Frida Escobedo to Design Qatar’s New Ministry of Foreign Affairs HQ

A prominent site on Doha’s Corniche is being prepared for the new headquarters of Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project introduces a significant civic building to the waterfront and opens part of the Ministry’s activities to the public realm.

Following an international competition, Qatar selected architect Frida Escobedo, founder of Frida Escobedo Studio in Mexico City and New York, to design the 70,000 square metre complex. The commission reflects the Ministry’s global role and its interest in a design that aligns institutional function with urban responsibility.

The project combines new construction with the adaptive reuse of the 1985 General Post Office, a building recognised for its distinctive modernist façade. Instead of removing the structure, the plan retains it and converts its ground floor into an exhibition space linked to a covered garden. The approach positions the headquarters within a longer architectural narrative of the Corniche while providing a public cultural component.

The development forms part of Qatar Blueprint. Chaired by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the initiative guides planning and design strategies across the country. The competition was organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Qatar Museums.

Escobedo’s scheme arranges the new buildings as a series of volumes that rise in gentle terraces, maintaining views towards the restored Post Office. Vertical pillars form the exterior envelope and create a balance of shade, privacy and openness. Within the complex, green courtyards provide spaces for quiet use, informal meetings and cultural programming. The landscape strategy extends into the repurposed Post Office, establishing a gradual transition between interior and exterior spaces. Studio Zewde is responsible for the landscape design, with Buro Happold as engineering partner.

The headquarters is planned as both an operational centre for diplomacy and a setting that can accommodate public engagement. It reflects Qatar’s ongoing investment in cultural and civic infrastructure and its interest in architecture that responds to context and heritage.

Escobedo’s appointment builds on an established international portfolio that includes the Serpentine Pavilion in London, the new Tang and Hsu-Tang Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and contributions to the renewal of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her work continues to examine material, proportion and the relationship between built form and social space.