French architect Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar has been released in new images photographed by architectural photographer Iwan Baan. The new images show the interlocking disc-formed structure is nearing completion in Doha, as the building is set to open in December this year. 

The 53,000-square-metre complex is inspired by the desert rose growing out of the ground and situated around the original Emiri palace. Comprised of a series of interlocking discs - having various dimensions and sizes, the structure presents an organic and fluid geometry as if it is rising from the ground, and these discs are scattered irregularly to create a new spatial organisation on a rectangular plot.

The museum, designed as a cultural hub for the public, students, and museum professionals in Doha desert, will include a wide range of programmes alongside its gallery spaces. 

It will contain the 8,000-square-metre of permanent exhibition space, 2,000-square-metre area for temporary, rotating exhibitions, 220-seat auditorium, two retail outlets, two restaurants and a café, a dedicated food forum, preserving culinary traditions, research centre and laboratories and a park filled with indigenous plants.  

When completed this year, the museum will celebrate the culture and heritage of Qatar and its people, embodying the pride and traditions of Qataris while offering international visitors a dialogue about rapid change and modernisation. The National Museum of Qatar will represent the past, present and future of Qatar through exhibitions, educational activities, cultural site visits, and technology-based programming. 

The scheme's interlocking discs are made of steel truss structures assembled in a hub-and-spoke arrangement and are clad in glass fiber reinforced concrete panels. Columns concealed within the vertical disks carry the loads of the horizontal disks to the ground.

Glazed facades fill the voids between disks. Perimeter mullions are recessed into the ceiling, floor and walls, giving the glazing a frameless appearance when viewed from the outside. Deep disk-shaped sun-breaker elements filter incoming sunlight.

As the museum is nearing completion, the original Emiri palace has also been renovated to create a dialogue between past and the museum. 

"Its mission is to tie the past of the Emirate, the central place it occupies today on the international scene and its future. The scenography will put into dialogue the national collections and the films directed by prestigious authors that will bring the museum galleries to life," said Jean Nouvel.

"The museum will also offer visitors the opportunity to discover the most outstanding Qatar sites and compare this live experience with the one that will be offered by the collections and the films," he added.

The National Museum of Qatar was commissioned by the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA), and the QMA previously completed the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) by I.M. Pei and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, part of Qatar Museums, led by H.E. Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Take a look at the interior images of the National Museum of Qatar, which were featured last year on World Architecture Community. Recently, several buildings have been completed in Qatar: OMA completed the Qatar National Library (QNL) in Doha, which was opened to the public last month. Also, Allies and Morrison completed the Qatar National Archive last year. 

Jean Nouvel also completed the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. 

All images © Iwan Baan

> via Ateliers Jean Nouvel/Qatar Museums Authority