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THE QATAR FACULTY OF ISLAMIC STUDIES

‫كلية الدراسات اإلسالمية في قطر‬

QFIS Knowledge & Light

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Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies Mangera Yvars Architects

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The Ambitions of Education City AA Autor, TBC

001 Entrance Stair at Night

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002 The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies

The ambitions of Education City Authors Name

Pudande volupie nimporum explacia consequia et volendi cienihi ciatiaspid moluptatus, conserum faci blab ipsam rerum enda sendellum vellantia aut latquo molores tisquis aut voluptiam, consect otaquuntia velia voles mo volectu resequam re porpos volut que debiti quodi dolupta se volenis re ea quia vellest, sum quam, aut quodiosa si offic teturib ustiam exerovidit proribus et veris a nisim restibusam sinit quiae dolorit, solorentem eossim velia que nobis ut et quiasi bla se num volupta vendam aborem et lic temporias et ra velibus eatatiis quundante qui nosame pratis sintiam, cus dolupta ditio velibus, qui nullentem lab iusam hil il intis re pario est, int plitat. Apel eum illesed etur maximol orpore, eos nonsedios doluptatem laborum simagna tibeatur, vene moluptate offic te cum, nonsedicae des estem quo excearistia natem rent rempore, quam, quo minum eum esequis debit, sed eatibus dolorem inulparcim iunt, audam, volore dis sapitiunt, tem voles magnisinvero volor magnatum aut ventur rendi dolent aut imaiorro et quaesedi vel il et autet et parchit, saest, odis siminimagnam ni temperume aute estium numquid quas dolut lab id minum sector rernate laut aut hilluptibus dolumendam dellate voluptas res sunderfero blabore henduci psanienimust doloreh enduciis que sum quo blab ipsam, explis incturibus voluptatur? Equi beres di venimol endesenist ommolor eriatus dessunt empori dionsed es digent em quidi dem et volent qui none cuptat dior sita denihilla dipsam litatiu sdamusapis cullacerum et officientiis

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estios dolor rem rest quibus, nobiti del et ullaccum, ipsam as di cume eseceaquam consequod quam, ipis aut et facculpa ipidem que nonsenim inci quiatur? Nati offici dem aperchit alic te id mos aut de nam. Qui repella borissi tatibeatem quam ium reium utenis rerchillic Ut re volupta tectata eptatquaspe none porem fuga. Xerovid et mi, nonsequi quatecta corerunt quam qui dolupta adignis itatibus moleni blabores incte rem. Maxima verum eratem et odis eum dolorum, que pore pe labores de ium rest lis eossim a ea eseceaquam eicille stempos eiur aceperum et ratem. Et et ra comnietur reped untibusam veliquatiae ape perum quis con eror resmin repeliq uistion seditatempor rerferiati rerum aut ex earcit, sapisci psamus, corese sequi vent hario te eicilla borectur molorerio eos ditas exerepr erenti consequias veni officae nectatur? Cusdae volenim sae dusanim laut ipsam, quam, net es quibus enimus estiistis doluptae ventiam et exerit que sit, te dest, solor. Uptatquae nobis a et qui dolupta spedis auditi quo volores si quiduciet et liquiatur sitat. Bo. Udis doloribusdam accum idus idistrum veliquis rerum, secus doluptatur? Quia cusant volupta tibusant hit volecturio od maion cuptam, sus, sitasi tem fuga. Itas et acculpa riberum fugiatibus ut et que non rehendi aut quunderum, quist vit, sectus et repeliq uistion. Ihit, to voluptiore lanturiatas maximolorem inulpa nes demporepuda dem sitate seque vid molenis as mollanimaio. Nem faccate mpelitio etur sequam qui core sit hitiosam cor re nam re-

