With the NBA season drawing to a close, it’s that awful time of year when sports fans look for something, anything to cheer for. Unless you’re at the game, baseball is mind-numbing (there I said it) so at our house, we’ve been exploring the world of international soccer. Although we’re not yet passionate enough to invest a small fortune in World Cup tickets, plenty of people are.
That’s why Qatar, site of the 2022 World Cup, is preparing to house the influx of visitors on the open ocean. According to several sources, a Finnish architecture firm is developing a space-saving, energy-efficient ‘floating hotel’ concept to accommodate the enthusiastic attendees of this future event.
The design, created by Sigge Architects in collaboration with Global Accommodation Management and the Almaco Group of Finland, provides a luxurious yet temporary solution to Qatar’s lack of housing for the big game.
According to the designers, the pop-up island would be capable of handling upwards of 25,000 people throughout its hotel rooms and private villas. The hotels will only represent a portion of the development, already dubbed ‘Oryx Island’, which would provide “electrical vehicles, water taxis, ferries and private boats” to allow fans access to the mainland. It would also have ”an independent sewage treatment plant, power generation and recycling possibilities, freeing it from the limitations of the infrastructure in the surrounding area,” according to Arch Daily.
Housing sports fans on the ocean will also provide some much-needed relief from the heat, an aspect of Qatar’s geography that have caused some to doubt whether it’s a suitable location for the massive international event. Continuing its enthusiasm for green architecture, however, Qatar recently announced that a specially perforated stadium design would help capture cross-breezes so that the massive structure wouldn’t need to be air conditioned.
The only questions that remains about the floating hotel concept is, what will become of them when the fans have gone? Hopefully, they’ll be repurposed in a smart way, like London is doing with its own empty Olympic Village.
By Le My