A NEW HEADQUARTERS, A NEW HUB, A NEW HOME

from QAIC 2020 Annual Report

ON A MISSION FOR ART AND CULTURE

Equipped with a new vision, the Qatar America Institute for Culture relocates to a new location in the District of Columbia

Overview

QAIC’s new headquarters is housed in a historic building in the heart of Dupont Circle, Washington, DC that offers 23,850 sq. ft. for events, creative spaces, vendor pop-ups, workshops, and office space for QAIC’s operations. One block from the Metro, seven blocks from the White House, and within minutes of some of DC’s best-known cultural hubs, the location is beyond compare.

The building is divided into 4 floors (plus basement), each with a dedicated use for that space:

Ҙ 1st Floor: garden café, small exhibition space, reception area, private film screening theater, and culinary workshop room.

2nd Floor: main event space for larger events, large exhibition space for cuatomizable gallery installations, perfumery museum, and private VIP majlis meeting/ waiting area.

Ҙ 3rd Floor: dedicated studios and workspaces for QAIC’s “creatives in residence” program, and temporary exhibition/gallery space.

Ҙ 4th Floor: dedicated office space for QAIC’s staff, fellows and interns, conference room, etc.

The space will serve as a convener for QAIC’s community outreach and programming, a foundation for emerging creatives and storytellers, and a platform for cultural and education exchange between the American and Qatari people and the cultures of the Arab and Islamic worlds, whether in the United States or in Qatar.

QAIC’s location

First Floor

The first floor is not only the public’s introduction to the physical space, but the initial impression of QAIC - and quite possibly their first exposure to Qatar and the art, culture and people of the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The first floor will host several publicfacing venues for guests to engage in QAIC’s programming, view creative works, or experience flavors from the Middle East from either the front café or at a culinary workshop.

The back screening room is QAIC’s Arab Film House, a project that solely promotes and discusses Arab cinema and filmmakers from either Qatar or have a relationship to the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The small exhibition room will either display works separately or as part of a larger exhibition spread out across multiple floors on the premises.

Central to the first floor will be a reception desk for guests to receive more information about QAIC, sign up to upcoming events, etc.

Arab Film House

Reception Area Culinary Arts Space

Small Gallery Space

Garden Courtyard/Café

View from the courtyard garden Entrance to small gallery space Fountain inside the garden courtyard

Second Floor

The second floor of the space will provide most of QAIC’s exhibition and event space in the building. Guests can access this floor either by elevator or grand staircase from the first floor.

This floor hosts a grand ballroom which will serve as an events space for QAIC’s more largely attended events (100-120 guests). This room can also double as a screening room should the need for higher occupancy arise.

This floor hosts a larger gallery space for traditional and classical exhibits displaying art and/or cultural relics. This space will only be open to the public during daytime hours or special events.

This floor also hosts QAIC’s Perfumery Museum, an interactive and educational space dedicated to the art and science of fragrance production and perfumery.

Tucked in the back is a special VIP majlis space designed from a hadhri (coastal) majlis. This space is used for hosting VIPs participating in events and to educate the public as to the historical and cultural importance of the majlis in Middle Eastern culture and society.

Inside the main exhibition hall

VIP Majlis Lounge

Main Event Space

Perfumery Museum

Main Exhibition Hall Mirrored wall in the main event space

View of the VIP Majlis Lounge

Third Floor

The third floor of the space is dedicated to QAIC’s more creative efforts, as it serves as the studios of the various creatives-in-residence, flexible exhibition space, and workshops. This floor is semi-open to the public as to not disturb the creatives-in-residence, and only on specific occasions, like tours to see the exhibition space or creatives in action.

The creative-in-residence studios will be individual rooms for various creatives to practice their craft over a several month tenure. These creatives will use these spaces as their creative workshops with the intention of exhibiting their work(s) at the end of their residence program.

This floor can accommodate a contemporary exhibition space to display more contemporary works, either on loan or directly created by the creatives-in-residence following the completion of their program.

Also present is QAIC’s library which hosts various books from artists, cultural and arts institutions, and other collected works and research materials.

Creative Studios Creative Studios

Creative Studios