Spanish architecture to reflect on World Cup stadiums of 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

Spanish influence which is profound in Qatar football in terms of number of coaches – right from the top down to the grassroot level – is not limited to just the tactical part but also extends to the infrastructure that the FIFA 2022 World Cup hosts are putting together for the football extravaganza.

The third stadium to be purpose built for the tournament, the Education City Stadium has Spanish roots as it is designed by a Spanish architecture firm

Education City Stadium has a concept design, shaped to reflect a diamond in the middle of the desert and has a capacity of 40,000 people and will host matches in the tournament until the quarter-final stage.

In addition to Education City, two other stadiums for the 2022 tournament: – Ras Abu Aboud, the first removable and reusable stadium in the world, and Al Thumama”, with “an innovative and sustainable character are the other stadiums Spaniards are associated with.

Whilst we are still over two years away from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the country has made positive progress in terms of the development of infrastructure taking into its stride the Coronavirus pandemic and the Gulf blockade.

Beilin Alfaro, Spain’s ambassador to Qatar, praised the efforts of the Supreme Committee which directly sees the organizing of the 2022 football event,

“It is impressive that the engineering designs of Al Thumama and Ras Abu Aboud stadiums – have been put up by a Spanish company,” said Alfaro.

“The stadium is unique and distinctive in its design and features, both due to the shape, especially as the panels that make up the external structure are shaped like a diamond, and for the cooling system that makes it environmentally-friendly, allowing it to reduce the stadium’s carbon emissions,” she added.

The preparation of the Education City stadium, the third stadium completed for the 2022 World Cup matches in Qatar, was officially announced through a virtual celebration broadcast on the Supreme Committee’s social media in June this year. The Committee also plans to open two other venues – Al Rayyan and Al Bayt – before the end of this year, with both of them said to be ready and just appropriate dates to be announced.

“To have completed this stadium is a great achievement,” Alfaro had said as the official inauguration of the Education City stadium was announced.

“I see it as an honour for the Supreme Committee as well as for the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, where the new venue is located,” she had added.

“This inauguration shows that the State of Qatar is on the right path, one that has been set the objective of completing all the projects related to the 2022 World Cup ahead of time, which can be seen from the opening of the Education City stadium today, despite the prevailing circumstances around the world due to the spread of coronavirus,” she added.

The education city has an innovative refrigeration system that takes advantage of the latest advances in architecture, engineering and renewable energy, and that is powered by solar energy.

Its structure is designed and conceived to prevent the public and players from suffering the extreme heat from the outside, by creating a microclimate inside the complex. Thus, the interior temperature of the stadium (both in the stands, on the playing field as in the rest of the facilities), it does not exceed 26 or 27 degrees, compared to almost 50 that can be reached abroad, “said the Spanish study.

“The Education City stadium represents a great milestone in the sustainability of stadiums because it is the first in the world to cool an area as open as a stadium with clean fuel such as solar energy,” said Mark Fenwick, managing partner of Fenwick Iribarren Architects. Regarding its design, the study states that “it is based on the rich history of Islamic architecture, combined with surprising modernity.”

“The facade features triangles that form complex diamond-shaped geometric patterns that appear to change color depending on the position of the sun,” he added.