March 10 – Qatar has awarded the Design Architect contract for its showpiece Lusail Stadium to UK firm Foster + Partners. The stadium is the proposed venue for the opening ceremony and the final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
With a capacity of 80,000, the Lusail Stadium is the largest venue that will be built for 2022. The tender for the design pitch involved some of the world’s leading architects and stadium design consultants. Foster + Partners will work as part of a team of sports and stadium design experts which includes ARUP and Populous.
Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Qatar Supreme Committee said: “Lusail Stadium will be the centre-piece of the tournament, an architecturally innovative stadium which maintains sporting functionality and delivers on our sustainability commitments.”
Located 15 kilometres north of Doha in Lusail City, will contain an open-air pitch that can be cooled to 26 degrees Celsius using cooled and shaded spectator stands and state-of-the-art green technologies.
Qatar has already begun construction of five new stadiums which are all at different phases across the country.
Lord Foster, Chairman and Founder of Foster + Partners, said: “This is an exciting step forward in stadium design – it will be the first to break the mould of the free standing suburban concept, and instead anticipates the grid of this future city, of which it will be an integral part.”
He added: “The project also pioneers the idea of an ongoing life for the stadium beyond the big event. The environmental strategies, particularly those that address the players as well as the spectators, will also be of international interest to the sporting public as well as those concerned with the architecture.”
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