Archinect - News

Qatar puts number of 2022 World Cup migrant worker deaths 'between 400 and 500'

2022-11-29T17:30:00-05:00

The Qatari official responsible for delivery of the 2022 World Cup has said the number of migrant workers who have died on World Cup-related projects is “between 400 and 500”. Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy, made the admission in an interview but said a precise figure for the number of fatalities was still “being discussed”.

Following al-Thawadi’s vague estimate of worker deaths in a live TV interview, the Qatari Supreme Committee tried to minimize the numbers by issuing a statement that the figures referred to "national statistics covering the period of 2014–2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities," as reported by Amnesty International today.

Olafur Eliasson's mirrored desert installation in Qatar asks visitors to 'look down at the earth and self'

2022-11-04T12:36:00-04:00

Olafur Eliasson has completed a site-specific piece of public artwork in a northern-Qatari desert. Titled Shadows travelling on the sea of the day, the Icelandic-Danish artist’s work is inspired by the “interplay of human perception and the natural world.”

Eliasson’s piece comprises twenty mirrored circular shelters along with three single rings and two double rings. The rings are positioned according to the axes of a fivefold symmetrical pattern, while at the center, ten of the piece’s shelters are connected and arranged to form a five-pointed star.

Photo credit: Iwan Baan

Beneath the shelters, the ceilings are mirrored to reflect the earth. “Looking up, you come to realise that you are, in fact, looking down: at the earth and at yourself,” Eliasson explained. “Above and below, sand envelops you, together with anyone else sharing the space. To test what you see, you might extend an arm and wave to yourself or wiggle a foot while looking at your reflection. It is a kind of realty ch...

2022 World Cup: Amnesty International urges FIFA to reserve at least $440M to remedy abuses of migrant workers in Qatar

2022-05-24T18:48:00-04:00

Human rights group Amnesty International has urged FIFA to earmark at least $440 million to compensate migrant workers who it says have suffered labor abuses in the preparations for the men's 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Amnesty International says the issues, which include unsafe working conditions and excessive hours, are "widespread" in the country.

The organization has reported on the exploitation of the (mostly South Asian) migrant workers on 2022 World Cup job sites in Qatar for some time and is now calling for a symbolic sum to be dolled out to workers and their families as reparations for the decade of deadly abuses and foul labor practices behind the slate of venues that includes designs from Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners.

Previously on Archinect: "7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds

“FIFA should reserve an amount not less than the US$440 million prize money offered to teams participating in the World Cup, to be invested in funds to support remediation,” the organization’s letter suggested.

FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, has maintained the body played an active role in improving conditions for workers, claiming that its efforts had restored “dignity and pride” amongst the two million laborers some have labeled as “slaves.”

...

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar inaugurated

2019-06-03T15:41:00-04:00

With the first big kick-off for the 2022 FIFA World Cup still more than three years away, the Zaha Hadid/Aecom-designed Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar recently hosted its inaugural soccer match with 40,000 fans and royal family members in attendance.

The stadium—not entirely uncontroversial since its conception in 2013—is the second fully operational venue for the 2022 tournament, following the Khalifa International Stadium redevelopment, and the first newly built site to host games for the 32 participating teams from November 21 through December 18, 2022.

Image courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

"The client’s brief called 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," explains the project description from Zaha Hadid Architects.

"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 nat...

Design of Norman Foster's Lusail FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar unveiled

2018-12-17T14:13:00-05:00

Officials in Qatar revealed the design for Lusail Stadium, the venue at which the opening and final games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place. The 80,000-capacity venue will be the largest stadium of the tournament, which will kick off on November 21, 2022, and be the first to take place in the Arab world.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

While most designs of the eight 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums have been subject of public debate for some time (most notably the controversial Zaha Hadid-planned Al Wakrah Stadium), the final appearance of the biggest and central venue of the games had not been revealed until now: the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium was designed by Foster + Partners and forms the centerpiece of the newly built Lusail City metropolis just north of the capital Doha. The 'golden bowl' facade takes inspiration from the region's traditional fanar lanterns.

Lusail Stadium concept. Video via Road to 2022 on YouTube.

Construction of the stadium is well underway, and the massive substructure is reportedly complete.

The venue's modular concept allows the stadium to transform into a community space complete with schools, shops, sporting and health facilities once the World Cup's last game has been played in mid-December 2022.

