Al Baker Architects

CATALYSING QATAR’S URBAN EXCELLENCE

ALBAKER ARCHITECTS

The Architectural

INNOVATOR Albaker Architects is not your usual architecture design practice. It is a company constantly thinking outside the box in the aim of delivering truly inspiring twists to urban landmarks, both in Qatar and internationally Writer: Jonathan Dyble | Project Manager: Ryan Gray 2 | EME Outlook issue 36

CONSTRUCTION

I fell in love with architecture in my early teens when my father took me to visit a local architect. I remember he had a big library and I picked up a book by Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous American architect. Everything I knew about the subject before that was related to conventional buildings and blueprints.

I had no idea buildings could be so beautiful.”

For Yausif Albaker, the turn of a few pages quickly led to a lightbulb moment in his professional career.

From here on out he was switched on and wide eyed to the world of architectural design, eventually enrolling in the prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture.

“Studying here was very intense but it prepares you for many things in the field of architecture,” Albaker muses,

“and after I left, I worked on construction sites and as a client representative then as a project manager, always in the field of architecture but not necessarily in design.”

When Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid came around, however, that changed as Albaker got the chance to work on the bidding committee as an in-house architect. Needless to say, it was an opportunity that he duly grasped.

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS During this period he worked with leading global architectural design firms including Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster, eventually branching out on his own to work with OMA and UNStudio on six projects in Qatar following the success of the bid.

“We’re still trying to get these built!”

Albaker laughs. “And here I am, managing my own design firm that’s now nine years in the making.”

WHAT DOES ARCHITECTURE MEAN TO YOU? YAUSIF ALBAKER: “I think architecture is unique in the sense that it’s mainly about bringing things to life and it’s also about how you go about completing that process, either through the imagination, the narrative or the drawings.

“We place a big emphasis on what we are bringing to life – often buildings – but there is also value in the things we produce that represents what is real, for example drawings. In that way, what we have here at Albaker Architects is a creative process from the inception of the project all the way to realising it at site.”

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The name of the firm? Albaker Architects – a Qatari entrepreneurial success story turned international practice providing a full range of design solutions ranging from masterplanning to architecture to interior design services.

Indeed, getting to this point hasn’t been without its challenges.

Varying estimates suggest that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of all new businesses fail. So how has Albaker Architects managed to defy those highly unfavourable odds and stand out from the crowd in what is, by the Founder and Principal’s own admission, becoming an increasingly saturated market?

“To be different in architecture is becoming increasingly difficult – similar but different in the details and specific to the problems they are tackling,” he explains. “For us we strive to represent Qatar’s local developing expertise and ability in the design and engineering field, which is on par with those of international leaders in the design and engineering community.

“I wanted to create a Qatari-based, design-focussed building consultancy, and at the beginning I was interested in topics mainly related to Qatari problems. Now, however, I feel that this office is able to design a project anywhere in the world and discuss and resolve any topic or issue.”

PROJECTS EMPOWERED The company’s mission is to not only meet the needs of society, but to exceed those needs by inventing techniques and exploring methods which create new possibilities. It is an enterprise obsessed with the relationships between cities, buildings and their users, something which has led it to naturally innovate all the time.

To understand the business’s esteemed capabilities, we need look no further than its sizeable and growing project portfolio, the Qatar Foundation Visitors Centre standing as the first of numerous examples.

CCL CCL uses specialised construction techniques for the design and execution of new projects and the repair and refurbishment of existing structures. With companies located on five continents and projects executed throughout the world, CCL has the experience and expertise to tailor solutions to meet clients’ exact requirements.

When Albaker Architects needed to convert two office towers located in Doha’s West Bay, into five-star hotels, they contacted CCL to design and execute a strengthening solution to facilitate the change of use.

Working closely with the architect, consultant and main contractor, CCL carried out site surveys, before recommending appropriate strengthening solutions to accommodate the changes to area and façade loadings. After undertaking the necessary design checks on all vertical and horizontal elements, CCL performed physical trials to ensure the integrity of the proposed solutions.

