For those of you who don’t know, I moved to Doha, Qatar
in early February to take a new position with Dell. I’m working on a big IT project for a group
of eight hospitals, and I expect to be here for several years. Pleunette is planning to join me once we sort
things out at home.
First of all, where and what is Qatar? If you look at a map of the Middle East,
locate Saudi Arabia. On the east coast, jutting into the Arabian
Gulf (also known as the Persian Gulf) is
what looks like a thumb. That’s Qatar,
an emirate about 100 miles long and 40 miles wide. The population is about 1.8 million, of whom
about 1.5 million live in the capital and port city of Doha. Qatar
has the highest per capita GDP in the world, thanks primarily to the export of
liquefied natural gas. Beginning about
20 years ago the country began a massive modernization program, and for such a
small country it has become increasingly visible on the world stage. For instance, Qatar is home to the Al-Jazeera
news network, and it will host the soccer World Cup in 2022. Qatar
is a strong ally of the United States
in the region, a good thing since we’re about 150 miles from Iran.
In this installment, I’ll write about what most struck me as a
first-time visitor: the architecture.
Given the recent massive influx of money, the growing population and the
desire to modernize, there has been a building boom like few cities have
seen. Not only that, but the local
architects appear to be competing with the wildest building designs I have ever
seen. Doha looks like something out of The Jetsons
(or Star Wars for you younger readers).
I live in an area called West Bay. It’s the newest part of the city, maybe three miles from the older traditional center of Doha. Most of the buildings are high-rises occupied by oil companies, banks, ministries, and the like, with a smattering of hotels and apartment buildings and a 5-story shopping mall. Most of the photos below were taken in West Bay. Here is a skyline view. In the foreground is the Corniche, a very nice 5-kilometer brick-and-concrete promenade that runs along the bay:
Random buildings that caught my eye:
Black cubes are popular:
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As well as buildings you can see through:
Here are two buildings that incorporate some traditional
elements of Arabic architecture:
What the heck?
Can you guess the nickname for this? It’s covered with millions of LED lights and changes color at night (more photos below):
You can never have too many pyramids:
They need to get with the program:
How can you tell the Emir is a wealthy man? Forget the palace - check out that grass! 99% of the fresh water in Qatar is desalinated seawater:
The Aspire Tower, the tallest building in Qatar at almost 1000 feet. It has a gas flame at the top that is visible for miles at night:
Windows require window-washers. I hope these are the best-paid workers in the country:
Doha
by night:
And lastly, home sweet home, Al-Rabban Towers:
For future installments, depending on how ambitious I am, I may write about:
- Living in Qatar
- Working in Qatar
- Living as a pedestrian in Qatar, or why life insurance is a really, really good investment.