Zaha Hadid's Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium in Qatar nears completion

2018-11-29T14:36:00-05:00

Work is progressing on the late Zaha Hadid-designed Al Wakrah stadium in Qatar, as documented in newly released footage by the organization tasked with the construction of all venues and the necessary infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The 40,000-seat stadium will be one of eight venues across the small Gulf nation to host games for the 32 participating teams from November 21 through December 18, 2022.

Rendered vision & current construction progress. Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Initially unveiled in 2013, the Al Wakrah Stadium project has attracted worldwide praise as much as ridicule for its organic design and also found itself at the center of allegations of workers and human rights abuses, as reported by Amnesty International and the International Trade Union Confederation.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Image courtesy of Supreme Committee for Delivery & Le...

Migrant workers in Qatar allowed to leave without exit visas

2018-09-07T03:29:00-04:00

A law change that will allow the majority of migrant workers to leave Qatar without permission from their employers has been heralded by campaigners as a landmark in the battle against labour abuses in the build-up to the next World Cup. [...] Under the new law, employers will no longer have the power to deny exit permits to most of their workers, though they will retain this right for 5% of their workforce. The reforms are a “step towards fundamental rights for migrant workers.”

Amnesty International reports ongoing systematic exploitation of 2022 World Cup migrant workers

2017-12-22T15:23:00-05:00

Migrant workers constructing stadiums for the Qatar 2022 World Cup continue to be trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and exploitation, according to new research by Amnesty International. Fifa is already under pressure from its own advisory board to act over the kafala system, used to monitor migrant labourers, which has been described as modern slavery. Now, a survey by Amnesty has found two-thirds of migrant workers have paid excessive or illegal recruitment fees.

Despite promises from Qatari and FIFA officials about improved labor conditions, the situation for Nepali migrant workers building the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup remain dire.

In its 2015 report Qatar: Profit and Loss. Counting the cost of modern day slavery in Qatar: What price freedom?, the International Trade Union Confederation estimated that "7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup" and demanded that FIFA would make workers' right a central concern of the preparations. In response, FIFA launched a Human Rights Advisory Board in early 2017 and published its first report in November. Amnesty International welcomed the report but pointed out that it omitted "some key issues related to the Qatar 2022 World Cup."

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

2017-06-06T12:53:00-04:00

In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions running even within Sunni Islam that are often overlooked by the West, which tends to view the Muslim world through the dichotomous prism of Sunni and Shia.

These countries accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, which is to say, primarily, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood held power briefly in Egypt following the 2011 Revolution before being overthrown in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. They are active in many of the seven aforementioned countries.

Qatar also funds Al Jazeera, the widely-watched news channel known for supporting political Islamism and for critiquing the regimes controlling Saudi Arabia and other countries. And Qatar has been criticized for m...

Qatar World Cup workers: FIFA launches welfare body to improve labor conditions

2016-04-28T17:49:00-04:00

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced the launch of a body to oversee the treatment of workers on Qatar’s World Cup stadiums. Fifa has been under pressure from Amnesty International, among others, over the alleged human rights abuses suffered by construction operatives at World Cup venues.

Previously in the Archinect news:

Dire safety conditions also in Brazil: 11 workers have died so far during Rio Olympic construction, audit finds

Zaha Hadid: 'Qatari situation' doesn't apply to her stadium site

2016-02-02T13:32:00-05:00

In an interview with The Times, Dame Zaha Hadid said that the Qataris “should do something” about the issue of migrant workers. [...] “I’m not a defender of the Qatari situation, but it’s important to get the facts right and then we can discuss it. I’m very happy that the press make the government aware of problems on certain sites. But it doesn’t apply to this site.”

To read the full (paywalled) The Times interview with Dame Hadid, click here.

Previously in the Archinect news:

"7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds

2015-12-29T18:00:00-05:00

A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has estimated that 7,000 workers will die before the first ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup. [...] “Qatar’s labour laws are ruinous for workers. All the government has done is to codify slavery. Employers can now even lend out workers to another employer without the worker’s consent for up to a year”

In its 2015 report Qatar: Profit and Loss. Counting the cost of modern day slavery in Qatar: What price freedom?, the ITUC demands that FIFA would make workers' right a central concern of the 2022 World Cup preparations. The organization has also called on Qatari authorities to take these immediate steps to improve workers' conditions:

End the kafala system starting with the elimination of the exit visa;
Allow worker representation – a collective voice with elected representatives and workplace committees;
Employment contracts through direct employment or large, reputable, recruitment companies;
A national minimum wage for all workers, and collective bargaining rights;
Proper labor inspection and grievance mechanisms, inclusive of contractors, and an independent labor court.

