Breaking the mould
A former government building is transformed into a luxury hotel.
By Nicola Chilton
A low-rise 1970s brutalist building has become the Middle East’s hottest new hotel. The Ned Doha has moved into the former Interior Ministry on the Qatari capital’s corniche and is challenging expectations of high-end hospitality.
A building that whispers rather than shouts, it eschews the polished glass and steel of the city’s other new hotels. David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and Soho House Design balance minimalist architecture and layered interiors in this third opening for The Ned group after London and New York. The 90 rooms and suites feature an elegant blend of modernist materials and retro glamour.
On the ground floor, green marble walls and patterned floors lead to the Nickel Lounge, a central hub where pink banquettes surround a circular stage that features nightly live music. The hotel’s seven restaurants, with the exception of the members-only Ned’s Club Upstairs, share this floor. Cuisines span Italian at Cecconi’s, brasserie classics at Millie’s Grill, and Pan-Asian at Kaia.
The Ned’s two outdoor restaurants are set amid dramatic light and shade, sleek grey concrete and spiky green palms. Beneath frangipani trees, Hadika serves exquisite Levantine mezze and salads. Opposite, next to the 30-metre swimming pool and its striped daybeds, colourful Californian dishes are on the menu at Malibu Kitchen. Terraces encircle the building, providing additional open-air dining spaces.
In a region where luxury is often synonymous with size and superlatives, The Ned Doha is breaking the mould, striking a chord with a cosmopolitan audience who value the design, the mood, and the sense of discovering something completely different. Could The Ned and its adaptive reuse concept become a model for future hotel projects in the Middle East?
Photo courtesy of The Ned
