World Arab

Creating a spectacular 105-storey, 500m glass tower containing offices, apartments and a hotel in Doha's hot climate poses a unique challenge for Arup.

In an area where most building design responds to the hot climate by being heavy and opaque, Chicago architect Murphy/Jahn's vision for the Doha Convention Centre Tower will stand out from the crowd.

As a glass building in a warm climate, Doha Convention Centre must be carefully designed to ensure it provides a comfortable climate for inhabitants. Arup project manager Dave Choy and his team in Chicago are responsible for providing services engineering as well as conducting comfort and energy analysis for the tower, working with other Arup teams based in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

"We're working very closely with the architect and Arup facade engineers to create a high-performing facade system," says Choy. "We're using the latest glass technology to give maximum light transmission, also providing for good insulation. We're also investigating blind systems in conjunction with the architect."

Double-skinned facades with external shading and internal blinds will help to keep building occupants comfortable, keeping the heat of the sun out while letting the light rays in. Arup is using proven technology to achieve this. "We have chosen a solution which we have extensive experience in applying," explains Choy. "Given the extreme climate conditions, the solution must be reliable."

This technology will not only keep people inside the building comfortable, but it will also help to reduce the amount of energy the building requires for cooling, improving the buildings overall environmental credentials. The project will be rated against the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) energy guidelines and will be one of the first buildings in the Gulf region to be rated in this way.

We are also using established ASHRAE comfort guidelines to predict the level of occupant satisfaction within the various spaces in the tower. An Arup designed room program - incorporating ASHRAE comfort analysis - has been used extensively as a design tool to help assess facade performance and its impact on comfort.

Intended for mixed uses, the tower comprises a main lobby, offices, hotel, apartments and observatory, as well as a 105 000m² convention centre and a 175 000m² car park.

During the design development stage the developer, Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment, requested the area of the tower to be increased by approximately 25% to 250 000m². Design development is scheduled to finish in late 2007 once the designs are revised, after which Hyder will complete the detailed design and take on the construction administration for the project. The tower and conference centre are due to be completed in 2009.

Working with Qatari Diar Real Estate to deliver other projects in the region [including the Aluso Development] the Doha Tower and Conference Centre project builds on the success of our work with the developer.