OMA Revives The Spaceship Typology In Qatar

Architizer News

OMA Revives The Spaceship Typology In Qatar

November 28, 2012

Qatar National Library by OMA

Plop! That’s the sound of OMA dropping another one of their post-2007 space ships in the Gulf. This time it’s a national library for Qatar, and it kinda looks like a Star Destroyer. Rem’s peculiar fascination with Imperial warship typologies has popped up in several of OMA’s conceptual cities that the firm has designed for the region, where given a literal tabula rasa, Team Koolhaas couldn’t resist sneaking in a Death Star or two. This new design is all folded planes and exposed trusses, sheathed in an indeterminate gun-metal skin and that corrugated glass all the architects like so much. Continue.

The massive structure will hold 1 million books and 300 public computers, according to a report by BD. The project, unveiled yesterday by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, coincides with the digitization of some 500,000 documents, as well as the establishment of an “e-hub” that will give users remote access to these archives. When opened in 2014, the foundation promises that the library will be “one of the most important and iconic landmarks in Qatar and the region”.