection, mix and testing. This is not always the case. The situation where the problem seems to be most commonly seen is on pre-cast concrete kerb units.

This photograph shows the original design of the Corniche sea wall. The top of the wall is set at sitting height so that the public can sit on it facing either direction, the design is robust and in keeping with its marine location and, extremely importantly, so that the horizon could be seen without being interrupted by the railings originally mooted.

The taller buildings in Qatar, particularly those located in the New District of Doha need substantial foundations to transmit the loads placed on them. I believe that both bearing and friction pile systems have been employed depending on the loads and local conditions. Here a worker levels off the top of a pile which has been cast with considerable steel in it. It is interesting to note that the steel is relatively clean, a practice that has not always been followed.

Steelwork is not always properly prepared, a necessary procedure due to the high humid, maritime climate. In fact there used to be a theory held by some contractors that rusted steel gave the concrete a better grip. I don’t know how well times have changed but I have also seen steel starter bars – the steel bars sticking out of the floor of a slab, and from which the next storey columns are cast – being hammered in from the top by workers, rather than being a continuation of the column reinforcement below.

The placing of steelwork reinforcement is always problematic. Not only is it often to be seen trodden down to the bottom of the formwork, there are many instances of it being taken through into balcony areas at the same level as it is set for the adjacent floor, rather than being moved to the top of the slab as is necessary for a cantilevered slab. This can be seen in many areas where rusted steel can be seen exposed on the soffit of balconies. Not only is spalling concrete dangerous to anything or anybody on whom it falls, but the weakening of the balcony has the potential for the whole balcony to fail.

Formwork for concrete is often of poor quality on small- and middle-range jobs. As I wrote earlier, it doesn’t follow that small projects are badly constructed; it all depends on the supervision. Concrete poured into loose formwork tends to leak the fines – mostly cement and water – which weakens the mix and produces concrete of uneven strength. Allied to this problem is the difficulty of curing concrete slowly in a very hot climate, again something which seems rarely to happen.

Having complained about the quality of the concrete generally, I have to say that the finishing of many projects can be of extremely high quality. Marble cladding, tiling, cabinetry, gypsum plasterwork and the like are often beautifully finished. This photograph gives a glimpse of a gypsum ceiling being constructed inside a house, as well as a view of the way in which the window opening is being lined with marble. The stone cladding with contrasting quoins add texture. Which reminds me that all buildings become covered in a fine coating of dust from the desert winds. White walls tend to show this up whereas a colour and texture such as on this building will hide it well and reduce maintenance.

And here is a building under demolition. In this photograph of one of the first floor rooms you can clearly see the cross-section of the fibrous plaster ceiling and its supporting sub-structures. Incidentally, you can also see the curious amalgam of design styles, a cross between Western and Arabic, but perhaps more of the former that was, and is, a feature of many house interiors. It is also evident that the plenum behind the ceiling appears not to have been used for air-conditioning and that wall-mounted units were used, the frame for one of them just visible behind the column in the far right corner of the room.

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Safety

It is difficult to know where to begin with regard to safety in the construction industry. All over the world the construction industry has a mediocre to poor record. Building sites are intrinsically dangerous places in which to work, and a wide variety of factors come into play when looking at safety on site. At its simplest, hazards on site with regard to construction and excavation can be considered to fall into two categories:

• health, and
• safety,

into which a number of countries have formulated legislation and codes with a view to improving safety on sites generally, and particularly with reducing the numbers of people injured or killed there.

Safety hazards include, but are not limited to falls from height, crushing, being struck by falling objects, electrocution, fire, and contact with motorised vehicles, machinery and equipment.

Health hazards include, but are not limited to the impact of, or contact with noise, materials such as lead and asbestos, paints, solvents and aggressive materials, and manual handling activities.

Health and safety applies not only to those working on sites but to those moving around off site and, in a general sense, applies to protecting the public from the processes involved in site construction, on and off site.

A number of factors create or combine to produce conditions under which construction site staff may be at risk. So it is reasonable to require that those on site should be fit and healthy, rested and not tired, trained for both the duties they have to perform as well as having at least a general understanding of the processes and procedures of the sites on which they work. In the Gulf generally, there is concern continually reported in the local press that this is not understood and that workers do not have the resources they need both in terms of equipment and training, but also in terms of their being fit for work.

