Case study: Katara towers

Lusail Marina District, Doha, Qatar

The crossed swords of the country’s seal are architecturally translated into twin-arched towers that rise gracefully from the podium level, while the landscaped gardens and palm trees reflect in the ocean frontage.
The Katara Towers cover a total area of about 300,000 square meters. It will offer entertainment and recreational facilities, specialist boutiques, movie theatres and restaurants. Construction of a luxury five-star and six-star hotel comprising 2 towers consisting of 2 basements, ground floor and (37) floors, including ballrooms, swimming pools, a plaza with recreational and spa facilities, and 3 parking levels. The hotel will have a total of 361 elegantly designed rooms and suits. Once the project is complete, there will be 49 apartments that will be available for permanent residence.

The foundation of Katara Towers commenced in 2018 and it is expected to open in 2021.

Water heating

Marine Trading & Contracting delivered 60 commercial Hot Water Generators HWG units from A.O. Smith with total capacity of 108,770 liters for the water heating throughout the building. Each HWG has a carefully calculated heat exchanger to meet the local expected hot water demand. Three gas fired boilers are installed to supply hot boiler water for heating the water in the Hot water generators. The Hot water generators are installed on different floors, creating a decentral water heating system allowing hot water to be delivered without temperature losses that could occur during transportation in a central system.

GSAS 5 star sustainability rating

The project of Katara Towers has been awarded a 5-star rating for the Global Sustainability Assessment System Design and Build, a first performance-based certification system by MENA regions for various types of infrastructural projects.
There are a number of initiatives that the project is taking in order to ensure that the environment remains unaffected by the construction and building of the towers:

• There will be demand control ventilation that will complement the interior spaces where a higher occupancy load is expected. This will help conserve energy consumption.
• To further reduce the energy consumption and eventually costs, the project uses lighting control systems, energy-efficient HVAC, and other such appliances.
• As per the guidelines issued by the GSAS, the Katara Towers project will be evaluating all high-energy loads separately in order to formulate a better approach to conserving energy. In fact, by following multiple approaches to saving and improving energy performance, the project is expected to save up to 40 percent of energy, much less than the conventional building design guidelines of ASHRAE 90.1-2016.
• The project is also saving water. There will be water-efficient plumbing fixtures and appliances that will be used for both indoor and outdoor courses, which would eventually help in achieving the water conservation standards that have been set by the GSAS. In addition, the Katara Hotel will be reusing water for irrigation and toiletries.
• With keeping the wellbeing of the people in mind, the project has a system in order to maintain decent levels of air quality, acoustics, lighting, and thermal comfort at all times.