Wood Creates Cave

The Qatar National Museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, opened in March last year, looks forward to the design of the outer shell with the theme "Desert Rose" and the interior design shaped around this form. Designed by Koichi Takada Architects, a wooden shell was created in an organic form to complement the concept of "Desert Rose" in the cave of the museum souvenir. The cave-like museum and salespoint was inspired directly from the natural light cave Dahl Al Misfir in Qatar's Rawdat Rasid district.

The incredible timber walls which dominate the space have been realized using 40,000 pieces of CNC-cut wood. By utilising 3D modelling software to create the curved foms and after carefully assembling all the components together by hand in doha, the result is an impressively cavernous spatial experience, evoking the organic forms of the cave of light. with this design, Koichi Takada intends to create a space that embraces the culture of qatar, from being in the narrow lane of a souq, to the vast expanse of the desert landscape.

In essence, the design and craftsmanship aims to form a relationship between people and nature, forming an architectural expression that is contextually relevant to the surrounding environment and the building as a whole celebrates the natural Qatari heritage of the desertscape.

One of the best reflections of natural texture, wood, together with this design, once again shows the potential of its capability to be a part of each design.

All images © Tom Ferguson

Source: designboom