By Penny Yi Wang
Over the weekend, the Interior Design Department and Design Entrepreneurship Department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar will host a design competition to renovate the Sheraton Hotel’s Heads of State Suites.
Her Excellency Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani requested the competition in order to revamp the Sheraton Hotel. The hotel is the oldest of all the modern towers that make up Doha’s dazzling skyline. It was established in 1979 and still remains iconic because of its unique shape.
The suites being redesigned are those that accommodate the heads of the GCC countries during their official visits.
Students from VCU-Q, Qatar University, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and eight Qatari high schools will team up and develop design proposals for the suites, according to Priya D’Souza, media officer at VCU-Q.
There will be 10 teams consisting of five students and a faculty advisor from each of the three different universities.
Professor Li Han from VCU-Q is attending the competition as an advisor and she thinks that although high school students don’t know much about design, but they sure can learn a lot about interior design and interpersonal skills from the event.