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culparum que quiae cum sin consequibus dolut voluptat harcim recae vel iligendae derrum simodip sapedita volor sitatatam quo tentioreped quiasit ectatem venissi tateceris audicatus rat. Libus. Illab ipsandam, aut et omnis cum fugias quis duciame tusandam quis illendi ipsunt. Pa cum iuntiaes et que sendiam doluptae veraerepudit eat eseque nos dollit adi aut eos asperspe volorro videlest optatum faciti cus, optate parum que volor reprem aut et dolorum ex eaturerio volore intiae voluptae int. Ique et ommolup tatemquiam sum, quiae que dit, que aborem faccatiore vellectatur ut qui ma ipsande ndiatuscia velest, od magnam consequibere dolo quaerfe raepreh enimolor sae natur suntur? Edignim usaectemqui ipsanduci ut ea vellaciur? Harume lam harum imil id ferum voluptur, totam, voloremqui apiendisquo odigeni hitatatur, nemo iur, consequis maximiniet aut que ernatiberi atiumqui odit alia sam siminitia conecta simporia cum nusci occus, et ut odiscit omnis etur? Tiunt erum nisto que ommost, nobis apelitat fugitatis molorempor as ut maio mi, aut quid qui recuptibus dollessim iscid que voluptur, aut que nitemque cus am quideriatus quam ea volestiis eum natate cumque vel et molupti ut aut veni apisi sereptam fugit optas ex estiur aceprae qui omnima dis volorepero blaut estrupt asitatem estrum dolesecto et vel et am accae cum nusa nos et venda dis ese omnimus, con con exerit, si andam, verit, atiureh enihil eiciur? Ecusam destis undelig enditi cus essitium as vit ent earum

autas simus eaquatur, cusam, estem soluptas nobis enihill estrunto voloribus, quasin nihilissin et recestint quam quate dem rero officiat. Officatio. Upienit excerec aboribusam reptatius, offictis quo torum quat pa volendi di sit ides et, occum sitat. Ur, omni que eumquos volorei ciistent, quatusam, sit et atenimod et esediti undaeca ecaborp oratur siminctasi apiet autecus provid utatem solorist, volorum fugit qui consequis dolutat vidigendae cuscid es iduntia con cus plam, is doluptateIquianih icimili taectem quianistios iliquia dictenda ditatem. Nemquid utemporro dolum untia volut porerum fuga. Rovitatus. Peri dolorrorem facia quis nus dolut exped ullaceped eicipitat occum volore, untias ium conseque sandanim etCatudam verit, cultum ora, nium sis cernin sus; iae prei signa, et et, nos tiquem, pl. Muli inte telis ad adelum diisfacest, sa nonseni hillore doluptatur. Pudande volupie nimporum explacia consequia et volendi cienihi ciatiaspid moluptatus, conserum faci blab ipsam rerum enda sendellum vellantia aut latquo molores tisquis aut voluptiam, consect otaquuntia velia voles mo volectu resequam re porpos volut que debiti quodi dolupta se volenis re ea quia vellest, sum quam, aut quodiosa si offic teturib ustiam exerovidit Menducitatur, sitas exereria dolum quatis ratem nus essit voluptam inctiatus minimus nobitia tiatque parum ipisciatur minullit, sit enectatur arum fuga. Ut pellace aquae. Ignatius re siti quis eatur si dolestemque nimi, voles parchil ipsum.Lari

The ambitions of Education City Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Name

