Doha Convention Center

The Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Qatar is a new congress centre designed to strengthen the economic importance of the Gulf state in the Middle East. The centre was designed by Helmut Jahn in close collaboration with Werner Sobek. Werner Sobek  conceived the extremely transparent 20 m high rope facade on the south side, the outstanding feature of the building.

Minimal Supporting Structure thanks to Horizontal Prestressing

The facade absorbs wind loads through horizontally running, pre-tensioned stainless steel cables. The cables have a diameter of 28 mm. They span up to 180 m between two vertical, arch-like beams. The shading provided by the canopy, the use of coated insulating glazing and the 10° inclination of the facade made it possible to reconcile transparency and energy balance.

An important goal of the planning was to reduce horizontal deformations (and resulting twists in the glass panes) to an absolute minimum, which was a particular challenge in view of the large spans.