Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which is responsible for the infrastructure and stadia for the country’s staging of football’s Fifa World Cup in 2022, has revealed the design for the tournament’s sixth proposed venue – Al Thumama Stadium.
The venue has been designed by Qatari architect Ibrahim M. Jaidah, chief architect of the Arab Engineering Bureau.
The stadium has been modelled on a gahfiya headdress and will hold a capacity of 40,000. Its capacity will be reduced to 20,000 after the World Cup as part of Qatar’s ‘legacy mode’ initiative. The excess seats will be donated to countries “in need of sporting infrastructure,” the Supreme Committee said.
Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the Supreme Committee, said: “We’ve always been very careful to combine the past with the future in our designs. The gahfiya is a continuation of that theme. It’s a blend of our heritage and culture, and a commitment to the future.”
Al Thawadi added: “Our vision with this World Cup was always to complement and assist in developing local talent, and shed a light on local industry. Ibrahim M. Jaidah is a very well-known architect in Qatar and we believe he has the talent, the passion and the commitment for this project.”
The land on which the stadium will be built is currently being used for pitches by the Qatar Football Association. Early-stage construction work has already begun and it is hoped the venue will be finished in 2020, two years before the World Cup.
Al Thumama Stadium’s main contractor is a joint venture between Qatari company Al Jaber Engineering and Tekfen Construction, a Turkish firm. The Al Thumama district is situated in Doha’s southern suburbs, 12km from Hamad International Airport.
Jaidah said: “The design is a nod to the past, while offering an exciting glimpse into Qatar’s tomorrow. In Qatari culture, the gahfiya forms an important part of every young boy’s pathway to adulthood.
“This rite of passage inspired my vision for the stadium’s design. It is an arena that symbolises Qatar’s youth and its emergence as a major player on the global sporting scene, ready to welcome the world in 2022.”
Dedicated bus services will be launched to transport fans to and from the stadium, which will also feature state-of-the-art cooling technology and high-quality accessibility features.
Following the conclusion of the tournament, the stadium site will also feature a boutique hotel, a branch of the Aspetar Sports Clinic, and other sports facilities.
Image: Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy
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