MASSIVE AND PROTECTED BUT NEVER INTROVERTED
Doha’s emerging business district, the Corniche is a waterfront promenade along the Doha Bay. On the contrary to neighboring high-rises, that are frequently sheer glass, the building will look more massive and protected but never introverted. The construction rises on a circular plan; 14 columns carry the whole structure with a 52 meter radius. The core is situated in the middle and the units placed around it; the floor plans give the impression of a pie chart. Like a saw-toothed edge of a leaf, the plan of the installation looks like a cogwheel, due to the organization of vertical screening slabs. The indents and cogs born out of the basic footprint becomes an integral part of the floor planning. Twisting above the plinth, the high-rise erects smoothly from the ground level. The base appears like the skirt of the main body, the vertical slabs attenuate the robust mass of the building while providing a sun screen spinning around the whole surface. The high performance façade allows glass openings and opaque surfaces relatively, depending on the sun direction. The vertical lines enfolding the structure create a more fragile impression then one thick standard block, rising over the podium resembling folding drapes of an evening gown. The outer shell, in the form of ribs, arrays sequential openings, through which the interiors receive efficient daylight. The opaque form is produced in glass fiber reinforced concrete, a lightweight high-tech building material that eases the construction process. Articulated with perforations, the concrete portions allow diffused light to fill spaces of the interiors, creating a shady, tranquil and almost a spiritual environment.
