Doha Tower is a skyscraper in Doha, Qatar, it's one of the most iconic buildings in the city. Below are facts about Doha Tower.
Name
The official and Arabic name of the building is "برج دوحة", which is pronounced as "Burj Doha", "Burj" literally means "tower", the building is generally referred to as Tower of Doha or Doha Tower.
and previously named as Burj Qatar and Doha High Rise Office Building.
In 2004 the project was first named as High Rise Office Building, and after completion of construction in 2012 it was branded as Burj Doha by the owner, H. E. Sheikh Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani.
The nickname Condom Tower is given to the building by the public for its phallic form.
Location
Doha Tower is located on Al Corniche Street in West Bay, Doha, Qatar, overlooking the Persian Gulf.
The Al Corniche Street is located right beside the coastline of the city, this makes the tower a prominent component of the skyline of Doha seen from the gulf, as no other buildings block it.
The building can be easily picked out among the buildings in Doha, due to the waterfront location and the building's unique shape.
Height
The architectural height of Doha Tower is 238 meters or 781 feet, this height is measured from the base of the tower to the tip of its spire. The tower is the 6th tallest building in Doha and Qatar by architectural height.
The spire-removed height of the tower is around 205 meters.
The tower has 46 floors above ground, the highest occupied floor is at 190 meters (625 feet).
Uses
Doha Tower is mainly used as an office building, there is also a restaurant above the office floors, the top floor is occupied by a private luxury residence, the residence is located within the dome of the tower, at a height of 182 meters from the ground, it offers 360 degree aerial views of the surrounding city.
Three floors below the ground provide parking space that can accommodate up to 870 cars for the tenants.
Design and Development
Doha Tower was designed in 2004 by French architect Jean Nouvel, who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2008. The building's cylindrical shape can also be found on a skyscraper in Barcelona which the architect designed earlier. The architect himself described the tower with this kind of form as having phallic character. The tower is topped by a full-span dome and a spire.
Unlike most traditional buildings, Doha Tower doesn't have a central core, its service core is off-center, in this way the available interior space is maximized, in addition, a series of reinforced concrete columns in diagrid (diagonal grid) form are built adjacent to inner side of the curtain wall, to structurally support the building. These columns are canted and intersected with each other, forming the shape crosses.
Diagrid system obviates the need for traditional columns that are spreading over floor spaces, it can effectively support buildings like traditional columns, it can be seen at the exterior of many buildings around the world, most notably, the Gherkin in London, which is also a cylindrical-shape building, the difference is that the diagrid system used on Doha Tower is placed inside the building's facade, the tower is the first skyscraper that has internal diagrid columns.
The facade of the tower is comprised of two layers, the inner layer is a traditional curtain wall, while the outer layer is a intricately patterned stainless steel screen.
The facade screen is a reference to the ancient Islamic design, Mashrabiya. On the screen, a single geometric motif of different scales are overlaid along the facade, the screen is designed to shade the building from the sun, reducing the temperatures inside the building, and to shade the sand residue found on the glass of the facade. As the solar conditions are different on four sides, the densities of the motif layers overlaid on the facade is designed to be different on four sides of the building, the opacity is significantly higher on the sides facing the sun, however, the difference can't be seen at all seen from a distance.
Another purpose of the design of Mashrabiya is that it can protect the activities of building's occupants from being seen, while it can still offer the occupants good outside views.
The use of traditional Islamic design in this modern building expresses the local culture, in October 2012, Chicago based organization CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) awarded Doha Tower the CTBUH Skyscraper Award for Best Tall Building Worldwide.
Apart from the layered motifs, an lighting system is integrated in the facade screen, when nights come, the facade screen is enhanced with programmable light shows.
The total gross floor area of the building is approximately 110,000 square meters.
Three levels underground are occupied by a parking lot, which can accommodate a total of 870 cars for the office tenants.
Doha Tower was developed by H.E. Sheikh Saoud Bin Mohamed Bin Ali Al-Thani, who was also the owner of the tower. The construction of the building was contracted by China State Construction Engineering Corporation, the construction began in 2005 and completed in 2012. The construction cost $125 million.