Photographing a Century of Architecture in Doha: My Experience at Colors of the City
- Julián Velásquez
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
A few years ago I had the privilege of photographing buildings for Colors of the City: A Century of Architecture in Doha, a landmark exhibition presented as part of the Design Doha 2024 Biennial at M7 in Msheireb Downtown. It remains one of the most meaningful projects of my career as an architecture photographer in Doha, and I want to share what made it so special.
What Colors of the City Was About
Curated by Glenn Adamson and Péter Tamás Nagy, the exhibition traced Doha's architectural evolution across the last hundred years. The historical section explored heritage styles such as Art Deco, Classicism, and Modernism, and how architects from Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and South Asia adapted them to a Qatari context. A second section followed architect Ibrahim Jaidah's body of work, from his early projects through to the Al Thumama Stadium, built for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
For me as a photographer based in Doha, this was a rare opportunity to document buildings that most residents pass every day without knowing their story, and, in some cases, buildings that may not be standing much longer.
Documenting Buildings Before They Disappear
Some of the structures I photographed for the exhibition represent a Doha that is quietly disappearing as the city continues to grow. Photographing them for this project meant creating what may become the last official visual record of some of these buildings before redevelopment changes the cityscape further.
That responsibility shaped how I approached every shoot: not just capturing a striking image, but preserving architectural details, materials, and proportions accurately enough to serve as a historical reference for architects, historians, and researchers in the future.
A Brutalist Landmark: The Sheraton Doha
One of the buildings I had the honor of photographing for the exhibition was the Sheraton Grand Doha, a striking example of Brutalist architecture in the city and one of the most recognizable landmarks on the Doha skyline. Its raw concrete form, geometric massing, and pyramidal silhouette make it a defining piece of the capital's Modernist era. Photographing it for Colors of the City meant paying close attention to how light interacts with its concrete surfaces at different times of day, an essential part of capturing Brutalist architecture with the depth it deserves.
Learning Doha's Architecture Through a Curator's Eyes
One of the most rewarding parts of this project was working alongside Péter Tamás Nagy. Photographing a building is one thing, understanding why it was designed the way it was is another. His guidance on the historical and cultural context behind each structure changed how I compose my shots. Knowing which details mattered architecturally, and why, helped me photograph with more intention: which facade element deserved emphasis, which part told the real story of the building's era.
As an architecture photographer, this kind of collaboration with curators, historians, and architects is something I actively seek out. It sharpens the way I see a building, and it's part of why my work goes beyond a standard real estate or commercial shoot.
Why This Kind of Work Matters
Projects like Colors of the City are a reminder of what architectural photography can do beyond marketing or portfolios: it can preserve memory. For architects and developers working in Doha, having a professional photographic record of a project, whether newly completed or decades old, is not just documentation, it's an asset that outlives the building itself.
If you're an architect, developer, or cultural institution working on a project in Doha that deserves this kind of careful, historically-informed documentation, I'd love to talk about how we can work together.