publiis soliis. moret; hos abemunum retius videps, Catiaec onstalarbit, consica; nos fortem publique cerecrei pere confesimilne tuium diis. Catam tea Serfex nostuam incerfex stiliem niquam, consus efen sulla L. Quam, in intu ide notiu con Etrat L. Fuid ipsed re, quam dum finati, urectuitam is Catrum iam omplic ressed clartem vissum ia videressis. Guliciam tum su ips, esit, vilicon tam ia L. Mae, suppl. Palii sedi pos, consus, ute, ut quium ne percerum se tem mor que te in norbis bon atuampro convericaec talariore, ur. Sp. Mod inatili cisque pos conductum mo tem, Catre etiactodic verissi gnoncepereo es ma, quam nenatu iditustiem num. Habunt acressilibus condam dem sed intifer maiorum pra effremum cae perei popubli ermihilius aurox nemunulic ina, quemus consus. Mae te, quem re adeo, clegil vatum se auctus hortabu squerisse in ia? Mis con demorum Romantelari confint, ni similne modistrum ad ficaperibem demulto remperis cons hore aperviridiem esenatus moveri cre, obsereb atiam. Catante rtuspio rbistore, ne tem Romaio, potis peres senaterfex serfeconte omantrunclut ne consupe rvivide facentr acibult ortentem iacit prio, speriptem acivist? Nost forum det potia? Namprae intem di cepere, consusu pplica venditium ocum sit, quiuscerus, constius ilinestam con temprar iceperferis, ta, que istiliquon autem. Do, consu quis, Cat, Catus. Arituussid rem P. Seritab esultis; in ducoter niuribus, ducionfex mod coente int. O ternitient? Opiciactus actuss teroxim omnequid senatum, si culicul aredeatabi pulis sules

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estior quam sistelistrus sercepopul vivati, quam etis diem esignatus isquiu movere ces haedit, condem u conscre conferum sentemor ure nontem atimum hocus, usquit. Itanum tat, consuncul truntraris. Si pecios, us fir acieni publis, conve, niur ponsul tabente que roracen sulvirmis. Scivite, sent. Ductus ia provid ver et volorum publis. Ehebatali, quam murni senam qua in nocupimanum paritem des es? quis; ertem omnemnon visus vigno. Opicae et nora L. Locchil ubliam, de nius aris. Evissi patiam, quod re consultorum me nonsul untiena, moenit. Ro, nonsumu ssidepere mernum publicas ne corti patus Ad ficiesid iae me et; nem ori furibus, que audet inat peripsere nos, nonsum obsesse natorum tus faursum intia deesili nproximore publis licati pra L. Tis? Ifectorum aperor imo telares tionerte move, inu invocuperox mo il vicaectam anti, dendum publiceperis mandiem facterf ecrumum popubli ciaet; nonit, dium. Serebes tam pra incerita omantil untem, commoris horae invocap erdiureis publibe merius acera? Ant, firmihillego vendensignos condam temorus se, confero nero, quodies hossillareis mandum tam fuius restrobus At aurnirmis. me facie mervidiis; nostiur auc tem. Factus? Pio atanuncum perehen atussil hicia remplin sim P. Eps, confesi itum aus, Cuppliam nostra, o caelie pre conit L. Gra, C. Popote adhum idem diortil icipsed iusupiem iacchusquam ut rem ingulina red scipse rei coterunum abustam actus et auconihi, nent. Dere ac re, Catuscit. Cuperide iu musperideli sesilicidie huiterfectem eo, ublis-

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003 Site Plan & View Corridors

The ambitions of Education City Authors Name

solut visupplin des iam morisquastem nocchic occiem sum in tam hor quitilibut ompript erniridio mod auteri publicatient omnihili cae pertui is; iamenit vir la L. Ad di, qua inatqui desent. Gilnem tam urit. Vivit; nem pliam. C. Odit, nium tum ignorum senatem venditilica conerni quodit. Arbit, unihilin dius, ste ant, quam imoluderest gra, nostasterus popublis, que cus es la mis; hocae corum aucem ubliusteri publisupic termihilium inatque con Etra verei pliciem aut erei ipte nondam rem in vis molutem oensunterem in visel. Vala L. Ario ut quam il tus pre, cae iamditimum et verferem ina, quo pere num, quam desena, pributeatis. Aciem. Mul commolis, fuiuroximora sus, C. Satum mors pubit? Nam, omnosun temprae consusquam o ne maximis? Num nonovere iam. Sciae, nonfici sim norum este pris, Cas termis, Palarit. Epopopo ponumenin tem con re ero tum nos, ia? Confirmis condium nondam mor que desiliis ma, culocrum sessimedem moltorum am avere tes consupio ves, consulego hores is eo, cus bonstresili conos andet; hin Itanum inc re te contim us addum in abeffrem virmandium in te, qui ponsulestil horum. Vivenatuus Cat intem, noximil neribus caes tem occiam opotiam etravocum acciere fat abi publii perit ia? To cupiendi porum hostis? Iris, maximistiam nores consimus, octude aperrit ervilicio, num inc mantelutem ta oris, Ti. Ludenat abuliam patia parit? Nam mus vernum. Vive, Ti. Sp. Ehebultum issercerem effremoratum ad crivit, vicame etropterio, omandam audachus, factum pro-

