The Sport City Tower’s unique design is based on a curved outer shell of glazed aluminium panels and a stainless steel mesh façade built around a central concrete tower.

Inside the curved glass façade, four distinct circular structures are grouped around the central spine.
The first 17 floors consist of a five-star luxury hotel including a pool area. At 148-m high, there are four storeys of presidential suites. The third component at 184 m high, is a three-story viewing deck and sports museum. Even higher at 202 m, a further separate three floors house a revolving restaurant with spectacular views of Doha city.
The highest point at 287 m – where the flame was lit during the 2006 Asian Games – is shielded from the wind by a glass canopy that rises to 320 m. It now incorporates a laser light show, which is visible throughout Doha and lights up the city’s night sky, as a new architectural landmark and a symbol of the country’s ambitions.

Bespoke solution
The tower features a double-skin façade, which has been designed to a very high specification by Reynaers Aluminium. To meet the aesthetic and technical demands of the curved architecture, Reynaers created bespoke solutions based on its transom-mullion curtain wall system CW 50 and the unitised curtain wall system CW 86. Its innovative systems were specified as they are proven to have a great track record, with guaranteed performance even in extreme climates.
“Reynaers provided a total solution for the double-skin façade. We designed the aluminium profiles to suit the project and architectural requirements. Special cascade drainage solutions were developed and extensively tested according to the most stringent European standards for air-tightness, watertightness and wind load,” says Frank Goudman, export director of Reynaers Aluminium.
The project, which is being spearheaded by the Sport City Project Committee, is now being fitted out and is due for completion in May. The tower, which has a built-up area of 40,000 sq m, was designed by Hadi Sumah Architects, Ove Arup, Arep, Bureau Happold, MaP3 and the main contractor on the project was Midmac-Six Construct joint venture. The façade fabricator was JAP.
The completion of the Sport City Tower marks the success for Reynaers in the Middle East region. “This is the largest project we have undertaken since we opened our office in Bahrain in July 2004. Winning this prestigious deal within such a short span has proven the confidence our systems enjoy in the market,” says Ali Khalaf, managing director of Reynaers Middle East.
“The project has been a challenge for all those involved in it – more so because of its fast track nature,” he adds.
Commenting on the project, Khalaf says: “We won the contract in January 2006 and by April we started supplying the profiles and accessories. The Sport City Tower is now externally complete and seeing it in its resplendent glory was indeed a wonderful experience.”
With its involvement in the Sport City Tower and having completed several other prestigious projects elsewhere in the Gulf region, Reynaers Middle-East is confident it has the experience and the right approach to undertake other high-rise projects. “What differentiates us from our competitors is that we are a project-oriented total systems solution provider and do not depend solely on catalogue solutions,” says Khalaf. “Another strength is our local production capacity. Reynaers develops the systems, which are locally extruded, insulated and painted. We also provide technical support and back-up solutions.”
Since 2004, Reynaers Middle East succeeded in wining a large number of projects and is being recognised by many architects and project developers as their preferred partner in architectural aluminium solutions.
Reynaers references in the Gulf region include several medium-high structures in Qatar; three towers in the Seef area – all between 18 and 25 storeys – and a 20-storey residential building near Manama’s Marina Club in Bahrain. In Kuwait, Reynaers was involved in the Al-Kazimy, Rasha and Zaina projects.
Reynaers Aluminium is a leading European supplier of high-quality aluminium systems. The company specialises in the development and marketing of aluminium building solutions (façades, windows, doors, sliding systems, conservatories and brise-soleil). Established in 1965 and headquartered in Duffel (Belgium), it has offices in 26 countries.