Qatar Foundation wins prestigious Cityscape award for student housing complex

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development has won this year’s prestigious Cityscape Award for Emerging Markets in the Residential (Built) project category, for its sustainable Male and Female Student Housing.

The award was presented to senior Qatar Foundation representativesat an exclusiveceremony held yesterday in the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai.

The Cityscape awards have been created to recognise the innovators behind some of the world’s most high-profile projects and to celebrate excellence in real estate development and architecture. The event aims to offer international architects and leading real estate developers a platform to communicate a shared vision for the future, from culturally integrated city skylines to sustainable urban communities.

The Male and Female Student Housing project, which is locatedwithinthe Qatar Foundation campus in Doha, was chosenfromamongsta high volume of impressive entries spanning the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. All submissionswere required to meet exceptional standards in six categories: design, planning, construction, management, sustainability and fulfilling the brief.

Engineer Saad Al Muhannadi, President of Qatar Foundation, expressed his delight that the project garnered international recognition and highlighted the importance of implementing more environmentally sustainable designs.

“We are honoured to receive this award among such an excellentgroup of submissions. This is a reflection of the outstanding commitment and teamwork that has gone into making this sustainable housing project a reality,” said Eng. Al Muhannadi. “We always strive toeffectively integrate green building practices within our developments and this is a true testament to Qatar’s growth and advancement in the field. The project will serve as a remarkable tool for students, as it will engage and teach several generations about sustainability and encourage accountability towards our environment.”

The student housing – developed by Qatar Foundation and designed by Burns & McDonnell, along withthe architectural firmTreanor Architects andgreen building consultants Vertegy – successfully integrates a highly functional and durable design.

The development comprises two segregated complexes for male and female students, featuring an Islamic motif throughout, as well as state-of-the art sustainable technology and energy-efficient systems.Each complex contains a community centreand five residential buildings in 36,000 square metres of space.

With human behaviour posing a substantial challenge to sustainable living, a monitoring system has been installed in each housing unit to help students track their own energy and water consumption. Theuniquecomplex isalso equipped with solar-panelled roofs and wind turbines that generate energy in 10 kilometre gusts or higher and is currently the only platinum LEED certified studenthousing in the world, consisting ofthe highest concentration of independently registered platinum LEED buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council.