The engineering legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM: Al Bayt Stadium – a traditional tent for the beautiful game

In contemporary architecture, textile membranes offer a wide range of possible structural applications. Textile membranes are very efficient; especially for facades and roofs with large spans and where the reduction of self-weight plays an important role for an efficient and sustainable structural design. On 30^th November 2021, the Al Bayt Stadium was inaugurated in Qatar; with its 190,000 m² of textile membrane it is one of the biggest architectural membrane projects in the world. An innovative new membrane material with a natural textile appearance has been developed from scratch to meet the specific requirements of the project. This makes the construction of Al Bayt Stadium, shaped like the local Bedouin tents, a milestone in modern membrane architecture; this is not only due to the pure size of the membrane but also due to the significant advances made in textile membrane material design and development in the project. In addition, other design aspects include the large retractable roof above the field of play that transform the open-air stadium into a fully enclosed and temperature controlled multipurpose arena within minutes - allowing for a wide range of possible usage options of the stadium but also to enhance a sustainable cooling strategy of a large venue with outside temperatures of up to 50°C. This paper presents details on the design and construction aspects of the stadium as well as the material development conducted for the inner membrane.