One of Qatar’s oldest local architectural companies has been tapped to design Qatar’s eighth and likely final 2022 World Cup stadium.
The Arab Engineering Bureau (AEB), which was established in 1966, also holds the engineering contract for the stadium.
According to World Cup organizers, it will be located between E-Ring and F-Ring Roads, or between the Medical Commission and the under-construction Kahramaa Awareness Park.
The Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy (SCDL) added that the stadium will sit on an area of 515,400 square meters that already includes four outdoor training pitches and office facilities currently used by the Qatar Football Association Technical Committee.
Specs
The venue will have a minimum of 40,000 seats to hold matches in the quarter-finals stage of the tournament. Like several other Qatar stadiums, it will be dismantled to accommodate half that many people after 2022.
Al Thumama is close to the Industrial Area and Qatar’s large church complex.
Residents from the area recently sat down with the SCDL and said that they would like to see a health clinic, green spaces, retail area and sporting facilities, including a walking and cycling track, in the stadium precinct.
No timeline for the design reveal or stadium construction have been shared.
The venue for this project was only announced earlier this month, along with plans to build another stadium in Ras Abu Aboud near Hamad International Airport.
It is likely that these projects will not be completed until Qatar’s deadline for all stadiums, which is 2020.
Meanwhile, progress on six other stadiums is steadily being made. They are Lusail, Al Khor, Al Rayyan, Education City, Al Wakrah and Khalifa International Stadium.
In its original bid, Qatar said it would ready 12 stadiums for the World Cup, though that number will likely be pared down to the minimum of eight needed to host the tournament.
Design plans
In a statement, AEB CEO Ibrahim Mohamed Jaidah, who also designed the Doha Fire Station for Qatar Museums, said the aim is to design a facility that remains “a true legacy for the local community.”
He added:
“We are honored to have won a bid in an international design competition to participate in such a prestigious project. For us it is an absolute privilege to be entrusted by the Supreme Committee to take the lead for the design of this stadium.”
AEB has worked on several high-profile buildings in Qatar, including the Marsa Malaz Kempinski Hotel on The Pearl, Gulf Mall and the Barwa Al Sadd complex.
AEB is also a contender for a design contract to transform a flour mill on Doha’s Corniche into a vast gallery and exhibition space called the Art Mill project.
Thoughts?
