Architects Renzo Piano, Sou Fujimoto and David Chipperfield are among a 26-name longlist to transform Doha’s waterfront flour mills into a mammoth 899,000 sq ft cultural centre.

Narrowed down from 489 entries, the candidates will now work on schemes for the Art Mill project – sited on an industrial plot in Qatar’s capital – before a shortlist of five is announced in early 2016.

‘The Qatar Flour Mills Company has a distinguished name within the Gulf as a pioneer in food production,’ said Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa, chairperson of Qatar Museums.

‘Now that it is relocating to the new port, we are grateful to be given this building. In converting and reinventing it, we hope to feed the community with the latest cultural developments and artistic creations from around the world.’

The brief involves the adaptive reuse of existing grain silos in addition to creating gallery, education, event and storage spaces.

Art Mill will form part of the city’s cultural quarter, standing alongside the Museum of Islamic Art, conceived by I M Pei, and the Jean Nouvel-designed National Museum of Qatar currently under construction.