A Stadium Made of Shipping Containers

One of the stadiums Qatar has built for the 2022 World Cup is made out of 974 shipping containers, and will be entirely deconstructed and recycled after the tournament is over.

In 2010, it was announced that Doha would host the 2022 World Cup Tournament. Proud to be the first country in the Middle East to host the World Cup, Qatar has spared no expense preparing for its “moment in the sun.” In 2017, Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi said Qatar was investing $500 million in infrastructure weekly, covering roads, hospitals, a new airport, and eight separate stadiums. According to a report by Bloomberg, Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure projects are valued at a total of $300 billion, vastly more than the previous record of $15 billion set when Brazil hosted the 2014 World Cup.

But it isn’t just the money totals that make Qatar’s approach unique. Qatar’s investment has included some truly revolutionary innovations, such as Stadium 974. The first fully demountable stadium in FIFA World Cup history, Stadium 974 will be dismantled after the tournament and its parts repurposed in sports venues across the world. Constructed from exactly 974 shipping containers, the design aims to reduce waste by using prefabricated and repurposable materials, many of which were brought in the shipping containers themselves. Seated on Doha’s waterfront, the stadium’s design takes advantage of the natural breeze rather than using cooling technology, reducing its water usage by almost 40%.