This is Stadium 974, which is regarded as the first stadium in FIFA World Cup history to be disassembled and then put back together anywhere in the world.
Qatar, which is hosting the World Cup this year, built and paid for it.
Its name, “974”, refers to both the number of shipping containers utilized in the stadium’s construction as well as the international area code for Qatar (+974).
Fenwick Iribarren Architects, located in the Spanish capital Madrid, conceptualized the stadium.
According to Mark Fenwick, a partner in the architecture firm, the idea of sustainability is central to the stadium.
After the World Cup, he recalls, “We genuinely thought that Qatar didn’t really need to create this eighth stadium.”
“So, we decided to take a very radical approach, which was to see if we could actually design the stadium that was not only demountable, but was also transportable, and re-mounted in another country, either as a full stadium or as different pieces that could be put together as a variable amount of sports buildings,” the article reads.
However, the sustainability defense has been criticized. Some claim that if the stadium’s essential air conditioning equipment and other utilities were fueled by renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, Qatar would see greater environmental benefits.
The stadium was constructed from repurposed shipping containers and has a capacity for 40,000 spectators.
Qatar says the stadium will be donated to under-developed nations who wish to use it. The stadium was tested out during the FIFA Arab World Cup which Qatar hosted in November-December last year.
