Northwestern University Breaks Ground on New Building in Qatar

Doha, November 29 (QNA) - Northwestern University in Qatar celebrated the groundbreaking for its long anticipated new building on Tuesday morning in Education City. The new facility, designed by renowned American architect Antoine Predock, will house a growing program with an emphasis on digital and global operations for communication, journalism and liberal arts programs and will have state-of-the-art multimedia studios, lecture halls, a theater, radio station, newsroom, library and exhibition space as well as the latest media technologies. Members of the University's Joint Advisory Board (JAB) as well as faculty, staff and students were on hand at the dedication. "This new building will be a state-of-the-art facility for equipping future journalism and communication professionals," stated HE Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, president of Hamad bin Khalifa University and vice president for education at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, in advance of the groundbreaking. The new 32,520-square meter building "will be among the most modern and well equipped in the world," said dean and CEO of NU-Q Dr. Everette E. Dennis. Plans for the structure, which will be located between Georgetown's School of Foreign Service in Qatar and the future Islamic Studies Centre, have been four years in the making. From its striking external facade--large limestone blocks rising skyward to resemble a natural desert formation--to its sweeping internal spaces replete with gardens and terraces, the building will be home to NU-Q's media-centric instructional, production and research programs. Focusing on the instruction and research that will take place in the building, Provost Daniel Linzer said, "Here students will enter a world of classrooms, studios, control rooms and theaters all a platform for learning as they connect settled knowledge with new discoveries and learn to mold their skills into professional practice that will adapt to change." A special feature of the building will be an exhibition space for what will serve as a hub for understanding the past, present and future of communication and media, according to Dean Dennis. "This museum space will introduce scholars and enthusiasts of world and Middle Eastern media to artifacts from the past as well as changing exhibits that capture the essence of current debates over media and their role," he said. The NU-Q building is scheduled for completion in 2014, and includes the following features: four video production studios, two 150-person lecture halls, one black box theater, a two-studio radio station facility for teaching and broadcast activities, a multi-media newsroom, a library capable of housing 40,000 volumes, office facilities for more than 50 faculty and 60 staff, a conference center for events and special programs, and student lounge and activity spaces. (QNA)