After eight years, Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) is finally preparing to move into its own space.

The journalism and communications school will officially relocate to its own four-story building this January, officials have announced.

NU-Q opened in 2008 and briefly operated in Texas A&M University.

It has since been located on the top floor of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Students and faculty also work out of a temporary studio structure.

The new building is 515,000 square feet (47,845 square meters). It broke ground in 2011 and was originally supposed to open in 2013.

In a statement yesterday, NU-Q’s dean and CEO Everette Dennis said:

“It has been five years since we broke ground for the new building and it has taken significant team work to get this building completed. When finished, it will be the premier journalism and communication school in the region.”

NU-Q is one of six American universities operating in Education City.

In February, the school renewed its lease with Qatar Foundation for another 10 years, meaning it will continue to remain here until at least 2028.

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The environmentally-friendly building was designed by famous American architect Antoine Predock and takes inspiration from Qatar’s “desert landscape.”

It hosts three video production studios, two 150-person lecture halls, a multimedia newsroom and a two-story research library, NU-Q said.

It also has an in-house museum called The Media Majlis.

Students will be able to produce their own videos using film screening rooms and a sound effects studio, as well as high-tech filming equipment and editing programs.

NU-Q will begin moving next month and should be ready to operate out of the new building before the next semester begins on Jan. 8.

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