2016 Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena’s practice, ELEMENTAL, has won a competition to design an Art Mill in Doha, Qatar. The Chilean practice has been selected from a shortlist of 8 competitors which included Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Atelier Bow-Wow. Their design was praised by the jurors who described it to be “a serene artwork, [in which] the structure is the architecture.”
EMENTAL’s “Art Mill” concept design. Image © ELEMENTAL / Malcolm Reading Consultants
Elemental’s design concept was inspired by “the rhythmic monumental grain silos that are the industrial legacy of the original Flour Mills on the site, which have produced bread for the State since the 1980s.” The designers have decided to add to the “strict geometry” of these old silos, new loosely grouped ones to act as cooling chimneys for the site which extends on three sides of Doha Bay.
The designers will, now, be cooperating with Qatar Museums, for further development of the design concept. Also, a gallery will be held for the eight shortlisted designs, including the runner-up design by Adam Khan Architects. When completed, the Art Mill project will be joining the other two major cultural institutions in Qatar: the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei, and the National Museum of Qatar, designed by Jean Nouvel.
