Abstract
In the recent years, many Gulf States have typically experienced accelerated and complicated problems of urbanisation, and despite their rather short history, they have resulted in significant urban growth and infrastructure provision to contemporary architecture. Affecting the direction of the rapid urbanization, there is a perpetual dispute, between the construction of a new, modern identity and the promotion of traditional architecture as a possible way to establish new relations with the local history and culture. In the struggle for the definition of a new architectural identity in the Arab emerging cities, this paper focuses on the action needed to preserve architectural heritage, with the aim of showing some significant examples of adaptive reuse projects, recently completed in Qatar. The growing number of conservation projects show that there exists a need to strengthen appreciation of the local architectural and building traditions, as a way of bringing to light and regenerate the historical memory of these local places. This paper provides a comparison between some recent conservation projects completed in Qatar, analysing a number of various proposals for reusing the restored urban fabric and architectural buildings. The data analysis made it possible to classify these proposals in ways that could be applied to other adaptive reuse projects in future. The aim is to define an approach that is consistent and will be able to give expression to the Arab culture in matters of conservation and re-use, whilst respecting shared international rules.