Marine and humidity-proof panels at former pearl diving site

Located in this one-of-a-kind mand-made island in Doha, Qatar, this massive 4 million square meter development by UDC is catered to receive more than 15 million annual visitors.

The project designed by CALLISONRTKL is known as The Pearl-Qatar, name that pays tribute to its strong historical and cultural ties to the sea, being formerly a pearl diving site.

GALLERY  

As part of the project, Frontek has supplied a customised series of panels in a 1 meter by 3 meters XXL format to revest the façade of the new luxury car showrooms at the Abraj Quartier.

One of the main challenges for the development was its location, as The Pearl is the largest marina in the country. This means that any material used needs to withstand constant humidity exposure and be able to resist long hours exposed to the constant sunlight of the area. Thanks to the high sintering of particles within porcelain, Frontek panels are marine proof and are not affected by humidity or any other environmental agents, making these tiles very often used in coastal areas.

The design brief required the use of large-format panels in a natural stone finish for the façade cladding. Natural stone and terracotta at these large formats become a very challenging element to clad, as the weight increases exponentially, and its manoeuvrability and low breaking module limit the installation possibilities.

Due to our complex porcelain production process, the breaking module of the panels is much higher, allowing us to produce 1 meter by 3 meters homogeneous porcelain panels at only 20mm thickness, immensely reducing the weight.

Images via Frontek

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