Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar: How a 2008 sketch shaped its modern design
Delhi-based architect Martand Khosla on how an MF Husain sketch forms the architectural core of the artist's museum in Doha and his association with Husain
Lawh Wa Walam M F Husain Museum (Courtesy: Qatar Foundation) The building’s design draws inspiration from MF Husain’s 2008 sketch. How does the current architectural vision reflect that original concept?
Husain’s 2008 sketch served as both the foundation and the spark for the architectural vision. It was never intended as a conventional architectural drawing; rather, it was an artistic proposition — open-ended, evocative and full of cultural and symbolic cues. The sketch offered a sense of form, a hint of façade and an underlying philosophical intent, without tying itself to any specific site or scale.
Our approach was to interpret this gesture and extend it into a building that could meet the demands of a contemporary museum. The blue mosaic façade in the sketch became the starting point — the “blue house.” From there, the massing expanded to include the grey house, with both volumes connected by a cylindrical structure that houses the main staircase and visually aligns with the Seeroo fi al ardh installation – Husain’s final artwork, which now forms part of Lawh Wa Qalam: MF Husain Museum.
While the final structure grows far beyond the sketch in response to site, programme and context, it remains deeply anchored to Husain’s sensibility — its modernist vocabulary, its openness and its invitation to engage with art as part of lived experience.
What was your first impression of the sketch?
My first impression was that it was an incredibly generous sketch — one that invited interpretation rather than dictating it. On one hand, it suggested a façade. On another, it hinted at broader themes: regional memory, modernist form and the intersection of art and architecture and most importantly a regional multiculturalism. It felt like Husain had left behind a conversation starter — something that asked for response, invention and collaboration. That sense of entering into a dialogue with him across time remained central to the design process.
Could you share your creative and architectural thought process while designing the museum?
The design process unfolded along two intertwined and simultaneously evolving threads; the artistic and the urban. Artistically, the task was to develop an architectural language that could hold together the multiple readings of Husain’s sketch — the literal façade, the symbolic references, and the metaphorical resonances. At the urban scale, I was deeply conscious of the museum’s placement within Qatar Foundation’s Education City — a landscape of learning, dialogue and cultural exchange. The raised platform, the outward-oriented tower and the spaces designed for discourse all emerged from the belief that the museum should serve as more than a container for artworks. It needed to be an active participant in the intellectual life of its surroundings.
Architect Martand Khosla (Photo: Dolly Singh)
How did Husain’s body of work, particularly the collection on display at the museum, influence your design approach and architectural choices?
Husain’s work has always embodied movement — between cities, cultures, histories and ideas. This sense of wandering deeply shaped the architectural experience of the museum. The massing also subtly references the layered density of South Asian urbanism — the kind of environment that shaped his early years. This was important to us: even though the museum is dedicated to a single artist, the building needed to evoke a cultural landscape broad enough to situate him. In essence, the architecture attempts to echo the expansiveness, fluidity and openness that characterize his body of work.
Did you ever have the opportunity to meet MF Husain?
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet him a few times in my twenties. I first met him at a family friend’s home in London when I was studying architecture in the 1990s. When I graduated and returned to start my practice in Delhi, for a brief period he had a studio in an apartment in the same block where my parents lived. He was also closely associated with SAHMAT, of which my grandfather, Bhisham Sahni, was one of the founding members. I had the opportunity to meet him there once, and my paternal grandfather, GD Khosla, knew him too, as they served on a few committees together.
In fact, somewhere there lies a pencil drawing by Husain of my grandfather, which I saw as a boy.
Designing this museum was, in many ways, a chance to engage with Husain’s vision and interpret it architecturally for a contemporary and global audience.
Can you share specific details about the building’s layout, including the number of galleries, any unique spatial features or materials used?
The museum is composed of two main volumes — the blue house and the grey house — connected by a cylindrical structure that functions as both a staircase and an amphitheatre-like seating element.
The layout includes an introductory gallery, three principal exhibition galleries, a research library, a space for talks, screenings, and discourse, as well as restoration rooms.
The building sits on a raised platform, conceived almost like an urban stage.
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