Projects

Lusail | Doha, Qatar

Lusail is a new waterfront city (really, an extension of an existing city) planned for a future population of 450,000 at the edge of Doha, Qatar. It has been under construction for almost 20 years, and is perhaps 30% complete, with some phases already open.

Lusail was the main site for the World Cup in 2022: it had the largest stadium (site of numerous matches including the final) and various designated fan zones along major streets and certain sections of the waterfront.

Hundreds of buildings have already been built and are now occupied. This includes beachfront resort hotels, condominiums, office buildings, a shopping mall, and a major stadium. Within these buildings, over a hundred restaurants and cafes have also opened.

Other amenities in Lusail include beaches, an amusement park, a water park, a food truck park, marina facilities, and an extensive system of public open space (various parks and a waterfront promenade) that allows for pedestrian movement. Lusail Boulevard, a major street within the plan, has wide sidewalks and is modelled after the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Significant attention has been paid to landscaping, lighting, public art, and water features (eg. fountains) throughout the plan. These features, together with the road system, facilitate pedestrian movement between various parts of the development.

A transit system connecting to the rest of the Doha (already operating) and circulating within Lusail (partially built) is also fundamental to the design. Other civil infrastructure includes state of the art and "smart" technologies for power, water, district cooling, sewerage, solid waste disposal, telecommunications, and security systems.

Numerous sources put the cost of the Lusail at approximately $45 billion, making it one of the most significant developments of its type in history.

Original Plan

Role: Brian Jennett served as the project manager and design lead for the original plan back in 2004-2005. He was responsible for site/market analysis, reconfiguring the shoreline, developing a reclamation plan that resulted in the creation of a series of artificial islands, laying out and configuring the roads and (an earlier version of) the transit system, determining appropriate land uses and density, and planning for a range of property development including residential, office, retail, entertainment, and hospitality uses. Allowances were made for public open space, utilities, schools, and other support functions. During the design process, Brian produced and/or led the production of graphics, renderings, models, presentations and reports that communicated the planning and design concepts. He also served as project manager for a team of 10 people internally. In this role he facilitated meetings with numerous consultants (various engineers, environmental scientists, economists, etc.) spread out all over the world, and traveled frequently to the Middle East for presentations to the client and other government officials.

Original Model

Key Facts:

A planned city and tourism destination for a population in the hundreds of thousands.
15 square miles
38 square kilometers
Still a work in progress, Lusail is approximately 30% complete.
Total Value Invested has been quoted at $45 billion USD
Site of World Cup 2022
Brian Jennett led the design/planning of this project back in 2004-2005 while employed as a Senior Urban Planner and Architect at HOK.

Image of Lusail Boulevard from World Cup Fan Zone drone video

Rendering of Full Development Upon Completion - Image by Others

Street level photo of Lusail Boulevard

Lusail Intro

Collection of images showing original drawings and model + progress to date.

Note: this is a slide show that can be enlarged to full screen.

Animated gif showing original site features and proposed design, followed by progress to date from satellite imagery.

These images show how closely the development follows the original plan and partially explain the design rationale.

A link to google maps and associated satellite imagery. Feel free to zoom in and explore.

Scale Comparisons: All images below show different cities in comparison to Lusail are at the same scale.

This is also a slide show that can be enlarged to show full screen.

Lusail Scale Comparisons

A selection of videos from Youtube and other sources is found below; these also show progress at various dates.

This animation (by others), which features the main towers and plaza at the center of the plan, also includes some images of what the city may look like when complete.