Qatar plans to build three more museums in capital Doha, including the 559,700-sq-ft Lusail museum, as the Gulf nation gears up to welcome the world for the biggest sports extravaganza - Fifa Football World Cup 2022, said a report. 

 

Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, Lusail will be dedicated to the influence of Middle Eastern and Islamic art on the wider world. The four-storey building will span 559,700 sq ft and will include exhibition space, an auditorium, library, and educational hubs.

 

The museum plans were announced last week by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the chairperson of the state body that oversees the Qatar Museums, during the online Doha Forum, reported ARTnews.

 

Rem Koolhaas’s architectural firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, will be designing the Qatar Auto Museum, which will chart “the evolution of the automobile from its invention through today and how it has influenced culture in Qatar,” according to the Qatar Museums.

 

Plans are also afoot to renovate a disused flour mill on Doha’s waterfront promenade into the Art Mill, a creative campus that will feature more than 861,000 sq ft of exhibition and performance space.

 

That project was first announced in 2015, with the Chilean architecture group Elemental leading the renovation. 

 

The campus will accommodate artist residency programmes and studio space for creatives, as well as conservation and storage facilities. The silos in the mill will be open to the public this October, stated the report citing Sheikha Al Mayassa.

 

A major public art programme has also been initiated ahead of the opening of the World Cup this November. 

 

Forty recent and commissioned artworks by Qatari and international artists will be installed in various sites across Doha this year, including parks and shopping areas, educational and athletic facilities, Hamad International Airport and Q-Rail stations, as well as select stadiums, it added.