The last breath of Stadium 974, symbol of the paradox of these World Cups

It is useless to imagine landscapes that do not exist. Qatar lacks hills, the best view is within a port of a modern city and lo Stadium 974 it is not that of Olympia with spectators able to view the racing from the slopes of Monte Crono. Those who have visited it may not even know that in this facility, as futuristic as it is provisional, we go back to the Greek origins of the first stadium in history which, over the centuries, was gradually transferred to the east until it reached its current position. It is difficult to imagine a connection between the current Archea Olympia and Doha, yet a similar fate seems to be in the destiny of the inventive Qatari. The most discussed world edition ever bequeaths a system that will be able to help, for heterogeneous purposes, football to be more sustainable. Paradoxical to say this for an organization that has squandered space and money to make the impossible possible, watering the desert and bringing the fans into a muffled reality.

The life of Stadium 974 is already destined for history, enclosed within almanacs, such as its name which recalled both the containers that made it up and the national telephone prefix. An existence as short as it is intense, we speak in the past to tell it. The dismantling has begun, yet inside, a few days ago, there were emotions still to be deciphered such as the two goals from Argentina, the brace from Mbappé not to mention the two Brazilian victories. Just the green and gold poker against South Korea put an end to its existence. At least for now. It is not known where it will be rebuilt: it will not be moved by a few hundred meters as in Olympia, perhaps it will be reborn thousands of kilometers away. There are many rumors about his fate, including the most beautiful utopia: become a traveling stadium that will go to all countries that will host the World Cup in the coming years.

Maybe you travel too much with your imagination. On the eve of the World Cup there was speculation that, once disassembled, it could be sent, like a Lego construction, to other poorer nations to create a series of smaller stadiums. Other hypotheses are also emerging: some say that it could be reassembled in another port, in Montevideo, to host the 2030 World Cup. An edition yet to be assigned, but which would become another story within history, even if the Uruguayan dialing code, 598, is less melodic and with 200 fewer containers. Furthermore, if it weren’t for an almost similar population in terms of number of inhabitants, Qatar has very little in common with Uruguay: the Arabs are among the richest countries in the world, the South Americans are struggling to remain among the top fifty. Nevertheless, thanks to its structure, the stadium could really be transferred to South America, circumnavigating Africa, to avoid the construction of a new plant with a higher environmental impact. From there it could once again be dismantled and moved to another venue, thus offering a versatile and sustainable solution for hosting major sporting events seamlessly. So far, let’s be realistic, it’s just a dream.

“Many say that utopias are nonsense. But they will still be vital nonsense”, wrote Steiner. Like the one that made it possible, right in the middle of Doha, to make thethe only facility in all the World Cups without air conditioning. Oh yes, Stadium 974 was designed to be ventilated naturally. Merit of an architecture designed to maximize the investment. Talking about money is a hard reality check. In order to create “a functional heritage tailored to local needs” as Antonio Cunazza, a popularizer of sports architecture wrote, the port space will be reused within a project that envisages a new urban conglomerate on the waterfront of the capital, with spaces intended for both commerce and the local community. In short, sustainability is fine but business remains business.