Ahmad bin Ali Al Rayyan Stadium
Supporting UN Sustainable Development Goals
Project description
The Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, on Doha’s outskirts, was designed as a key FIFA World Cup venue. While at Ramboll Mark Boyle, Director at Eidos, led a multidisciplinary team – including Pattern Architects and Weston Williamson – from concept to detailed design. The aim was to create a world-class football stadium that could host summer matches in extreme desert conditions while maintaining architectural identity and meeting strict budget constraints.
Design constraints
Temperatures often exceed 50°C, and strong desert winds make conventional cooling ineffective for an open-air stadium. Cool air settles on the pitch but is quickly disrupted by solar gain and airflow. The challenge was to design an air-cooled stadium that retained its open-air character, simplified structural elements, and aligned with a modest budget originally intended for refurbishment – all while delivering an iconic, modern venue.
Engineering response
With temperatures regularly exceeding 50°C and strong winds being the norm, conventional pitch cooling systems were not viable. The original design included striking wind shields to allow the stadium to remain open to the sky while still being able to host summer matches in windy conditions. Driven by budget constraints, Mark guided the team through multiple rounds of value-focused design reviews, during which non-essential elements were carefully removed.
Impact
This process ultimately led to the relocation of concessions and other facilities outside the main structure, housed within distinctive ‘air-cooled dunes’. This solution not only eliminated the need for mechanical cooling to the dune areas, significantly reducing costs, but also resulted in a unique design feature, demonstrating how value engineering and creativity can come together to deliver effective, elegant outcomes. The result is an iconic stadium that meets performance, budget and cultural goals.
Mark Boyle, as Overall Project Director and Lead Consultant, worked on this project while he was with Ramboll.
