“2000-2008, New York-Doha: Museum of Islamic Arts Qatar”
From the first day I started working on the project of the Museum of Islamic Arts to be built in Doha, the capital of Qatar, at IM Pei in New York, as the lead designer with “a good command of Islamic architecture,” in the year 2000, till its inauguration marked by a Yo-Yo Ma performance eight years later, I will be sharing the whole process of establishing a museum as a building and an institution, from its conception to its construction.
Aslıhan Demirtaş LEED AP
Founder, Aslıhan Demirtaş Architecture, Design and Research Studio & KHORA
Faculty Member, Kadir Has University, Faculty of Art & Design, Department of Architecture
Acting as the director of Aslıhan Demirtaş Architecture, Design and Research Studio, and KHORA, co-founded with Ali Cindoruk, the practice of Demirtaş crosses the boundaries of disciplines in the form of buildings, landscapes, installation projects, exhibitions and research. Before establishing her own practice, she worked as the lead designer of IM Pei at the Museum of Islamic Arts Qatar, and in the Miho Chapel project in Japan.
Demirtaş received her master’s degree from the Department of Architecture at MIT, and completed her bachelor’s degree at the Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University. She is currently working on her e-publication Aşı/Graft (2017) to be published by SALT, realised with the support of the Graham Foundation (2013), and the strategic renovation of the Lumbardhi Cinema in Prizren, Kosovo. Demirtaş is an active member of the Initiative for the Protection of the Historical Yedikule Gardens.