Inspiration - Museum of Islamic Art, Doha by I. M. Pei

 I. M. Pei

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei, the 376,740-square-foot Museum of Islamic Art in Doha Bay houses a collection of international masterpieces in galleries encircling a soaring, five-storey-high domed atrium. The Museum, an architectural icon 60m (195ft) off Doha’s Corniche, rises from the sea and is connected to shore by two pedestrian bridges and a vehicular bridge. A C-shaped peninsula and park area on the shoreline behind the Museum offer shelter and a picturesque backdrop.
The Museum is composed of a five-storey Main Building and a two-storey Education Wing, which are connected across a central courtyard. The Main Building’s angular volumes step back progressively as they rise around a 50-m-high (164ft) central domed atrium. The dome is concealed from outside view by the walls of a central tower. A sheet of glass rises to a height of 45m (148ft) on the north side of the Museum offering views of the Gulf and West Bay area of Doha from all five floors of the atrium. Ceilings are constructed of intricate cast-in place architectural concrete coffered domes, finished with individual molds. At the top of the atrium is the circular oculus of a stainless steel dome, which captures facets of patterned light. The form of the dome changes as the structure descends, so its perimeter becomes an octagon and then a square, which in turn is transformed into four triangular column supports.

Official site - Museum of islamic art



Images courtesy of Museum of Islamic Art 

2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate : Eduardo Souto de Moura

Eduardo Souto de Moura is the 2011 recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Souto de Moura is located in Porto, Portugal.

photo by Francisco Nogueira

Eduardo Souto de Moura is the second Portuguese architect to win the Pritzker Prize - architect Álvaro Siza won the award in 1992.


Souto de Moura was born in Porto, and studied sculpture before switching to architecture at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, the current FAUP - Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, and receiving his degree in 1980. From 1974 to 1979 he worked with Álvaro Siza Vieira at his architectural practice, who encouraged him to start his own firm. He began his career as an independent architect in 1980, after winning a design competition for the Casa das Artes, a culture center with an auditorium and an exhibition gallery in the gardens of a neo-classical mansion, in his native city of Porto. However, Souto de Moura collaborated with Siza on the Portuguese pavilion at the Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany, and Serpentine Gallery's annual summer pavilion in 2004.


Jury Citation < link to the pritzker arhitekture prize website

Paula Rego Museum

Burgo Tower in Porto, Portugal

Braga stadium in Braga, Portugal

Paula Rego Museum

Paula Rego Museum

Paula Rego Museum