CCL’s scope of work included the creation of openings in posttensioned slabs to incorporate new MEP layouts, new staircase and lift openings and the closing of redundant voids. New load key plans for all slabs in both towers and new façade reactions based on the new cladding were implemented in CCL’s strengthening solutions.

A variety of strengthening techniques were used including active tensioned cables and concrete section enlargement to achieve the necessary deflection, along with jacketing and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates to provide additional reinforcement. The installation of steel plates was used to counter punching shear issues.

CCL Qatar is proud to have worked with Albaker Architects and Redco Construction-Al Mana on this stunning new development.

www.cclint.com

STRUCTURAL STRENGTHENING

CCL’s specialised strengthening expertise helped transform Al Baker office towers into luxury 5-star hotels.

• • • • •

CFRP Plates and Wraps Active Tensioned Cables Jacketing Section Enlargement Steel Plate Reinforcement

T: +974 (4) 458 39 98 E: cclqatar@cclint.com E: jhabib@cclint.com

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS

Qatar Foundation With Qatar Foundation setting the international standard for non-profit organisations, the centre had to narrate a story, something which Albaker Architects has achieved through the creation of a time loop superimposing the past, present and future.

“We were working with a unique site because, unlike other projects, this was located in a park,” the Founder and Principal explains. “To make things more interesting, the site boundary was a circle, and within that circle there were some structures with historical significance that we were asked to preserve and integrate somehow within the design.

“We integrated everything the Foundation stands for by preserving this history while looking to the future to foster social and cultural development for Qatar. We looked at drawings and painting techniques to find ways to create an object whereby the background and the foreground are one 6 | EME Outlook issue 36

and the same. In other words, the new becomes the old, the old becomes the new, it is all intertwined.”

This dedication to thinking outside the box and going above and beyond to meet the bespoke needs of each client is also reflected in the company’s work on a major retail centre in Al Rayyan, Doha.

Here, it focussed on local trends in retail – both the challenges and the opportunities that the industry was facing – and resultantly delivered a scheme representing a unique and sustainable approach to the dependency of motor vehicles in Qatar.

“The form of the building follows a strict narrative that we choreographed for different retail and community programmes,” Albaker comments, then pointing to a third project in the form of DohAlive.

The first development that the company was ever commissioned, it was a major 80,000-square-metre

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS

ASPA International ASPA International has been designing superior quality spas and wellness centres for the luxury and travel markets for over 30 years.

Based in the Algarve, Portugal, the company monitors global wellness trends closely, as well as innovations in design, interiors, and materials. It allows ASPA to advise its clients on current and emerging trends.

“I THINK ANY SUCCESSFUL COMPANY IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PEOPLE WORKING IN IT, AND ALBAKER ARCHITECTS IS NO DIFFERENT” – YAUSIF ALBAKER, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL undertaking and one that is still considered to be the epitome of everything that Albaker Architects stands for in design methodology, construction standards and quality control.

A mixed-use development that delivers both a lifestyle hotel and boutique retail experience, it has helped to address the functional and organisational concerns of the usage of public space in the city of Doha.

The hotel comprises six basements, a ground floor, two mezzanines and eight additional levels across 63,000 square metres, while the retail building is formed of three basement floors, a ground floor and four upper floors that total 17,000 square metres.

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A RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE CITIZEN Albaker Architects partakes in numerous additional activities related to corporate social responsibility, ensuring it gives back to the communities in which it operates.

The company is heavily involved with local universities, organising field trips to its offices and running internship programmes for graduates. Albaker himself is the Head of the Advisory Board at Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar campus, deemed to be one of the top research universities globally, where he helps to provide assistance for the architectural design courses when needed.

“We have also organised free seminars about design,” the Founder and Principal adds. “The last one, for example, was about specific design programs such as Rhino, Revit 3D modelling and other software for the general public, in an effort to create awareness about the creative design process.”