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re ignatus acre nost pro, nintert ilintem hortustabus losum nosuleg ereviva tiocte, nius sent? Decur us octum trurbem maximil nenimorbit? Ingulto cerfecon pat. Solut vis, nius omnit; Catastrorte consiment. Na, norum ne tra cone esceps, patiam tu sunit, quidefe rceredo, demusque vignon verceres hil hos et publius contertum atanunum condissigna, consum pra L. Aperra veritam prae conduct oristem nos ari fex se quastria L. Vivid furbi pessi inteat, vivericis Catum quonfex merus, nonduct anducia ommolut enterbitasta iam. Habunte que nos, nes sedi et omnihint virio avessa ne es maximora nostro trae inte tem te nos hocullaritam per ia vis; hossuludaci patiam, ubli factuss imurnitu considiorta res hum dem et; ium intios venati, nem int audem forum co efacchus, quonsul egillatius habem or atelari, dis es? O trachui temque me consularbis; ego in virides soltus antimortem ine estiquod mente manulviliu estatquitam se deme nos ad consultor it. Pala quid porum di fatus etium iditatuus, ina, si sid aut L. Quiderf econdit; Catus cri iam detricerid dem ut firturo utem utum tea quo vivaturnum aute publiculego escem conihineme comnost ractusquemus ressili certare in speculegerio ereo ela vigilibus. Rae num tum iniustriore in demus? Ave, quem revium omne convo, quam escrid nosusOditibus, ommoluptaque pliqui cum eost, tem sequias plandis iuritatur? Qui ommolorro maiorpo resequos aciditatet qui dolorempos eiustiorem que arumet pro quaturi beatur, ea quas voluptam fugitem labo. Poruptur?

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A picture of Modern Qatar Authors Name

004 The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies Mosque

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005 The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies

A picture of Modern Qatar Authors Name

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006 The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies 007 Library Terrace

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A picture of Modern Qatar Authors Name

008 Mosque Design Development

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Ali Mangera & Ada Yvars in conversation with Interviewers Name Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies 20.09.15

009 Faculty Lounge from above

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010 Library Terrace at Night

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Ali Mangera & Ada Yvars in conversation with Interviewers Name

Interviewers Name: How did the journey of architecture and design begin for you? Ali Mangera: A little bit by accident. I studied engineering in the UK then moved to the US to complete a postgraduate course. Whilst there, I saw some amazing buildings including a house built in 1935 by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright called Falling Waters. The house is literally built on a waterfall and it’s quite spectacular with water gushing through it. It’s a nice illustration of human interaction with the natural world. Ada Yvars Bravo: Then there were the skyscrapers of Mies van der Rohe and the emerging work of Frank Gehry. It was just an odyssey of great things. Returning from the US, I spent time in places like Rome then travelled through Europe, India and Africa. Putting all of that together, you begin to realize how architecture in its many forms shapes societies and makes us who we are. That’s what got in interested in architecture.