Construction workers need to be protected, often from their own carelessness. Sites need to be kept clean and tidy at all times, workers need to wear protective clothing sufficient to enable them to work properly while protected against common problems. Helmets and reinforced boots are now commonly available on many sites, but high visibility tabards, protective goggles, ear defenders, and breathing equipment for certain activities or locations must be available and, where necessary, worn. Just as important, the number of hours worked, in whole and at a time, needs to be carefully monitored, workers need to be fed and watered regularly and generally looked after in order for them to operate to their optimal capacity.

All this is slowly becoming a part of working practice in Qatar but there remain dramatic differences in the application of site safety practices due to a number of factors. One of these is the sheer amount of work being carried out and the speed that is being demanded on building sites. But there are also difficulties persuading both workers and their managers that there are good reasons for working safely.

It has been suggested to me that there is a degree of fatalism in workers that argues they are not fully in command of their own safety and so don’t have to worry too much. Combined with this there is also a degree of machismo among construction workers that militates against their behaving sensibly and, to a degree, ensuring the safety of others.

These first three photographs show workers operating above grade with no protection to prevent their falling. On the cantilevered staging, the boards are loose laid and only one of the men in the two photographs is wearing a hard hat and none are wearing overalls. In the lowest of the three photographs the workers are balancing on two blocks and operating six floors up at an unprotected opening.

This is replicated in the next two photographs. None of the men is wearing a hard hat, though it appears that the men in the first photograph are all wearing protective boots. These photographs illustrate a common attitude to work which can be seen all round Doha on the larger sites, though far more dangerous practices can be seen on smaller sites where workers are not properly equipped or, when they are, choose not to use their equipment properly. Much of these problems can be countered by proper supervision, but it seems not to happen. Those in charge of safety on Western sites will tell you that safety values, or lack of them, tend to operate as a whole across individual sites. They stem from a combination of management intent and experienced foremen ensuring standards are met and practices followed. One of the easy ways to judge a site is by its cleanliness.

This site, for instance appears to be a hazard not only to its workers but to anybody passing or moving around the periphery of the site. There is a rudimentary protection at the opening but most of the rest of the building lacked even this at the open edges of floors above grade. There was also, at ground level, a massive pile of masonry and timber with material being added to it by being thrown off the building with no regard for passers-by, coincidentally creating a secondary problem for sorting and clearing away.

The photographs shown here were not taken to demonstrate specific problems and seem generally representative of what is happening around the country. In many respects, particularly on smaller sites, there seems to have been little progress in attitudes to working in sites. Commonly, workers avoid wearing hard hats as they feel safer without them, and certainly more comfortable, particularly in hot weather. Where hard hats are worn, many wear them in a stylish manner rather than properly sized and secured to the head. In addition to which, many workers prefer to wear flip-flops rather than protective boots. Some say it is because the site doesn’t provide them; some say that it is a question of the worker having to pay for them, a cost they can’t afford. I don’t know the extent to which either is true.

more to be written…

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Conservation, restoration and reconstruction

Since the early nineteen seventies there has been an interest in Qatar in preserving something of the built past. The most notable effort was the conversion of the old Amiri Palace on feriq al Salata into the Doha National Museum, a relatively successful development involving both preservation, reconstruction and the insertion of a new building into the complex.

Regrettably the manner in which this initiative was carried out did not act as a guide to the preservation of other buildings in Qatar other than the Development Museum immediately adjacent to the Grand Mosque in the nineteen eighties, two historic buildings as part of the new Diwan al Amiri complex completed in the nineteen nineties, and the wind tower house in the centre of Doha completed in the early part of this century. Work has also been carried out latterly on the fort in the north of the country at al-Zubara as well as the fortified buildings at Umm Salal Muhammad. The former appears to have been carried out accurately, though I am not sure about the latter. I have written about these and the redevelopment of Suq Waqf elsewhere as they appear to have been dealt with differently, particularly the latter.

