Shipping containers have long been used by architects and designers to imagine new, compact, modular, mobile, and sustainable constructions, regardless of whether they’re permanent or transitory. Shipping containers are, in many ways, the ideal building blocks for the creation of standardized structures, and the inherent flexibility they provide allows parts to be organized and reorganized in all sorts of different ways. Since they’re also non-site specific, shipping container buildings can be erected in many different places. Perhaps these are the reasons why the containers have been chosen by Qatar?s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) to make up a demountable soccer stadium ? one that will be used during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the country’s capital of Doha.
When completed, the proposed Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, which is being designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, will be capable of seating 40,000 attendees. The stadium will be set within a landscaped park on the edge of Doha?s waterfront, repurposing a large swathe of arid land and creating a host of new facilities, including recreational areas and embankments that intend to take full advantage of their prestigious locations along the docklands.

The stadium, already depicted in a video released by the SC, will be shipped in on a cargo vessel and assembled on site. The entire structure will be erected using frame and modular inserts, meaning it’ll have a minimal impact on the lan...