Background
Based near Doha, Qatar, the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum (FBQ Museum) is a large personal collection of artefacts gathered by the Sheikh throughout 40 years of worldwide travel. Exhibits span the Jurassic Age and early Islamic period through to contemporary Western culture. A specialist collection of over 600 cars, all in working order and frequently loaned for international motor shows includes Model T Fords, rare Buicks and a Williams F1 racing car. The original collection was housed in a grand fort built of local stone with traditional turrets; a collectors’ piece in itself. In 2010, the museum was selected by the Ministry of Art, Culture and Heritage as one of Qatar's cultural landmarks

Brief
The Sheikh had ambitions to share his private passion for collecting and preserving cultural heritage with a wider public, developing the museum as a valuable resource for educational institutions and schools. Our brief was to develop a public-facing brand for the museum which would appeal to a wide audience of local and international visitors, and help the museum become a tourist destination in its own right.

Solution
Our identity explores the concept of duality, with a split mark referencing the colours of the desert and sky, as well as the harmonious co-existence of western and Islamic cultures. The horizon line between the two expresses the architectural lines of the building itself; a cultural palace in the middle of the desert.