Perhaps the lack of interest in preserving the past was due to a primary focus on constructing new buildings on a modern infrastructure. To be fair it appears that the importance of the past has now been recognised and attempts are being made to re-create something of it both in buildings as well as other areas such as dance, music and the arts. But these are not easy policies to follow. They can easily lead to pastiche supplanting reality in a recreation of the past and, worse, the creation of a past that never existed. Bearing in mind the policies aimed at developing tourism, the manner in which old buildings are dealt with must be extremely carefully considered if parts of the built environment are not going to resemble a theme park.

This photograph might illustrate one of those difficulties with reconstructing old buildings in a previous style. I have mentioned elsewhere that Suq Waqf has been reconstructed in a slightly different style from its original architecture, and the difficulties there are in avoiding the creation of a theme park style architecture.

Here the old building has been constructed with, among other elements, protruding danjal. In the past buildings were constructed from materials readily to hand, stones from the desert, juss and nuwra, both relatively easily acquired. The most expensive material used was timber, both that used for roof construction as well as for doors and windows. For this reason most timber was re-used which accounts for danjal being often of irregular lengths as it would have been an expensive mistake to trim a danjal, reducing its value, and find you needed a longer one later. Bear in mind that traditional constructions had to be maintained every year and that a building might be considered to have a thirty-year life with reasonable maintance.

The danjal shown in this photo are smaller than would have been in the original buildings and theoretically illustrate the relatively lack of wealth of the owner of the building. The new shutters are a quite different matter and illustrate considerable wealth. It is in areas of contradiction such as this that pastiche has some of its difficulties.

Here you can see a little more of the method of reconstruction of one of these new old buildings. It appears from the colour of the matrix that it may be that juss is being used to hold the stones together, and not cement. Timber centring is being used to create the arches on the left but you can see that horizontal concrete beams have been introduced in place of the mangrove poles which, like the danjal, formed the basis for horizontal elements in traditional buildings. So, here you have pastiche with different materials being used to produce the different effects needed to mimic a traditional building. Repairing traditional buildings and re-creating the form of traditional buildings may be argued to suggest or require different forms of construction. But if the resulting form is to give the appearance of traditional architecture, then it seems correct to provide it accurately otherwise the visitor will not be able to enjoy the full experience of this form of architecture. The danger is that it will be debased and, in this, the visitor will see both the architecture and its wider setting, Qatar, as less than genuine.

When considering the treatments available for old structures in Qatar, policies can be seen to form a range that will contribute to the eventual character of those structures. They might be thought to form a hierarchy of treatments ranging from

• conservation, and
• restoration, to
• reconstruction, and
• construction,

but it has to be borne in mind that not only do these treatments overlap, the saving or redevelopment of a structure might include differing proportions of these treatments.

More important, it has also to be remembered that not only is the reconstruction of buildings subject to fashion, but the meaning, policies and detailing of conservation, restoration and reconstruction also vary with time.

Conservation

Conservation, at its basic level, relates to the treatment of buildings and their associated fittings and finishes that are in a vulnerable state. The main thrust of the policies will be to prolong the life of the building and will include, but not be limited to, treatments that include preventative, technical and environmental measures as well as policies relating to the preservation of the elements of the building. Preservation and conservation are not the same thing and need to be distinguished when formulating plans for dealing with the building.

Identification of the treatments necessary for preserving the building depend on analysis and interpretation. These will identify the dating and provenance of the architectural elements of the building, leading to an understanding of the structural and material performance of the fabric. The aim of this work is to avoid loss or damage and to identify treatments for the sympathetic and appropriate preservation of the elements of the building.

The thrust of conservation is to prevent deterioration while preserving buildings for future generations.

Restoration

Contrasting with conservation, restoration deals with the rehabilitation of a building to something approaching its original state. It is likely to incorporate a significant amount of conservation in order to protect and safeguard the building.

It is worth setting out the principles given by Brandi as quoted by Vaccaro to define restoration:

• rejection of imitative restoration,
• respect for the traces of time and the impossibility of erasing them from an object,
• using restoration to give back to an object the unity it has lost through interference and alterations,
• taking the original context into consideration,
• respect for the present context, and
• filling lacunae so the intervention is recognisable at close range but not from a distance.

