By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: The less known story behind the first building in Qatar Foundation’s (QF) flagship project Education City was shared at an architecture conference, ‘Learning from Education City’ yesterday.
Ibrahim Jaidah, Qatari architect who designed and had much responsibility in laying the cornerstone of the first building said he was “thrilled” to hear about the project which was to be built “literally in the middle of the desert.”
The present headquarters of QF in the city was the first building to be built as part of the project. Initially, it was meant to be a school.
“The (QF) headquarters now that was a school, that was even before Qatar Academy started…That was the first seed that came here, I couldn’t even imagine at that time that it going to be so huge,” he said.
Recalling a telephone call he received in 1995, Jaidah said, “Dr Saief Al Hajari called and told me that he has a message from H H the Father Emir. We went for a meeting and gave a presentation and at that stage I was thrilled.
“I was given a box full of black and white photos by the Father Emir that trained me to research about local architecture,” added Jaidah.
According to him, initially the project was to build a school to be run by Swiss people.
“I wanted to put it (school) in a nice atmosphere with a courtyard and a little fountain on the ground floor. This was literally in the middle of the desert,” said Jaidah.
He said he had to talk to land owners in the area and convince them about an educational project to be developed.
“I had to go and talk to them, some were farms, some desert. I had to say there is some vision for a city that going to host universities, and I couldn’t tell how big it is going to be,” recalled Jaidah.
Internationally renowned thinkers and architects discussed the beginning, development and design process of the city during the two-day conference at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Student Centre.
Hiroshi Aoki and Karim Chahal of Isozaki, Aoki and associates, who were in charge of implementing the master plan of the city drafted in 1992, gave a presentation on ‘The Design of Education City – The Vision and its beginnings’.
On challenges, Chahal said, “The challenge was how to create an anchor point that provides the city with the stance of unity and identity, when it’s (the master plan) is going to continuously expand.
Since the Master Plan was drafted in 1992, the site has expanded to more than triple its original area, from 220 hectares to 750 hectares. Extension includes the education campus, an Equestrian Park (Al Shaqab Stud) in the south, a Science and Technology Park, hospital, shopping centre, hotel, and residential areas.
The Peninsula
