House of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned

House of Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Missned

• This house in Al-Khor is where Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned was born and raised. Her Highness is one of the most active contributors to the educational development and worldwide visibility of The State of Qatar. A high wall, embellished with Qatari-style battlements on its top, protects the house. These unique decorations evoke traditional incense burners or stylized leaves and flowers.
• The house was built by her father Nasser bin Abdullah in the early second half of the 20th century. Its layout follows the traditional Qatari model for private residences. The family’s domestic life took place in several pavilions built around the perimeter of a central courtyard. Each pavilion had a specific purpose, and there were separate rooms for women.
• The external wall and each unique pavilion provide an absorbing insight into the traditional Qatari building technique. The thick walls, which helped to isolate the heat and keep the house cool, were built by overlapping raw pieces of coral rock and limestone, joining them with mud mortar and covering them with gypsum-based plaster.
• The roofs of the pavilions are made up of four layers: The first is a series of “danchal” wood poles, often protected by bitumen. The second is a layer of “basgijl”, which are woven bamboo strips. A close net of mangrove branches makes up the third layer, and the roof is topped with compressed mud that serves to protect the house from the sun during the hot seasons.
• One of the most interesting features of this technique is the building of architraves with poles of “danchal” wood held together with rope. This increases the adherence of the mud mortar and plaster.