As I wrote earlier, this subject is very much dependent upon taste and fashion and has changed dramatically over time. It seems to me that Qatar is entering upon this in a comparable manner to that which obtained in the West some time ago. In this I am referring to the tendency to confuse restoration with reconstruction and the loss of information relating to the original buildings.

Where people will be using the buildings, whether in a passive or active role, policies will need to be formulated to protect both them as well as the building. These will range over a variety of subjects but are likely to include at least the following:

• structural safety,
• structural movement,
• fire risk,
• decay of the building fabric,
• water ingress,
• damage to the historic fabric,
• building security,
• safety in use, and
• use improvements such as access for the disabled.

Further policies will need to deal with issues relating to the incorporation of elements that could not have been present in the original building. The most important of these are:

• lighting,
• air-conditioning,
• heating,
• water, and
• sanitary services and facilities.

Related to this, one of the most significant problems I have experienced is decisions on the location of wiring for the above services. Craftsmen working on the restoration of traditional buildings have argued that, as the wiring would not have existed in the old buildings, it should be surface mounted and seen as an addition to those buildings. They feel strongly that wiring and associated switching should not be hidden. This has led to the provision of highly-visible red Pyro wiring face-fixed to walls and ceilings. As an important consequence, decisions have to be made on:

• wiring, and
• switches.

A further problem is the development of policies dealing with the installation of systems related to the presentation of the buildings which, again, would not have been present in the original building. These are likely to include, but not be limited to:

• visitor monitoring,
• audio-visual presentations,
• signing,
• security and safety installations,
• telecommunication systems, and
• external and internal lighting systems,

some of which are inter-related and need to be considered carefully with regard to the specific requirements of each building and its intended use.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction is thought by many to be the same as restoration or even conservation. Plainly it isn’t, but it does indicate the relatively new concept that restoration represents within the country.

Many of the old buildings that have been selected for saving have not been maintained for so long that they are, or were, in a dangerous state. The reason for this is that the walls – hayt or suwr – were constructed from desert stones, hasa, or stones from the sea – hasa bahri – bonded only by juss – a limestone mortar matrix, with a protective render of juss to shield the construction. As the stones are irregular they can not form a mechanical bond but rely on the juss for structural integrity, together with mangrove poles over openings and, sometimes, across corners to give additional strength. Maintained, the structures are thought to be safe for thirty years or so but, left to the elements, they quickly deteriorate as water attacks the juss.

For this reason most of the restorations of buildings in Qatar have been, in effect, reconstructions, even to the extent that buildings have been brought down to be re-built. The difficulty with this is twofold:

• a lot of the information incorporated in the original building has been lost to this and following generations, and
• the methods of restoration or rebuilding have not replicated the original methods.

When carrying this out, information needs to be collected and collated. A study of the original building prior to any work taking place should aim to explore and identify a range of values relating to the site and the building upon it. This study should cover at least the significance of the site, both in general as well as in terms of its specific components. This will incorporate views from a communal, socio-religious, educational and aesthetic perspective, as well as dealing with the site from a local, regional or national point of view.

I believe that there may also have been insufficient work carried out on the operation of buildings both in themselves as well as within their neighbourhood. We are beginning to lose information about living conditions that obtained only a generation ago. This relates to a wide variety of mechanisms such as itinerant merchants both on foot and donkeys, as well as to the operation of households in traditional buildings. Details of this such as the use of ground date stones in place of flour, the use and treatment of low quality water, and play patterns for both girls and boys need to be recorded and made available to those visiting buildings opened as museums relating the past. Without this, old buildings are just objects.

In addition to this the details relating to construction need to be investigated and recorded. Already the State is relying on foreign experts to provide details of a number of arts, not just building, which, in many cases are incorrect and do not reflect the true history of the country. Once this history has been supplanted by a different view, the real history will have been lost for all time. A couple of details might illustrate this.

Reconstructed buildings are nowadays held together not by juss, but using cement mortar. At least we know that the old structures were built with juss, but limestone hasa held together with juss behave differently both structurally as well as environmentally from a cement matrix.

