AFL Architects To Deliever Foster+Partners-Designed 2022 World Cup Stadium

U.K.-based sports specialist AFL Architects "is to deliver Foster + Partners’ designs for the centrepiece stadium for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar," according to Richard Waite of the ARCHITECTS' JOURNAL. The practice, which has offices in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Doha, is "working with the joint venture design and build contractors to construct the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium," which will host both the first game of the tournament and the closing ceremony. AFL will take forward the schematic design for the "internationally recognisable landmark" which Foster + Partners completed earlier this year, along with proposals for "how it will integrate" with the neighboring Lusail City. The stadium, one of eight venues for the tournament, "will contain an open-air pitch that can be cooled to 26°C using cooled and shaded spectator stands and state-of-the-art green technologies." The designs have "yet to be released" (ARCHITECTS' JOURNAL, 1/3).