Click here to read the full report.

Previously in the Archinect news:

Photographer captures the landscapes of the Middle East's 'brutal building sites'

2015-06-17T13:37:00-04:00

When most people think of the Arabian peninsula, they think of the opulent man-made islands of Dubai and that city’s sparking, futuristic towers... But with his series Crossings, Arko Datto shifts the attention to the millions of migrant workers from throughout Asia who are building these structures. Datto used Google Maps and Google Earth to capture the vast highways, sprawling landscapes, and grand projects that laborers have built under conditions that border on slavery.

“The work deals with the issue in a fairly abstract/tangential way,” Datto told Wired Magazine. “The total lack of human presence in the images is symbolic of the anonymity, facelessness, and lack of representation that the migrant workers suffer.”

BBC journalists arrested for reporting on Qatar's World Cup laborers

2015-05-19T14:00:00-04:00

We were invited to Qatar by the prime minister's office to see new flagship accommodation for low-paid migrant workers in early May - but while gathering additional material for our report, we ended up being thrown into prison for doing our jobs. Our arrest was dramatic.

Previously:

Albert Speer talks about the Qatar World Cup and the search for sustainability

2015-01-21T18:33:00-05:00

Does it make sense for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup? German architect Albert Speer, whose office is in charge of the project, says yes -- and is doing all he can to ensure sustainability. In a SPIEGEL interview, he says how.

A Memorial for the Workers Dying While Constructing the Qatar World Cup Stadium

2014-12-18T15:22:00-05:00

The Qatar World Cup Memorial project is a scalable building that raises awareness about the number of workers who died during the construction of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It is in the form of a tower made of concrete modules, each one representing a deceased worker. The higher the number, the higher the tower...If the death rate is not reduced, the Qatar World Cup Memorial could reach a height of 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile).

1W1P – 1Week1Project – is a collaborative effort by French architects Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux, graduates of l'Ecole d'Architecture in Paris-Belleville. They challenged themselves to produce a "spontaneous architecture" per week for a year, or fifty-two projects. At this point, they have produced 25 predominately-speculative projects, from this memorial to the workers who have died (and are continuing to die) while constructing the World Cup Stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to an ephemeral installation for the interior of the Eiffel Tower that would light up every time someone used #eiffeltower on social media.

With the Qatar World Cup Memorial, they invoke the memories of the more than 500 foreign workers who have died in the country since 2012. While Zaha Hadid, designer of the World Cup Stadium in Qatar, has become the subject of controversy for alleged statements rejecting an architect's responsibility for conditions on their projects, 1W1P proposes a distinctly d...

World Cup ‘slaves’ scandal: Qatar holds 2 UK rights researchers over ‘emigration violations’

2014-09-08T14:44:00-04:00

Qatari authorities have confirmed they are holding two British researchers who are investigating the 2022 World Cup facilities, which is linked with a scandal over poor working conditions and dozens of deaths of foreign workers. ... "All of the actions that have been taken against the two Britons are consistent with principles of human rights enshrined in the constitution," read the statement released by the Qatari QNA news agency on Sunday.

The silence from Zaha is deafening.

More Bad News with Hadid's Qatar Stadium

2014-07-30T15:02:00-04:00

Migrant workers building the first stadium for Qatar's 2022 World Cup have been earning as little as 45p [≈75¢] an hour, the Guardian can reveal [...] More than 100 workers from some of the world's poorest countries are labouring in ferocious desert heat on the 40,000-seat al-Wakrah stadium, which has been designed by the British architect Zaha Hadid [..]

This is just the most recent in a slew of bad PR for the British-Iraqi architect. Earlier, she was rebuked for asserting that architects have neither power over nor responsibility for the conditions of workers on their buildings. She won the 2014 Design Museum award for a building in Azerbaijan that has been criticized for both its construction practices and more generally for being a symbol of support for the country's dictatorial leader. Her designs for a new stadium in Tokyo were called too big, too expensive, and inappropriate for its urban context. And the awarding of the Iraqi Parliament project to her was also met with controversy (the emerging Islamic State is probably threatening the viability of the project anyway).

