The engineering legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM: Al Bayt Stadium

Abstract

In contemporary architecture, textile membranes offer a wide range of possible structural applications, especially for facades and roofs with large spans and where the reduction of self-weight plays an important role for an efficient and sustainable structural design.On 30 November 2021, the Al Bayt Stadium was inaugurated in Qatar; with its 190000 m2 of textile membrane it is one of the biggest architectural membrane projects in the world.An innovative new membrane material with a natural textile appearance was developed from scratch to meet the specific requirements of the project.This makes the construction of Al Bayt Stadium, shaped like the local Bedouin tents, a milestone in modern membrane architecture; this is attributable not only due to the pure size of the membrane, but also to the significant advances made in textile membrane material design and development as part of the project.Other design aspects include the large, retractable roof above the pitch, which transforms the open-air stadium into a fully enclosed and temperature-controlled multi-purpose arena within minutes.This paper presents details of the design and construction aspects of the stadium, as well as the material development conducted for the inner membrane.