Many of the elements of traditional buildings are constructed of recycled materials. Mangrove poles are a good example of this. the reason why they are incorporated into buildings and stick out from the walls at different lengths is that most people could not afford to match poles and trim them to the same lengths in case they would not be long enough to place in another building at a later date. In addition, random length poles did not cost as much as matched poles.

A third example might be doors and windows which were constantly recycled in buildings due to their high cost. It is obviously far easier and cheaper to construct a door opening to suit an existing door than construct a doorway and have a door made to fit it.

So, reconstruction is the favoured method of dealing with those buildings selected for preservation. In many respects this has been a relative success if just in terms of existing buildings having been kept for future generations to see. In some cases this may not have been as successful as others. An unfortunate example is the wind tower house in the centre of Doha which, originally constructed within a tight urban environment to draw air down into the house complex, it now stands free of other development, contradicting the rationale for the wind tower.

Construction

I have added construction to these notes on conservation and the like as there is a new trend in the country: the construction of new traditional buildings. Suq Waqf is such an example. It appears that there are policies to promote tourism some of which are leading to the restoration of old buildings. But Suq Waqf is in a quite different class; here the development is new construction and, looking at comments on the Internet it is clear that there is some confusion on the part of the public as to whether they are looking at old or new development.

In the West generally, and particularly with regard to Western professionals, there is a strong feeling against this kind of work. The rationale is that new buildings deserve to be constructed from modern materials in a modern style. Suq Waqf is obviously not designed from this point of view but is a deliberate attempt to build in the style of the traditional buildings of Qatar. Criticism suggests that this has not been achieved. The suq fails in terms of its massing, its materials of construction, and its detailing. Criticism has also been levelled at it because it demeans the rationale of a the old suq, reducing it to the level of a theme park.

I have written previously of the trend to produce an architecture more suited to a transient population, and it is from this perspective that the suq makes sense. The people visiting and using the old suq are now more likely to be visitors to the country, or those living in the country wanting to learn a little of the past. Whether the suq is effective in achieving this latter objective is another matter though I believe that it is a popular place to visit. However, popularity and authenticity do not necessarily go together. My own feeling is that while I can understand the decisions that led to Suq Waqf being constructed in the manner it has, I wish it had been carried out in a more authentic manner. While it may be true that the old architecture of Qatar has been lost, I think the architecture replacing it should be more reliable in its detailing. Having said that, Suq Waqf is a brave attempt to tell something of the past to visitors to the country.

Development of the building industry

The nineteen-fifties saw a number of new buildings being constructed, but it was housing that formed a significant percentage of construction, along with the beginnings of the infrastructure construction – roads, drainage, electricity and water distribution. But it was housing that gave ordinary Qataris the opportunity to develop their construction and management skills while developing the economic basis of the country.

I have written elsewhere about the character of the natural materials of the peninsula, particular the limestone. In essence it is relatively soft, dissolving in long term contact with water. The results of this can be seen in a number of natural dahl formations and, in construction, with deterioration in concrete and road paving.

In the middle of the last century a number of quarries such as the one shown here opened up in order to provide the fledgling construction industry with its raw materials. Aggregates were won and supplied in large quantities with little or no control on their quality. This, combined with lack of controls in the construction process saw a considerable waste of resources, regrettably demonstrating itself particularly in the houses for ordinary Qataris.

This housing, and much else, had a standard construction, suited to the development of the building industry and the materials available for construction. Cement was produced in the west of the country at Umm Bab, and sand was readily available as was limestone aggregate. The main problems were two-fold: much of the material had a heavy saline content and shell sand was often used to lighten concrete as well as to provide, it was thought, some degree of insulation. In addition, the soft aggregate was unsuited to a number of important constructions such as the Corniche wave protection units, the aggregate for which had to be imported from Ras al-Khaimah, creating a problem at the time.

In those early days local construction companies were given no more than six housing units to build and, in a sense, developed their skills on these first housing projects. This was the manner in which the State began the development of its building industry.

more to be written… shell sand, steel, rust, concrete mix, management, on-site and off-site, work force, equipment, supervision, practices