Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQ) will host its biennial international design conference, Tasmeem Doha 2013, with the theme ‘hybrid making’, focusing on sustainable future of Qatar and the region.
The conference will be held from March 10 to 17, at three venues - VCUQ, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Center. Acclaimed architect and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Rem Koolhaas, will deliver the keynote address.
This year’s conference will be structured as a series of on-going activities, collaborative workshops, lab sessions and exhibitions. A primary goal of these working sessions is to design projects that explore and fulfill civic needs in Qatar and may eventually be adapted to serve the community. The five-day production phase involving workshops and laboratories will take place from March 10 to 14, at VCUQ and Mathaf. The two-day conference (dissemination) portion of Tasmeem Doha will take place at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Student Center in Education City on March 16 and 17.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, VCUQ dean Allyson Vanstone said that the conference will focus on the sustainable needs of Qatar and the region.
She said: “A major component of the conference will be the exploration of the role of art and design in the transformation of Qatar to a preeminent centre for the arts, popular tourism destination. The conference will look into its theme of “hybrid making” and explore hybridity within the acts of making, building and sustaining a contemporary society, engaging with art, design.”
Michelle Dezember, acting director and head of education at Mathaf, said: “We are deeply committed to working together to develop the next generation of creative leaders in Qatar and provide innovative opportunities of learning through art and design.”
Johan Granberg, assistant professor of Interior Design at VCUQ  and co-chair of Tasmeem Doha 2013, said: “Despite this impressive and far-reaching transformation, very little is actually produced in Qatar. Goods, products, produce, architecture, art, artifacts and other manifestations of creativity are, for the most part, imported. Qatar buys rather than produces. This is a matter of national sustainability.”  
Thomas Modeen, assistant professor of Design Studies at VCUQ and co-chair of the conference. Tasmeem 2013 breaks from a traditional conference format. This additional phase of collaboration, design and fabrication brings together local and international students, faculty, scholars and practitioners to provide their own interpretations of what the notion of hybridised making might entail.” Allyson Vanstone, left, along with  organising team  of the Tasmeem Doha 2013 during a press conference yesterday.