The Rem Koolhaas OMA company completed the Qatar National Library (QNL) project in Doha. The one-story building aims to revive the traditional culture of reading. The architects have created a single interior space, the entrance to which is accessible from all sides of the building.

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The library, officially opened with the participation of the Emir of Qatar, included all volumes of the national, public and university libraries of Doha, and now also stores an extensive collection and archive of valuable texts and manuscripts related to Arab-Islamic civilization.

The library holds over a million books and provides opportunities for thousands of readers on an area of ​​42,000 square meters. meters Other buildings designed by OMA close by at the new campus include the headquarters of the Qatar Foundation and the new branch of the Research Institute.

The building has a very compact form, which includes only one single open-plan space. To create such a volume, the edges of the building rise from the ground.

The invented configuration allows the visitor to access the center of the building. The passages are marked by the topography of the shelves, interspersed with spaces for reading, communication and free familiarization with books.

Bookshelves have become part of the building. As from the point of view of materiality, they are made of the same white marble as the floors, so is the infrastructure: they have built-in lighting, ventilation and equipment for returning read books.