This Shipping Container Stadium Will Host The World Cup

From above, this looks like your normal football stadium, the kind you'd expect to find in any major city. The roof design, the terraces, the bright lights, there's nothing out of the ordinary here. But come at it from the ground and you'll notice something really interesting. Shipping containers. You're looking at the world's first demountable stadium. It can be taken apart and reused and it's set to host matches at this year's FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It's a truly unique construction project, but there's more to it than that. With major tournament organisers needing to prove their stadiums won't be left to rot afterwards like we've seen before, this idea could really be a game changer. Whether it's the World Cup, Summer Olympics or the Winter Games, there's always something big to look forward to in the world of sport. Every four years, thousands of fans will come together in places like this, with millions more watching worldwide to see all the top athletes in action. There'll be noise, drama, excitement and then once the fun is over and the medals have all been handed out, the whole place goes quiet, sometimes permanently. And that's where some places that have hosted these tournaments before have had a bit of a problem. They've invested huge money and effort into building huge venues that have only hosted a few matches during an event that lasted just a few weeks and now they're not sure what to do with them. Yes, there have been many success stories of course, cities that have given their stadiums another purpose and made them central to their development. But there are also examples of how not to do it, host cities that have sadly let their venues go to waste because there was no real strategy for what comes next. So what if they didn't have to worry about that? What if, once the event had finished, you could pack the stadium up and send it off somewhere else to be used again for a future tournament or something else entirely? That's the idea behind this new stadium in Qatar, one of the host venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Unlike other arenas built for the tournament where visual appeal was obviously a priority, what sets this one apart is not what it looks like but what it's made from. The 40,000 seat venue was constructed using hundreds of shipping containers and modular steel elements. It's called Stadium 974 and that's not a random number, that's how many containers were needed to build it. Having these ready-made building blocks has meant using fewer materials than would normally be required for a stadium like this. It's more cost-effective and has less impact on the environment too. The containers were also used to transport material to the site before becoming a part of the construction itself. These are just some of the things that make Stadium 974 a symbol of sustainability in the words of the organisers. Much of the steel in the structure is recycled and because of its coastal location and design, there's no need for a cooling system in the stadium bowl at all, it's all naturally ventilated. There'll also be around 40% less water used here as compared to a conventional stadium. Then there's what happens after England probably lose on penalties again and another team is crowned world champions in December. The whole stadium will be deconstructed and, using those containers again, shipped off to another part of the world. The plan is for it to be donated to underdeveloped nations or rebuilt for another World Cup. But even if the components end up on projects that have nothing to do with football or sport, the point is they're being reused. Now the stadium's look might not be to everyone's taste, but with host nations needing to cut back on their carbon footprint more than ever, designs like this are a step in the right direction. Data from FIFA shows that over a fifth of the 3.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases expected to be generated from the 2022 World Cup will come from the building of permanent venues. Stadium 974 isn't a permanent venue. So is this the way to go from now on? Well, some critics are not fully convinced by these sustainability claims and we can't talk about the 2022 World Cup without mentioning the shocking reports on the treatment of foreign workers in Qatar over the past decade. Reports of squalid conditions and months of unpaid wages have cast a dark shadow over the World Cup. According to these sources, thousands of migrants have died here since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010 and many of them are thought to have lost their lives working on stadiums and other projects linked to the tournament. It doesn't matter how exciting or ambitious the project, statistics like this should never be tolerated and given the cost in human lives, it's difficult to describe as sustainable. But we can still learn from the overall initiative and Stadium 974 isn't the only way the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, that's the group organising the event, has looked to lower its carbon footprint. All eight stadiums built for the World Cup are either in Doha or close to it, reducing the need for new infrastructure and ensuring less energy is spent travelling to venues. Fans are going to be encouraged to get around using the new metro system or electric buses. There's a solar power plant being built nearby and any so-called unavoidable emissions will be offset with things like tree planting. But some don't believe this goes far enough for one of the world's largest producers of natural gas, to the point where it's been accused of greenwashing. Qatar is keen to push how it's cutting down on carbon, yet it's still expected to use air-conditioning systems that run on fossil fuels in its other venues, for example. Also, Stadium 974 is the only one that's demountable and will the rest get used properly afterwards in a country that's not exactly known for sport? Well, we'll have to wait and see. There are undoubtedly going to be some big questions and concerns about the World Cup will continue to make headlines, particularly on the topic of human rights. But if you take this stadium alone, it at least shows what can now be done with design and it's an idea that other organisers can surely learn from in the future, one that could help keep the mistakes of previous tournaments firmly in the past. If you enjoyed this video and want to learn more about where construction is headed, make sure you're subscribed to Tomorrow's Build.