Q Life Magazine Q Magazine December 2018 | Page 15

Innovate & Inspire | M ohammed Al Mulla is the project manager for Ras Abu Aboud stadium. He is responsible for delivering one of the key 2022 FIFA World Cup venues, currently one of eight being built in Doha. The 40,000-seat stadium is based on a unique modular design, using recycled shipping containers, and is set to be entirely dismantled and repurposed when the 2022 World Cup concludes. It is a visionary sustainable design that looks set to be emulated by architects and designers around the world. The logistics involved are breath-taking, and the pressure to deliver intense. Ask Al Mulla to describe to a small child what he is doing, however, and his eyes light up. His hands begin to sort through an imaginary pile of multi-coloured bricks. ‘The stadium will be built using the same concept as the toy every child has – Lego,’ he says. ‘In simple words, the main structure will be built of steel, and as we go up from floor to floor, we are going to insert the containers across the sides of the stadium, which reminds us of how children play with Lego. ‘We can put it together easily, and at the end of the day we can take it apart, just as a child packs up his Lego, ready for further play.’ Simple, then – yet visionary. He explains: ‘We were thinking through what the eighth stadium could look like, and came up with this unique concept of a sustainable stadium. We asked: ‘What is going to benefit the people of Qatar – now, but also in the future?’ ‘What do they need? What do others around the world need? We want to leave a legacy, but we don’t necessarily need eight stadiums | A CGI of Ras Abu Aboud Stadium 15