Qatar Rail, which is overseeing the construction of the country?s integrated railway network, has been awarded ?Best Arabian Architectural Design for Public Service? and the ?Best International Architectural Design for Public Service? at an event in London this month
The awards, presented by the International Property Awards, recognise the quality of the design of Qatar Rail?s ?Vaulted Spaces? design for stations on the Doha Metro.
A panel of 20 international architects? judges have given the two awards to Qatar Rail during the international nomination event that was attended by Qatar Rail?s deputy CEO, Hamad Al Bishri, and Mohamed Timbely, senior director of architecture and MEP department.
Qatar Rail is the first company from Arab countries to win the International Public Service Architecture category. According to the organisers of the award, the stations design for the Doha Metro create a unique combination of a recognisable design across the network with an approach that allows each line in the system to have a distinct identity and individual stations to have designs which embody the culture and history of the area they serve.
All stations in the network will reflect an overall design concept called ?Vaulted Spaces,? which is based on traditional Islamic architecture.
Qatar Rail CEO Saad Al Muhannadi said, ?The awards recompensed two years of efforts where we tried to appropriate the concept of the Vaulted Spaces in order to be part of the heritage, culture and the national vision of the state of Qatar. It?s not only about architecture; it's about a vision that we share.?
The first phase for the Doha Metro?s architectural works, covering 37 stations, is set for completion by 2018 while the second, extending to over 72 stations, by 2030.