“When we discuss projects with architects and hotel operators, we think in terms of the quality of spa experience, client expectancy and how we can create a new profit centre for hotel managers, offering on trend wellness experiences,” says Martin Goldmann, Founder and CEO of ASPA International. “As a company, we have always believed in helping people to live healthier, longer lives. It’s what really drives us.”

ASPA International’s client list is extensive and includes some of the best spas and resorts in the world, from Belmond Reid’s Palace in Funchal, Madeira, to the award winning Gulf Hotel Spa in Bahrain, to the Mövenpick Resort and Marine Spa in Sousse, Tunisia. The company is also a consultant for the Marriott hotel chain and Accor Hotels.

Staying ahead of trends is another ASPA trait. Here, the company is already incorporating cryotherapy treatment rooms into its projects, such as DohaAlive in Qatar. It is not only wellness trends that ASPA International incorporates into its spa concepts, ASPA also uses cutting-edge technology to improve operational efficiency, sustainability and minimise maintenance costs.

In short, ASPA International can take care of entire spa projects, from initial consultancy to design, construction, engineering, and installation.

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS

Muntazah From the 237-room, five-star hotel to speciality restaurants, a lap pool, health club and spa, business centre, conferencing facilities, shisha bar and rooftop bar, it is an urban landmark that embodies the region’s modernity.

Albaker explains: “I started the office when we began working on DohAlive but by the time it got built, we had recruited structural, mechanical, electrical engineers, interior designers and BIM modellers and engineers. We’re proud of it because we designed and engineered everything in this project, from the biggest details to the ceramic tiles and door handles.”

THE POTENTIAL FOR PROSPERITY What’s truly exciting for Albaker Architects is the fact that these three projects form just a fraction of its overall portfolio.

The 150,000-square-metre New Gulf Cinema in Doha and Business Hotel in 10 | EME Outlook issue 36

Ras Bu Abboud are further examples of its diverse capabilities. Further, the practice has begun to expand its horizons having delivered the major Marsa Alam greenfield resorts in Egypt – projects that included a major focus on sustainable systems for power generation, sewage treatment and food cultivation systems.

However, the outbreak of COVID-19 may cause a degree of concern, and even delay any ongoing growth plans to a certain extent. Yet, aside from the coronavirus, the climate in which the company will be able to further both its local and international agendas is relatively buoyant, Albaker pointing to the role of the firm’s suppliers and partners in supporting those ambitions.

“Sometimes we’re faced with very specific issues, for example relating to acoustics or audio-visual, which our consultancy partners are particularly helpful in overcoming,” he says.

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CONSTRUCTION

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS

Equestrian Garden Mall

“Likewise, in terms of construction material supplies, it is very important for us to have relationships with the manufacturers.

“A live example is when we wanted to have bespoke porcelain tiles for the DohAlive lobby, which wouldn’t have been possible if we didn’t have such relationships with different suppliers.”

Indeed, Albaker Architects remains firmly open for business.

2020 is not only expected to see the conclusion of many of Albaker’s ongoing developments that are currently 80 percent complete, but three new projects are also set to get underway. And for this reason, the Founder and Principal is able to end our conversation and look to the future with a degree of confidence.

“As an architect and someone who’s 12 | EME Outlook issue 36

DohALIVE

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Towers project - The conversion of two preexisting high-rise office buildings into five star hotel towers, with extended podium levels to create leisure facilities, such as a luxury spa.

working with developers, I always have to be optimistic, so I do feel positive about what’s happening regionally in the construction industry,” he affirms.

“I can specifically talk about Qatar, where there are a number of policies, procedures and decisions that the government has taken to ensure prosperity for the country as a whole. I think globally this will be recognised and people will soon begin to see how it is prosperous and safe to invest in Qatar.”

ALBAKER ARCHITECTS Tel: +974 4442 3963 info@albakerarchitects.com www.albakerarchitects.com

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ALBAKER ARCHITECTS 340 Salwa Road, Ramada Signal, Al Ghanim Business Centre, 1st floor.

Tel: +974 4442 3963 info@albakerarchitects.com www. albakerarchitects.com PRODUCED BY EME OUTLOOK MAGAZINE