Australian studio Koichi Takada Architects has completed two gift shops inside Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar in Doha, featuring undulating wooden surfaces.

The two cave-like gift shops are the first of a number of interior spaces that Koichi Takada Architects is creating inside the new museum, along with three restaurants set to open later this year.
Now open to the public, the shops are intended to complement the organic form of the museum building by Atelier Jean Nouvel, which was unveiled in March.

The gift shop interiors are characterised by soaring wooden walls that create a series of cavernous enclosures from stacked wooden profiles.
A total of 40,000 pieces of wood, designed using 3D modelling, were used to construct the space. Each piece is unique to its position in the structure, and fits flush only with its complementary segment. They were assembled by hand in Doha by the Italian carpenter Claudio Devoto.

"Designing the interiors of the National Museum of Qatar was an opportunity to create a unique experience for visitors to immerse in Qatar's cultural heritage," explained principal architect Koichi Takada.

"Each interior space offers a fragment of the Qatari history, that aims to enhance and fulfil both a cultural and memorable experience for museum visitors."

More than a decade in the making, Atelier Jean Nouvel's National Museum of Qatar is recognised for its dramatic facade comprising a series of colliding discs, model...