Qatar 2022, building stadiums and city

The Russian World Cup is already here with its 12 large venues, but the start of this World Cup also accelerates the pace for the construction of the stadiums that will house the next edition: Qatar 2022.

 

The 22nd FIFA World Cup edition will be held in Qatar during the year 2022. Since now it is perceived as a world sui generis since it is the first male football world celebrated in a Middle Eastern country – a Muslim majority − and where the host country will be the least territorial. The event will also have one of the shortest durations of its history, because it was agreed a smaller lapse to the usual, ie 28 days. In addition, it will be the first World Cup in a different period of time − from November 21 to December 18 − to avoid the high temperatures of the summer in this area can reach 50 degrees Celsius.

For all these conditions, Qatar 2022 has offered the most interesting stadium design opportunity of the last decades. Unlike Russia, it built 10 new venues, and renovated famous buildings such as Luzhniki (1956), and Yekaterinburg Arena (1957); The Arab country has had to build its entire sports infrastructure practically from scratch.

And not only that, but the construction of these spaces is serving as the engine to transform the city. "We are preparing for the World Cup but the most important thing is what we will leave after the country," says Hassan Al Tawadi, Secretary general of the Organizing committee and adds "inheritance is the key." And it is that before the designation of the World Cup, Qatar was a country project and after this competition will be a reference. So far, it's already in the Middle East.

Another peculiarity is that all the stadiums are within a radius of 60 kilometers, which makes everything at hand and visitors have the possibility of going to see more than one game in a day.

The image of the projects impresses, and their materialization also, since these are great engineering works. They have participated in large architectural firms such as Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, Pattern Architects, Fenwick Iribarren Architects, among others. Thanks to the videos that have recently published, you can appreciate that side of the world that also needs a millimeter organization, a cyclopean budget, and that allows to know both the culture of the host country and the vision of city that will inherit the Next generations.

Here are some examples:

Al Wakah Stadium/Zaha Hadid Architects

The design of the stadium is inspired by the Dhoven, the traditional pearl fishing boat of the country that is still seen in the port of Doha. Its wooden structure is represented inside the dome while the outside of it reflects movement: from the sail, from the waves of the sea, from the desert dunes; Typical aspects of Qatari day-to-day.
The stadium, like almost all those that are being built in Qatar, will have a detachable part that allows to reduce from the 40,000 seats to the 20,000 by the end of the World Cup and should host meetings of the Qatari league. This grade, removable, will be donated to countries that want to use it.

Lusail Stadium/Foster + Partners

This is the main stadium of the World Cup. Located in the future Qatari city Lusail-15 kilometres north of Doha-, the 80,000-seat stadium will host the opening ceremony and the final match of Qatar's World Cup 2022. Its design includes an outdoor field that can be cooled up to 26 °c using the most advanced refrigeration technologies.  The stadium aims to break the mold of the concept of free suburban location, anticipating the trace of this future city, which will be an integral part.