Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha unveils a substantial campus expansion led by Lina Ghotmeh. The project arrives as the museum marks its fifteenth year and signals a broader mission that blends exhibition with making, research, and community gathering.
Ground-level progress sets the tone for the entire project. A redesigned lobby and a new, majlis-inspired library introduce a social threshold where visitors can read, converse, and participate in public programs. The open-plan arrangement uses modular furniture to stay flexible over time. This ongoing collaboration with Qatar extends beyond Mathaf, including Ghotmeh’s recent commitment to design Qatar’s first permanent national pavilion in the Giardini at La Biennale di Venezia, announced earlier this year.
At the base of the expansion, the library will curate regional art publications alongside museum and Qatar Museums titles, inviting visitors to linger and return. A café and a expanded book and gift shop extend the ground-floor sequence, making the space a daily entry point for the campus.
New features inside the atrium reinforce Mathaf’s civic role. A large portrait by Yan Pei‑Ming joins existing commissions honoring Qatar’s leadership, anchoring the interior’s evolving narrative and positioning the atrium as a central gathering place.
As the museum nears its fifteenth anniversary, early plans include new displays and maker spaces. Future phases envision transforming the plaza and adjacent service areas into studios for artists and designers, with facilities for ceramics enabling large-scale production in shared workspaces and equipment developed with practicing artists. Spaces for glass, woodworking, and material experimentation will sit alongside a sound studio developed with composer and artist Tarek Atoui. Together, these components lay the groundwork for a new residency program that elevates Mathaf to a site of sustained creative practice. Exhibitions tied to the anniversary—featuring interventions by Atoui and Gabriel Chaile—illustrate how making, research, and display will coexist across the campus.
A continuous earth-toned surface at ground level will connect buildings and outdoor spaces, with a landscape designed to suit the region’s climate. Across the site, Ghotmeh’s method emphasizes material presence and design continuity: existing warehouses will be repurposed as studios within a unified architectural skin that unifies varied volumes. This envelope moderates light and scale while giving the campus a clear, recognizable identity from a distance.
The expansion reimagines Mathaf as a dynamic environment for learning and production, extending the institution’s mission through architecture that supports daily use, longer visits, and evolving forms of artistic practice. A new café and bookshop extend the museum’s everyday life beyond exhibitions, while future phases will convert surrounding areas into artist studios and workshops focused on ceramics, glass, sound, and other material disciplines that will shape the residency program.
Project details:
- Name: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha
- Architect: Lina Ghotmeh
- Location: Doha, Qatar
- Social handles: @mathafmodern
This expansion aligns with Mathaf’s trajectory toward a campus that blends exhibition, production, and collaboration, inviting broader participation in the arts community.
