This week, Qatar
Foundation’s Doha Debates examines how architecture reflects and shapes
cultural values on their flagship show, Doha
Debates. The second episode of the new season asks: Has modern architecture
redefined beauty and tradition, or contributed to its decline?

Moderated by Dareen Abughaida, the debate brings
students from across Qatar with experts from around the world: Marwa Al-Sabouni, Syrian architect and
author of The Battle for Home; Tariq Khayyat, founder of T.K.
Architects and former director at Zaha Hadid Architects; Carl Korsnes, philosopher and editor-in-chief of Sivilisasjonen
magazine; and Bidisha Sinha,
associate director at Zaha Hadid Architects.

Korsnes and al-Sabouni
argue that the 20th-century modernist paradigm stripped architecture of its
soul. Abstraction and alienation replaced ornamentation, harmony, and human
scale. Al-Sabouni draws from her experience rebuilding Homs in post-war Syria. Reflecting
on how architecture shapes social cohesion, she warns, “The architectural
idiom that we have adopted has embodied a cultural decline and an intellectual
decline that has created the emptiness we see today.”

In contrast, Sinha
defends modern architecture as an evolving art form that redefines beauty for a
new era. “Modernist architecture is more steered towards ideology rather than
seeking beauty,” she says.

Positioned between these
poles, Khayyat calls for reconciliation between tradition and innovation.
“I think we have lost touch with beauty,” he says. “We have lost touch
with ourselves and how architecture plays an important role in enhancing our life
experience.”

As the debate unfolds,
the experts and students wrestle with tensions between heritage and progress;
local identity and global design; and timeless beauty versus evolving
aesthetics. The conversation often returns to one shared conviction:
Architecture is never neutral. It shapes how we live, the ideals we hold and
how we connect to one another.

“Beauty is never just
about what we see, it’s about what we value,” says Amjad Atallah, managing director of Doha Debates. “In this debate, young voices reminded
us that architecture can distance us from our humanity or bring us closer to
it. Their courage to question and reimagine what beauty means in the modern
world shows exactly why these intergenerational dialogues matter.”

Filmed in Doha in the
flagship program’s signature Majlis-style format, the episode embodies Doha
Debates’ commitment to open, truth-seeking dialogue and fostering empathy and
understanding across cultures and ideologies.