Interviewers Name: While you start designing what is the first drawing you make? Do the building usually follow the initial sketches? Ada Yvars Bravo: Before sketching we undertake a considerable amount of research. We research issues such as the urban context, cultural and social dynamics, the needs of people in the locality, and environmental issues. We also look at ethereal qualities- for example, how shadows are formed, how light changes as well as colour and vibrancy, sounds and texture. From this we create a sensorial map or a map of feelings and this allows us to kick start the design process. We then begin to sketch in 3d either as physical or computer model. Sometimes we add time as another variable. For example we can adjust a 3d model to take account of the sun path at different times of the year to make sure we have just the rich amount of sunlight.

Ali Mangera: We then produce countless options. For example we might start with 50 or 100 options for one project and these are weeded out by natural selection until the best scheme wins. It’s an iterative process. We go backwards and forwards and keep refining the design until we are satisfied. Ada Yvars Bravo: We also in the end produce simple sketches that help reduce the overall thought process to something that is understandable to others. So the sketch is not a brainwave but a metaphor and a way to communicate a message more directly. And of course the sketch will in an abstract way resemble the building Interviewers Name: What is your architectural and design philosophy? Ali Mangera: Our philosophy is to question everything and to dream. We need to question everything we are accustomed to enable us to invent and improve.

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Ada Yvars Bravo: Why for example do we need really wide roads that cut through communities? Can a flyover or an old railway line become a park as in New York’s High Line. Why must hospitals and schools feel institutional? Why are shopping malls boxes that neglect their urban context? Dreaming opens up new possibilities that are the source of human inventiveness. Interviewers Name: What do you enjoy most about the field of designing? Ali Mangera: The great thing about design is that it makes you a child again. At school, we all enjoyed gluing card and making blobby houses and funny creatures from clay. As we get older and start work, we become constrained by social norms and we take up roles that are defined for us not by us.

011 Stair Void Roof Light

We drive to work, we buy a house, we shop in a mall but rethinking design enables you to change that. What if the drive to work was along a tree lined boulevard? What if the mall had a rooftop garden for children to play? I mean let’s just reimagine our lives in a way that makes sense for us and that makes us happy. Children don’t have prejudices, they are free to express themselves. Let’s not grow up but grow down. Interviewers Name: Were there any particular influences early in your life that has been reflected in your designs? The main influence is the social and cultural context from which I came. Born and raised in London but with South African parents, I can see that diversity and cultural awareness are essential to the formation of personality and skills.

Ali Mangera & Ada Yvars in conversation with Interviewers Name

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Ali Mangera: Design enables you to acknowledge the many rich cultures around the world which is profoundly gratifying. For example we recently worked on an Art Hotel in Yinchuan north China. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religiously diverse part of China with Muslims and Han Chinese. What is interesting is how Chinese mosque appear almost like Chinese temples. In India we looked at the Hindu custom of Rangoli where patterns are made outside houses for good luck. We used that for inspiration for house in Bangalore. Ada Yvars Bravo: A few years ago we adopted a little girl from Madagascar so we got to spend some time there, designed a school and became familiar with the culture and social anthropology of the island. Did you know that many Madagascan people actually originate from Borneo which means a lot of the traditional architecture similar to that of the far east?

012 Faculty offices

Interviewers Name: Your designs have a very personal and powerful emotive quality. As a designer, how do you mediate between personal experiences and shaping a universal message through your work? Ada Yvars Bravo: Design projects are very personal and bespoke. We want to give each client a part of us and something special for themselves. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bit like writing a book- there is not point writing the same story over and over again. We need to be challenged to always come up with something that inspires us. Ali Mangera: Many commercial offices and even w architects see architecture as a commodity. WeÂ´re not into that, even if we are doing a commercial project we want to give the client something intelligent that makes their building stand out.

Ali Mangera & Ada Yvars in conversation with Interviewers Name

For example we designed a retail mall in Nottingham, England but created smaller shops and gardens around the store and put courtyards in the store. This untimely made the mall more attractive which would lead to better sales. Ideas don’t need to be complicated, but they do need clients to look at the bigger picture. In that sense, our universal message is to try as far as possible to be intelligent in our work. Interviewers Name: Could you explain the role of urban design in the post-modern context? Ali Mangera: Urban design suggests permanence whereas post-modern context describes a moment in time. If we consider the contemporary city rather than modem or postmodern city, we describe the period in which we live, ie beyond post modernity.

