'We had to meet enormous technical challenges': Behind the build of Qatar's breathtaking new museum

The star of Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada is definitely rising. Takada is working on some of Australia’s most prestigious projects and being summoned to lend his talents to various international projects.

Earlier this year he found himself surrounded by celebrities, including Victoria Beckham, Johnny Depp and Naomi Campbell, at the opening of the National Museum of Qatar.

Takada, who designed the jaw-dropping interiors of the museum’s gift shop, said it was a surreal moment. But he was more starstruck by the world-famous, Pritzker-winning architects in attendance.

“There was Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor, of course Jean Nouvel and the list went on and on,” he said. “It’s such a humbling experience that all these people who have seen other parts of the world came to this space and [gave] me such unbelievable comments and feedback.”

Takada collaborated with renowned French architect Nouvel, who designed the museum exterior. The result is a complex assortment of buildings topped by round, disk-like roofs placed at varying angles.

Nouvel says the design was inspired by the desert rose, a flower-like aggregate of mineral crystals, found in the arid coastal regions of Qatar.

“Taking the desert rose as a starting point turned out to be a very progressive … idea,” he says. “To construct a building 350 metres long, with its great big inward-curving disks, and its intersections and cantilevered elements – all the things that conjure up a desert rose – we had to meet enormous technical challenges.

“This building is at the cutting-edge of technology, like Qatar itself.”

Takada’s design is equally as complex. It was inspired by Qatar’s Dhal Al Misfir, or Cave of Light, which was formed by fibrous gypsum crystals that at times gives off a
faint glow.

“The cave of light is so beautiful and it has that quality of wonder,” he says. “When you see it, it strikes you as ‘wow’. We wanted to draw inspiration from that and express that emotional quality you feel when you first encounter it, that same emotional value.”

Gift shops don’t usually steal the show; in fact it’s often viewed as a gauntlet arts patrons must endure on their way to the exit doors. But not this gift shop.

Describing it as “beyond amazing”, Whitney Robinson, editor of style magazine Elle Decor, told his 63,000 Instagram followers it was “the world’s most beautiful museum gift shop. Hands down.”

Imitating the undulating walls of the cave, the walls of the gift shop have been created with more than 40,000 pieces of oak. These pieces, all painstakingly cut to an assortment of different lengths, were assembled by Italian master woodworker Claudio Devoto.

It was perhaps the world’s most challenging three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, but that was the beauty of the project, says Takada.

“It was just so complex, but it’s organic and I’d say in nature and life, nothing is straight,” he says.

“A lot of people say it’s a really calming environment and it feels like you can instantly connect to the space. You don’t want to leave.”

Nature has inspired many of Takada’s projects, including Sydney’s Mastery. Together with prominent Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, Takada has designed one of five buildings to become a “stacked forest”. The 19-storey tower will feature extensive planting on the balconies and terraces to reduce carbon emissions and inspire, and energise, residents.

Brisbane locals will most likely associate his work with the Waterfall project, which will feature a 118-metre man-made waterfall that runs from the roof-top pool deck down the full length of the tower. Water will cascade over glass panels, creating a misting effect at the podium.

Takada’s work at Arc, in Sydney’s CBD, has won him a finalist berth at the World Architecture Festival in December.