Education City Stadium

Located at the heart of Qatar Foundation’s Education City campus, home to eight branch campuses of some of the world’s most prestigious universities, Education City’s diamond-inspired stadium is designed to host a vast range of sporting events. The project has been awarded Five-Stars under the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), making it the first stadium in the world to achieve such recognition. At least 55% of the materials used on the project come from sustainable sources and 28% of construction materials have recycled contents.

The façade of the Stadium is conceived as a shimmering diamond nestled on a vibrant landscaped podium. The faceted nature of the metallic fabric façade has a strong geometric tessellation consisting of diamonds and triangles, which means each panel will reflect different qualities of light, sparkle with different hues, and mirror different aspects of the surrounding site. The movement of the sun throughout the day will animate and transform the appearance of the Stadium, creating an illusion of constant motion, whilst at night its inner glow will emanate out through the façade.

The Stadium has a capacity of 45,000 seats during the tournament, with a legacy conversion that reduces it to 20,000 following the World Cup, which is more suited to its Legacy Occupancy. To achieve this reduction, the upper tier is designed to be entirely demountable. The tier is made of modular elements sat on a lightweight scaffold system. The tiers and 20,000 seats will be donated to build stadiums in developing countries.

In Legacy, the Stadium will serve the student body of Qatar’s premier educational institutions located in Education City. The venue will also become the home to Women’s Football in Qatar. This is designed to support the Qatar National Vision 2030, which includes the goal of bolstering women’s role in all spheres of society and empowering them to be active community members.

The bespoke design of the arena responds to the climatic challenges of a desert stadium. The stadium features direct under-seat bowl cooling to every spectator, ensuring comfort even in the summer months.

The original concept was produced by Fenwick Iribarren and Arup. Pattern were appointed in 2016 as Lead Architects to design and deliver this reference design. Alongside Buro Happold Engineering, the project has been developed through all work stages, refining and optimising the concept, whilst also ensuring full compliance with FIFA regulations. The project is expected for completion in 2020.