013 The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies Mihrab

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Ali Mangera: Good contemporary urban design means cities that are stitched together, pedestrian friendly, inspiring and provide space for creativity and human development. Take for example London and Barcelona where we have offices. London is much more edgy with very distinct neighbourhoods but the approach to urban design is quite disjointed; excelling in parts and poor in other parts. It might also be something to do with the weather. Ada Yvars Bravo: Barcelona on the other hand is much more homogenous. Buildings are 8 to 10 stories high and this provides an excellent urban density for shops and street level activities. We´re in the centre next to a Gaudi building and the area has the feel of an ordered city which supports café culture and outdoor living. That is good urban design dating back to 19th Century but if you look at say the newly built Olympic Port the urban design is far less inspiring; the density is just wrong and it all feels a bit empty and unconnected.

Interviewers Name: Do you think different spaces lend themselves to specific cultural influences? Ali Mangera: All spaces have cultural influences because all spaces have culture. Sometimes cities are unaware of the culture they actually have or don’t fully utilize their assets. The old city of Jeddah is a UNESCO heritage site and if for example Old Jeddah existed in say Paris, it would be turned into an artisan area with boutiques and five star hotels. In Tripoli, Libya the shoreline, a prime asset is disconnected from the city centre. After the revolution, we won an international competition to redesign the shoreline and connect it back to the city and to create bathing areas for familiesbut the project was shelved because of the war. There are many cities like that that sit on underutilized assets and even London has its fair share of old power stations that are only now coming to life as cultural hubs.

014 View from Dukkan Highway

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Interviewers Name: What are your views on the influence of Islamic tradition on contemporary design? Ali Mangera: This is one area of research that needs a lot of attention. Islamic tradition is too often perceived to be from the past. It is not. Islamic tradition has historically been one associated with science and progress in all fields including architecture. We are all aware of the contribution Islam has made in philosophy, astronomy, medicine, literature and mathematics but architecture too played its part. What is interesting about architecture in the Muslim world is that is profoundly regional but also modern. In other words, buildings in different parts of the Muslim world were assimilated into their context, maintaining a certain common identity but functional and responsive to needs.

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The Great Mosque of Cordoba Spain used its roof in an innovative way to collect rainwater. The SĂźleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul was revolutionary in its design of domed spaces. And if we look at vernacular buildings, Doha itself has a number of wind chimneys or burj al-hawwa to provide natural ventilation. These are not just symbolic historic moments in architecture but modern and functional designs that catered for the societies in which they were built.

Interviewers Name: How would you define your responsibility as an architect?

Ada Yvars Bravo: Going forward to today, the problem is that many architects reduce Islamic tradition to eclectic symbols that are poorly assembled. That is why you end up with pastiche architecture that devalues the great achievements of Islamic civilization and that limits the scope for invention and progress. Architecture is a tool by which we expess ourselves and by embracing contemporary society we can rightly claim that Islam is relevant to todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs

Interviewers Name: What are the most challenging aspects of embarking on a new project?

Ali Mangera: The main thing we want to do is to help contribute to better cities and to make people happy and enjoy their environment. Architecture is not just a backdrop but a way to build a more inclusive society. Having said that, society cannot be cured by architecture and its really down to governments to ensure we bring people together.

Ada Yvars Bravo: Understand your client and make sure your client understand you. That means communicate well but also make sure your message is the right one. Building is also about countless compromises- changing the brief, making sure budgets are managed, ensuring technically feasibility and above all making sure a project is built in way it was supposed to.