Still, ZHA don't seem to have any trouble finding clients!

Zaha Hadid defends Qatar World Cup role following migrant worker deaths

2014-02-26T19:11:00-05:00

"I have nothing to do with the workers," said Hadid. "I think that's an issue the government – if there's a problem – should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved." Asked if she was concerned, Hadid added: "Yes, but I'm more concerned about the deaths in Iraq as well, so what do I do about that? I'm not taking it lightly but I think it's for the government to look to take care of. It's not my duty as an architect to look at it.

Qatar introduces higher standards for World Cup migrant workers

2014-02-11T18:43:00-05:00

The organising committee for the Qatar 2022 World Cup has promised that contractors who build its stadiums will be held to high standards on the welfare of migrant workers, in the wake of trenchant and sustained criticism. But the promises, made after demands for a progress update from football's governing body Fifa, do not deal with wider concerns about workers engaged in the £137bn construction boom underpinning World Cup infrastructure.

After the accidental death of over 185 Nepali workers' death, Qatar has obliged to introduce new standards to avoid further pressure from the international community.

However, it only deals with the construction of the stadiums, which is due to begin in earnest this year.

Zaha Hadid Says Al Wakrah World Cup Stadium Doesn't Resemble Vagina

2013-11-25T12:05:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid, the world’s best-known female architect, is none too pleased with critics like Jon Stewart, who have mocked her Al Wakrah Stadium—designed with AECOM for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar—and likened her to the “Georgia O’Keeffe of things you can walk inside.” “It’s really embarrassing that they come up with nonsense like this,” Hadid tells TIME exclusively. “What are they saying? Everything with a hole in it is a vagina? That’s ridiculous.”

Previously: Unnecessary Muffness; Jon Stewart discusses Zaha's "f**kable buildings"

Unnecessary Muffness; Jon Stewart discusses Zaha's "f**kable buildings"

2013-11-20T17:26:00-05:00

"designed by famed architect Zaha Hadid whose signature style appears to be making some of the world's most f**kable buildings...like Georgia O'Keeffe of things you can walk inside...i guess maybe it is time things evened out a bit" - Jon Stewart

Last night on The Daily Show, they offered a critique of Qatar's recently released plans for the Al Wakrah 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The show goes on to label the proposal one of the world's most f**kable soccer stadiums. Also while reporting in, on assignment Al Madrigal is unable to find the "press box".

Revealed: Qatar's World Cup 'slaves' to Build Infrastructure

2013-09-26T13:08:00-04:00

"We'd like to leave, but the company won't let us,"

"We'd like to leave, but the company won't let us," said one Nepalese migrant employed at Lusail City development, a $45bn (£28bn) city being built from scratch which will include the 90,000-seater stadium that will host the World Cup final. "I'm angry about how this company is treating us, but we're helpless. I regret coming here, but what to do? We were compelled to come just to make a living, but we've had no luck."

The body tasked with organising the World Cup, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, told the Guardian that work had yet to begin on projects directly related to the World Cup. However, it said it was "deeply concerned with the allegations that have been made against certain contractors/sub-contractors working on Lusail City's construction site and considers this issue to be of the utmost seriousness". It added: "We have been informed that the relevant government authorities are conducting an investigation into the allegations."

Desert sands, soccer, sustainability and "symbolic capital"...

2012-06-01T23:55:00-04:00

In December 2009, at the "SportAccord" marketing trade show held in Denver, a pair of young Qataris walked up to the Albert Speer & Partners booth, flipped through the brochures and soon realized that the Frankfurt-based firm specialized in very large-scale projects with a focus on sustainability.

Alexander Smoltczyk interviewed Albert Speer Jr. in connection with Qatar's bid for the 2022 World Cup, designed by Speer's Frankfurt based firm. More interested in "intelligent cities" than simple architectural objects, the firm does and offers everything, from the big-picture concepts down to detailed plans. As for questions about patronage, politics and democracy Speer believes "Generally speaking, Germans should be able to work in countries with a German embassy." Additionally, Alexander writes that the current building race seen in the Gulf region is all about "symbolic capital", "sustainable power and sustainable spectacle".