Conceptualised by Foster + Partners, the design for Lusail Stadium – the centrepiece venue for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – is a world-class football facility for 80,000 spectators. With an estimated global audience of over three billion, the quadrennial sporting event presents a unique opportunity to express an image of creativity and innovation, rooted in the sense of place.
When fully built, Lusail City will be home to almost half a million people. Conceived as a singular, unified centrepiece at the heart of the new city, the stadium will be the central focus for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ celebrations and will play a key part in the future of the city. Located at the end of the grand boulevard that links to the corniche along the coast, the stadium is part of an urban vision for Lusail City along with the Lusail Towers and Plaza.
In-depth analysis of the brief and the client’s requirements, together with an appreciation of the climatic and cultural heritage of Qatar, formed the basis of the design. The seating bowl is expressed externally as a burnished golden vessel, which sparkles against the sunlight. The façade features triangular openings that visually reinforce the bowl’s structural diagrid and form a perforated screen to provide shade and filter dappled light on to the internal concourses. The high-performance façades and an innovative roof design reduce the stadium’s energy consumption. Outdoor cooling technologies are used to maximise comfort within the open-air stadium. It has achieved a five-star rating under the Global Sustainability Assessment System.
With a primary aim of creating an immersive atmosphere for both players and spectators, the pitch and its relationship to the seating bowl was the starting point of the stadium’s design. Access to the stadium via a broad podium gives spectators a grand welcome as they approach the gates. The stadium bowl acts as a contained ‘vessel’ which comes to life during matches and events. As the largest stadium in the region, it has the capacity to host some of the most spectacular international events.
The 307-metre-diameter ‘spoke-wheel’ cable net roof, one of the world’s largest tensile cable-net roof in a stadium, brings environmental comfort while also unifying the entire stadium under a single envelope. Its outer compression ring is connected to a central tension ring by a complex cable system. This method creates a wide-expanse roof without the need for supporting columns.
The muted sand-coloured palette flows into the colours of the seats, which offer a calm backdrop to the vibrancy and energy of the supporters wearing team colours.
Playful with scale and geometrically elegant, the new Lusail Stadium will be an enduring symbol for Qatar’s post FIFA World Cup™ legacy. The purity and simplicity of stadium’s form make it an iconic addition to the city skyline.
