Archinect - News

Saudi Arabia floats 2034 World Cup stadium 1,000+ feet up on The Line

2024-08-02T12:40:00-04:00

Saudi Arabia’s turn as host of the 2034 World Cup would include NEOM as one of its 15 host cities, according to an official bid submitted to FIFA.

Renderings describing a new 46,000-seat stadium elevated 350 meters (1,150 feet) above the ground and embedded within the superstructure of the planned The Line megacity were made public this week along with 11 other newly built constructions as part of the country’s bid marketing booklet. The 125-page document includes other details of a massive infrastructure plan and 73-strong network of proposed sports training facilities.

Image: NEOM

An architect for The Line stadium has not been named. A section drawing from the bid book (page 108) indicates that it will take up the superstructure's top levels high up in the air and be surrounded by different 'compounds' that round out the building program. Fans seated in its interior bowl will be bifurcated by hexagonal partitions while a mirrored ceiling beset with LED displays that extends from th...

A new soccer training center for the Vancouver area designed by Formline Architecture

2024-01-14T14:00:00-05:00

The City of Port Coquitlam in British Columbia, Canada, recently unveiled the final proposed design for one of the province’s largest training and recreational hubs for soccer.

Designed by Indigenous-led, Vancouver-based firm Formline Architecture, the facility will serve as a state-of-the-art soccer and community hub and B.C. Soccer’s new headquarters, with office space for local soccer club Port Coquitlam Euro-Rite FC. The project includes the reconfiguration and improvement of the surrounding Gates Park, which is located just west of downtown Port Coquitlam.

New renderings reveal that there will be a 1,200-seat grandstand covered by a sculpted wooden roof. This space will feature locker rooms, washrooms, a lobby, a meeting space, and other amenities. Additionally, a state-of-the-art synthetic turf field will be constructed to FIFA international competition standards, replacing an existing underutilized grass field. There will also be a multi-use public plaza for community events ...

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...

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."

Amnesty International reports new numbers of Qatar's FIFA World Cup 2022 migrant exploitation

2017-05-26T12:55:00-04:00

Migrants building a state-of-the-art stadium for the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar are abused and exploited – while FIFA makes huge profits.

As previously covered in Archinect news, many migrant workers in Qatar face abuse and exploitation, forced labor or even death.

A recent report from Amnesty International reveals new numbers — over 90% of Qatar's workforce, an estimated 1.7 million people, are migrant workers coming from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. 3,200 workers, mostly migrants, work on Khalifa Stadium every day. The majority of the workers seeking jobs in Qatar are escaping poverty in their home countries. They are often forced to pay recruitment fees ranging from anywhere between $500 to $4,300 that leave many in debt and hunger. Passports are taken away, making those people unable to leave their jobs or the country while being unpaid for months.

Considering the conditions and the threats that the migrant workers endure in Qatar, it is truly challenging to not regard their situation as one of the forms of modern-day slavery.

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