Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker has presented on the importance of art and its influence throughout the development phases of the carrier’s hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), during the second edition of the annual The New York Times “Art for Tomorrow” conference.  Al-Baker shared the “creative vision and importance of the iconic art pieces purposefully selected and positioned across the various nodes and concourses of the airport”, according to a statement.

“Introducing an airport as a destination location in and of itself required significant design detail and influence. The vision of the airport was to make the experience like no other; comfortable, desirable and memorable. An important element of this was introducing art and design,” he said.

Open for nearly two years, HIA has 41 contact gates in operation, more than 40,000sq m of retail and food & beverage spaces, an in-terminal 100-room hotel, 25m swimming pool, squash courts, fitness and spa facilities, many luxury shopping opportunities as well as Qatar Duty Free brands and more.

The presentation at the conference centred on the sculptures, paintings and design of the existing phases as well as the upcoming ones. The airport’s main architectural and design firm, Foster + Partners, also took the audience through the main scope of the project and how harmony and symmetry was carefully layered uniformly throughout all the passenger offerings.

Art and architectural features have been a “hallmark since the opening of the airport, providing passengers with an ambiance of aesthetically pleasing, inspiring, functional spaces for quietude, rest, shopping, dining, and business purposes”, the statement notes.

“The hub of Qatar Airways is designed with all of our passengers in mind, whether they are travelling short-haul, with a brief connection time, medium or long-haul. Not only is the airport filled with art elements, but we have also paid careful attention to make it a highly convenient airport, technologically advanced and with an intuitive design,” al-Baker added.

An iconic element of HIA is the acclaimed sculpture, Lamp Bear by Urs Fischer, which is positioned in the centre of the departures terminal, anchoring all the concourses and food & beverage outlets. The Lamp Bear sculpture has been in HIA since the opening in April 2014.