Twenty-six firms revealed in star-studded longlist for Qatar Art Mill competition

Qatar Museums and Malcolm Reading Consultants recently revealed a notable international longlist for the three-stage Qatar Art Mill design competition launched this past June. The winning scheme will convert an approximately 1 million square-foot flour mill into yet another art museum proposed for Doha Bay. The building is currently occupied by Qatar Flour Mills, which will soon relocate.

The open call in the first stage attracted 489 entries from 56 countries. Now, 26 longlisted firms will advance to the second stage, where each team will develop design strategies for the competition site and its connections to the city.

Read on for more.

The competition is sure to be anyone's game with this longlist:

• Ábalos + Sentkiewicz
• Adam Khan Architects
• Aires Mateus e Associados
• Arab Engineering Bureau
• Atelier Bow-Wow
• Barozzi / Veiga
• David Chipperfield Architects
• EAA Emre Arolat Architects
• Eduardo Souto de Moura Architects
• Elemental
• Grupo Aranea
• heneghan peng architects
• Johnston Marklee
• junya.ishigami + associates
• Lacaton & Vassal
• Mangado Architects_Mangado & Associados
• Miralles Tagliabue EMBT
• Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos
• Noero Architects and The Matrix... cc Urban Designers and Architects
• OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen + l’AUC
• Patkau Architects
• Project Meganom
• Renzo Piano Building Workshop
• Rice+Lipka Architects
• SO-IL
• Sou Fujimoto Architects

In commenting on the longlist, Qatar Museums Chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Than, stated: "Now that [the Qatar Flour Mills Company] is relocating...we are grateful to be given this building. In converting and reinventing it, we hope to feed the community with the latest cultural developments and artistic creations from around the world – as well as establishing a strong platform for the Arab world to present their work within Qatar’s international context."

Malcolm Reading, chairman of Malcolm Reading Consultants and competition organizer, said: "...The selection is a profile of global creative DNA. It gives architects practising in very different cultures and contexts the opportunity to bring new perspectives..."

Stage three will begin once the top five shortlisted firms are announced early next year. Each finalist team will be given further briefing and continue designing detailed concepts for converting and expanding the Flour Mills' structures.

As of now, the full project brief and the names of the competition jury are being kept under wraps until early September. The winner is scheduled to be announced in May 2016, while construction of the new museum is expected to begin in 2017.

More competition info here.

You can also find more photos of the Qatar Flour Mills in the thumbnail gallery below.