Sports City Stadium for Qatar 2022 / Populous

There’s still a long road to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, but the design and construction of the 12 stadiums has already started. We will be featuring as many as we can, for you to see how will future stadiums look like. To start, sports architecture experts, Populous, shared with us their design for the Sports City Stadium, located along the Persian Gulf in the eastern coastal city of Doha. More images and complete architect’s description after the break.

Sports City Stadium, located along the Persian Gulf in the eastern coastal city of Doha, is one of 12 conceptual stadia included in the winning 2022 Qatar World Cup bid. The building will provide Qatar with an opportunity to present the most flexible, technologically sophisticated and environmentally sustainable stadium the world has ever seen. In addition to World Cup soccer, the stadium is designed to accommodate a variety of uses, even beyond sport.

Drawing on the rich tradition of the nomadic Bedouin tribes, the structure’s inspiration comes from a Bedouin tent. Like the nomadic culture, the tents had an architectural design enabling them to adapt to their environment. The versatile stadium incorporates a partially-retractable roof, retractable pitch and a transformable seating bowl. The retractable roof will be large enough to hold people within it, adding to the 46,890-seat occupancy of the stadium.

The driving force behind the project was for the architectural design to mimic nature’s response to the local environment and context of the site. As such, the venue’s infrastructure harnesses energy directly from the sun to provide lighting, heating, cooling and electricity. To combat the extreme temperatures of the Middle East, Sports City Stadium will feature an in-stadium cooling system to keep players and spectators from overheating. Cool air will be pumped at the ankle and neck level in each row of seats, then descend and filter throughout the entire venue guaranteeing maximum comfort to fans and players.

Sports City Stadium, in accordance with all other activities surrounding 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, will achieve zero carbon emissions. The venue will be powered by a 100-percent zero-carbon infrastructure, capable of supplying the electricity required by the stadium and additionally export energy to the city grid.

The combination of well thought designs and cutting edge technology will guarantee the maximum performance to players and great comfort to fans at zero carbon emission levels.