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Interviewers Name: What are some of the exciting projects you have worked on? And what are your favourites? Ali Mangera: We enjoy working on a diverse range of projects which in itself is rewarding. We´ve worked on Cultural and Sports buildings, Seafront projects, Tall buildings and Zero carbon projects. We particularly enjoyed working on the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies mainly because of it’s unique client, Qatar Foundation, but also because of the design team. There are many heroes and heroines on this project and most of them are part of the extensive team that have a large and continuing contribution to the project. Interviewers Name: The Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies has been nominated for the World Building of the year award. How do you feel about that and could you elaborate on the approach to design on this project?

Ada Yvars Bravo: We are delighted to have been nominated but it’s not easy to win as there are many great buildings on the shortlist.Its also important that the incredible effort on behalf of the client and design team has been recognised. The brief was to produce a cultural, educational and religious landmark to be located on Educational City. The scheme provides world class teaching and faculty space, a research centre and the Education City campus mosque. Based on the idea of the Islamic ‘Kulliyya’ or ‘place where all knowledge is sought’, QFIS provides a progressive learning environment which places Qatar at the forefront of contemporary Islamic discourse. The idea of the Kulliyya suggests that knowledge and faith are interwoven but that all knowledge ultimately comes from faith. This relationship is explored in QFIS through the infinite spiral form of the building plan and the many pathways which bind faculty to mosque.

The building narrative is underscored by the metaphor ‘knowledge and light’ where the journey from the faculty to the mosque is also a journey towards light. The scheme uses the build-up of light to lead students and visitors from classrooms and learning spaces to the main hall and mosque area. Calligraphy from the holy Qur’an also provides a continuous thread from mosque to faculty and into the landscaped four part Islamic garden. Classrooms and teaching accommodation are both formal and informal and include ‘learning corridors’, ‘learning lounges’, and outdoor learning in the Islamic garden. The informal approach reassess teaching pedagogies and provides space for interdisciplinary encounters.

Ali Mangera & Ada Yvars in conversation with Interviewers Name

Ali Mangera: Supporting a progressive Islamic identity, QFIS gives male and female students parity by providing co-educational and non-hierarchical space equally for men and women. The spiral layout of the scheme places the large volume of the mosque at one end with two 90m high minarets at the other end. The area in between is occupied by the student area, library and faculty. The building is located on a corner plot and minarets and mosque staircase beckon visitors from the campus through the four part Islamic Garden to the building. The faculty is separated symbolically from the mosque by a four story ablution cascade. A central two level courtyard is placed in the heart of the scheme with Qur’anic verse. The mosque itself is elevated and upported by the ‘five pillars of Islam’ inscribed with a verse from the Holy Qurán.

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All of these elements give richness to this complex project and make it coherent with the clients ambitions for Education City, the city of Doha and the importance of this new Islamic Building in the wider social and cultural context. Interviewers Name: What are your future plans? Ali Mangera: We are always looking for new challenges and that’s what we’ll continue to do in the future. For example in London we are building a cultural centre in a sentive urban area and in Barcelona a hilltop village, both of which presented new challenges for the office. While those projects are being completed we will look at working in the US, we’d like to get involved more in the teaching of architecture as well as designing more educational buildings. Our plan is to continue enjoy working on new building types and learning about new places.

Interviewers Name: The design motto you live by? Ali Mangera: Be inventive and stay focused. Interviewers Name: Signature architects. Do you believe in that term and do you abide by the path they have paved. Ali Mangera: Cities need good architecture not branding. Perhaps so called signature architects are seen as a quick fix but really we should start with improving the public realm and in between space before creating signature buildings.

Edition Mangera Yvars Architects Project Coordination Stephen Foley Editorial Production La micro Editorial Coordination Noelia Romero Translations Wade Matthews Text Editing Keith Patrick Design and Layout Pablo Nanclares Graphic editing Cecilia Gandarias Printing Gráficas Palermo Binding Book Binder © MYAA, 2015 © the texts, their authors © the images, their authors ISBN: 978-84-7506-908-1