Islamic-Style Head Office in Qatar (2017): Majlis, Reception and Meeting Rooms
Location: Qatar · Year: 2017
Majlis interior design sets the tone for the whole building when a company receives guests the traditional way. This Qatar head office, designed by Kenania in 2017, puts a thirty-seat majlis first and the offices behind it.
A company head office in Qatar, designed in 2017, that receives guests the traditional way: a large majlis first, offices second. The brief asked for an Islamic architectural language that felt contemporary, with one accent colour running through every room so the building reads as a single identity.
The majlis
The majlis seats more than thirty on continuous turquoise sofas around a central marble inlay. Backlit geometric screens line the long walls and a patterned ceiling with a central lantern brings the height down to a human scale. Tea tables in silver-inlaid wood sit within reach of every seat.
Reception and circulation
Pointed arches frame the reception corridor; lattice panels in white lacquer filter daylight and hide storage. The reception desk sits under an arched niche in the same marble as the floor, so it belongs to the architecture rather than to the furniture.
Meeting and executive rooms
The meeting room repeats the majlis vocabulary at a smaller scale: turquoise chairs around a white table and a backlit lattice wall. The executive office adds a carved desk and a seating group for private guests. Washrooms carry the arches and the pattern into the smallest rooms.
What good majlis interior design has to do
A majlis is a room for conversation, not for a screen, so the seating decides everything. Continuous sofas along the walls keep every guest at the same height and within sight of the host; the central floor is left open so tea can be served without stepping over feet; and side tables sit within reach of every seat. Ceiling height is the second decision: a thirty-seat room needs volume, but a plain high ceiling makes voices thin, so a patterned coffered ceiling with a central lantern brings the scale down and softens the acoustics.
The third decision is light. Backlit geometric screens along the long walls give an even, glare-free glow that flatters faces and the turquoise upholstery, while downlights are kept to the perimeter. The result is a majlis that photographs well at midday and still feels intimate at nine in the evening.
A contemporary Islamic language, not a pastiche
The brief asked for Islamic architecture that felt current. We took three motifs, the pointed arch, the eight-point star and the lattice, and used each once: arches frame the reception corridor, the star pattern lives in the backlit screens and the ceiling, and lattice panels in white lacquer filter daylight in the offices. Everything else is calm: cream stone floors, a single accent colour carried from the majlis sofas to the meeting-room chairs, and joinery in one timber tone. Restraint is what keeps the language contemporary.
Drawn for a CNC workshop
The screens, arches and ceiling panels were drawn as CNC-cut files with joint details, so the geometry arrived on site exactly as rendered. Lighting layouts, furniture schedules and finish specifications completed the package, which is the level of documentation any majlis interior design needs if the built room is to match the visual the client approved.
Scope
- Space planning for majlis, reception, meeting, executive and support rooms
- Custom geometric screens and lattice panels drawn for CNC production
- Ceiling and lighting design
- Marble inlay drawings
- Furniture and fabric specification
- Photorealistic 3D visuals
Kenania designs offices and majlis interiors across the Gulf from its Dubai office, with drawing sets prepared for local contractors and authorities.
Related projects and services: majlis interior design
More majlis interior design work from Kenania, and the services behind it:
- Neo-classical villa interior design in Dubai — a residential majlis in the same client tradition
- Corporate office and showroom interior design in Dubai — another head office designed to receive clients
- Interior finishes for the Gulf climate — the stone, timber and lacquer choices explained
- Interior design company in Dubai — offices, villas and majlis design from our Dubai studio
Reference: the geometric vocabulary draws on the collections of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, which is the best public archive of the patterns reinterpreted in this majlis interior design.
Planning a similar majlis interior design project? Send the plan and a short brief for a scoped proposal.
