With pictures and figures .. How did Doha avoid the fate of cities that originated from the "impossibility"?

Al Jazeera Net-Doha

What made the Qatari capital avoid the monotonous fate that awaited all the cities that grew out of “inaccessibility” during the last quarter of the 20th century? Organizers of the Doha Renaissance are trying to answer this question at the Qatar National Museum.

The organizers, Dutch architects Rem Koolhaus, Samir Bantal and Qatar's Fatima Sahlawi, say Qatar was a British protectorate between 1916 and 1971, and that the British media was keen to present it in the 1950s as a "place where there was nothing" but suddenly saw a shift from oil discovery.

The exhibition tells the story of what constitutes this exceptional state, and divides it into four chapters: "Seeds of the Nation 1950-1971, Modern State 1971-1995, World 1995-2010, Qatar Destination 2010-2030".

During a tour of the photos, documents and objects, the visitor will discover the story of the emergence of state institutions in its first chapter before independence, such as desalination plant, Rumaila hospital, municipal building, Doha airport, the Emiri Diwan, Dar Al Kutub and the radio department. He may be surprised to learn that the population was only 25,000 in the early 1950s, and that it has more than quadrupled in 20 years.

With the emerging nation gaining independence from Britain in the early 1970s, the race to establish a modern state began. The government hired international architects to shape the vision for the future, and oil revenues provided enough funds to finance ambitions.

By the mid-1990s, the population had jumped to more than half a million, and the globalization phase had begun, especially with the discovery of the vast natural gas reserves that had made this small nation the center of the world's energy industry.

The state's vision at this stage included investment in education, health, media, sports and diplomacy. It has built giant institutions that compete with the likes of ancient countries, such as Al Jazeera, Qatar Museums Foundation, and the Aspire Zone, which organized the Asian Games in 2006.

In 2010, the population was 1.7 million, and the country celebrated the honor of organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. This sudden event, which no other country in the region has enjoyed, put Qatar in a race of a different kind for modernization.

In this context, the exhibition details the huge projects launched by the State, ranging from market requirements to government projects.

Doha has become a focal point for the dreams of extraordinary architects, who have provided stunning examples of bold edifices rarely carried out in most of the world's cities.

After a tour of dozens of figures and curators, curators confirm that the ambitious modernization of the Qatari capital has not led to an inconsistent development between the Qatari capital, but has created an integrated, vibrant and authentic space. The result was the crystallization of a modern city formed by the concerted efforts of a group of veteran architects from Qatar, the region and the world, including 11 winners of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Award.