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Inaugurated on 16 May 2019 by hosting the Amir Cup Final of the Qatar Stars national football league, Al Janoub Stadium was the first new stadium commissioned for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) together with Aecom began designing the stadium along with its new precinct for the city in March 2013. As one of the venues of the 2022 World Cup, the stadium will host the group and quarter-final matches of the tournament. The stadium is located in the city of Al Wakrah that is 23km south of Doha and connected to the capital via the Red Line of new Doha Metro system.
The client’s brief was for a 40,000-seat football stadium for the 2022
World Cup which could be reduced to a 20,000-seat capacity in its legacy
mode following the tournament. 20,000 seats is the optimum capacity for
legacy use as the home ground to Al Wakrah
Sport Club professional football team of the Qatar Stars national
league. These temporary seats have been designed to be demountable and
transportable to a developing country in need of sporting infrastructure
for post-tournament usage. Further temporary accommodation
such as concessions are required for the additional capacity of FIFA
World Cup tournament mode. This has been built as a temporary overlay
outside the permanent footprint and enclosure of the stadium in its
legacy mode.
The stadium has an operable roof designed by Schlaich Bergermann Partner
and a seating bowl cooling system that ensures the stadium is can be
used during Qatar’s summer months. The operable roof has been designed
in sympathy with the cladding using pleated
PTFE fabric and cables. When its deployed, the roof operates like a
sail to cover the oculus above the field of play and create a sheltered
environment for football during the summer. Passive design principles
along with computer modelling and wind tunnel
tests were used to maximise the effectiveness of the physical enclosure
to ensure player and spectator comfort.
Given the stadium’s context within the coastal city of Al Wakrah, the
client asked that its design reflect the maritime traditions and history
of the location, in particular, the traditional boat of the region, the
dhow. ZHA responded with a design that incorporates
these cultural references in an abstracted manner and combines them
with practical responses to the climate, context and the functional
requirements of a football stadium. The abstraction transforms the
literal into something new and appropriate for a football
stadium; allowing multiple interpretations of these cultural references
both in terms of how they are applied and how they are read.
The stadium’s roof design is an abstraction of the hulls of dhows turned
upside-down and huddled together to provide shade and shelter. This is
expressed in the stadium’s envelope geometry, details and selected
materiality, including the roof’s beam structure
that echoes the interior structure of a d’how’s hull.
The facades of the stadium are slanted outwards, tapered in elevation
and reminiscent of the pleating of a dhow’s sails. The image of the
dhow is further emphasized through the large overhang of the stadium’s
eaves that incorporates strips of metal cladding
reminiscent of the timber structures used in a dhow.
The stadium’s opaque roof and wall areas are expressed as pleated cross sections. This feature, which has its origins in Arabic motifs and calligraphy, adds texture to the outer shell and also emphasizes the stadium’s unique geometry. The external cladding materials are deliberately selected from a limited palette of materials and choice of colours; namely white for the roof and wall cladding, and darker colours for the areas below the eaves, including the lower level curtain walling with its ornamental lattice screen print that provide shading.
The colour scheme for the external building envelope dovetails with its geometric forms and reinforces the articulation of the outer skin. The roof cladding and opaque surface areas above the eaves are white or off-white in colour with a gloss surface finish that is reminiscent of sea shells and emphasizes the pleats which add texture to the building envelope. The embossed eaves and the lattice screen print of the glazed lower-level facades are metallic bronze in colour, adding a sense of richness and depth to the design. The choice of a bronze metallic finish of these worked surfaces pays homage to the traditions and artistry of Islamic craftsmanship.
The stadium sits on a large landscaped podium that
takes visitors from grade to the entry level main entry concourse
located at the middle of the seating bowl’s tiers. This podium connects
the stadium into the adjacent landscape and reduces
its scale. Large parabolic voids within the podium signify different
activity zones. On the eastern side, voids allow for the majority of
spectators to arrive and depart from the stadium. The north eastern void
will include a community market whilst the south
eastern void hosts an activity park. To the west, the parabolic void
within the podium allows for vehicle access and drop off at grade for
the players, officials and dignitaries.
The stadium was designed in conjunction with its new precinct to sit at
the heart of an urban extension of the city, creating community based
activities in and around the stadium on non-event days. Al Janoub
stadium will be a memorable venue and destination
during the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup and afterwards, at the centre of
its Al Wakrah community.
Source : ZHA