Qatar University’s expansion work has concluded with two new buildings set to open soon. The new buildings will house the Faculty of Engineering for Women and food courts, a senior university official said yesterday. Abdullah al-Sayed, director of operations department at Qatar University, said that the university was implementing large-scale projects to meet current and future needs. Many projects are slated for the future, some of which were still in the planning stage, he added. Al-Sayed noted that the Faculty of Engineering building housed 31 lecture halls, three big halls with a seating capacity for 150 students each, and 31 offices for teachers. The director said the 1,000-student capacity food courts also completed. The food courts houses 10 diverse restaurants, featuring Eastern and Western cuisines. The total cost of new buildings was QR114mn. He said that residential complex’s design was in its final stages and would comprise 400 villas and 400 apartments for teachers, staff, students and guests. QU services department had recently completed renovations of the air-conditioning systems in some buildings. Other similar works were underway at a total cost of QR138mn. Al-Sayed said that buggies would be provided as transportation, linking various campus buildings. “Expansion of green areas in the university is also underway, in addition to plans for irrigation water treatment station,” he stated. Hisham Kaddoumi, of Arab Architects Association, said that the design of the new buildings was meant to be proportional and in harmony with the old buildings. Kaddoumi said that an integrated scheme was designed for QU, including allocation of area for upcoming buildings, transportation and pedestrians systems. The architect maintained that natural lighting was taken into consideration, in order to meet the requirement of environmental conditions. “In many cases there is no real need for artificial lighting,” he said. He declared that other buildings under construction, featuring the research centre and main library were expected to be completed in March 2010, at a cost of QR171mn and QR272mn, respectively. Kaddoumi said he took in consideration the balance between modernity and tradition while designing the buildings. He stressed that the outer and inner designs of the buildings have immediate impact on the students’ productivity and ability to succeed. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=278938&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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