QANAAT QUARTERS

Of all the districts Gulf GRC has worked across on The Pearl-Qatar, Qanat Quartier is the one that stays with us. Built as Qatar’s own version of Venice canals, marinas, arched bridges, and rows of pastel-hued low-rise buildings around pedestrian piazzas the district set us a different kind of challenge: recreating centuries-old Italian stone architecture using a material invented decades, not centuries, ago.

The balustrades, cornices, window frames, and columns that give Qanat Quartier its European detailing are all smooth-finished white GRC carved stone forms achieved in a fraction of the time and cost of quarried Italian stone, without losing the intricacy that makes the style recognizable. Set against the pastel facades the district is known for, that white detailing is what makes the color read the way it does the trim doing as much work as the paint.

Developed as part of United Development Company’s Pearl-Qatar masterplan, Qanat Quartier proves GRC isn’t only a modern-looking material it’s equally capable of carrying centuries-old craftsmanship forward, sustainably and at a pace stone alone could never match.