Foster + Partners Dishes Out 80,000-Seat ‘Bowl’ Stadium For Qatar World Cup

With the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 just months away, Foster + Partners has unveiled the competition’s centerpiece venue: the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium. 

The stadium—which was recently inaugurated with a match between Saudi Pro League champions Al Hilal SFC and Egyptian Premier League winners Zamalek—is set to host 10 matches during the global sporting event, including the most prestigious final.

Shaped like a golden bowl glimmering in the sunlight, the architects said the stadium’s design was a fusion of Qatar’s climatic and cultural heritage. It features triangular openings on its exterior to reinforce the structure, incorporating a perforated screen to provide extra shade and filter the light from the outside. 

According to the firm, the ‘spoke-wheel’ top features one of the world’s most extensive tensile cable-net roofs used in a stadium. Measuring more than 1,000 ft in diameter, it helps to minimize the building’s energy consumption with outdoor cooling technologies used to ensure fans remain comfortable in the open-air arena. 

“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 insertional events,” Foster + Partners wrote. 

The team hopes the Lusail Stadium will continue as an enduring symbol of pride for the nation long after the World Cup ends, focusing on how the façade’s “purity and simplicity” beautifully adds to the city skyline. 

[via Dezeen and Foster + Partners, images via Foster + Partners]