Photo Gallery Football in Qatar
The office of German architect Albert Speer is helping Qatar prepare for the 2022 World Cup. The choice of the emirate has been widely criticized, but in a SPIEGEL interview, Speer explains how he intends to build sustainably. This image shows plans for the Al-Wakrah stadium complex in Doha.
Albert Speer is widely known as an accomplished German architect, but his fame also stems from his father, who was Adolf Hitler's favorite architect. His office, he says, places just as much emphasis on urban planning as it does on building design.
The Al-Khor stadium is one of 12 football arenas being built or in Qatar for the 2022 tournament. "We don't want to be thrown into the same pot with architects who only see their own buildings that are nothing but fancy, fancy and in the end are white elephants in the desert," Speer says.
The design for this stadium is derived from the traditional fishing boats in the Gulf. Once the tournament comes to an end, its World Cup capacity of 45,000 fans will be reduced to 25,000.
Speer says that the stadiums are planned such that they can be reduced in size once the World Cup comes to an end, with the removed modules able to be assembled elsewhere as smaller stadiums. They are to be given to developing countries.
The Doha Port Stadium will also be reachable by boat from all sides of the harbor. "Sustainability has been a priority from the very beginning," says Speer of the Qatar plans.
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The Al-Gharafa Stadium was built in 2003 and will be temporarily expanded for the World Cup. The facade is to be made up of the flag colors of all qualifying countries.
Criticism of Qatar as a World Cup host has focused on the extreme heat that prevails there in the summer as well as media reports of deaths and injuries at the construction sites as building commences. "I think it is fantastic that, with the help of media reports -- and well in advance of the World Cup -- people are taking a closer look," Speer says. "And that things are changing."
The stadiums are to be cooled using solar power so as to keep field temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit).
Despite the criticism, Speer insists that the World Cup in Qatar is not a bad idea. He says his office turned down the opportunity to work on "The Palm" in Dubai because he and his colleagues thought it was "idiotic."
"I think it is absolutely right to ask critical questions. But you have to always ask them, and not just in Qatar," Speer says. "Take the 2004 European Championship in Portugal. Seven new stadiums. You should go there now. There are three teams in the country that are able to fill up a stadium. The average number of spectators is 9,500."
Speer and his colleagues are hoping to create a kind of "Olympic Village" for the teams that qualify for the 2022 World Cup but FIFA requirements, which call for 112 training grounds, might make the concept difficult to implement.
Albert Speer, second from right, brought along three colleagues to the interview with SPIEGEL. Axel Bienhaus, responsible for architecture and construction planning is sitting third from left. Next to him is project manager Stefan Klos. Friedbert Greif, managing partner and urban planner, is on the right. SPIEGEL editors Maik Grossekathöfer and Juan Moreno are sitting on the left and second from left, respectively.
