ATS - Al Sadd Stadium

The Outdoor Cooling Project Challenge

To design a state-of-the-art outdoor cooling system for an 18,000 m2 open stadium to keep the audience and players comfortable even as summer time temperatures in the Gulf region reach a grueling 50°C (122 °F).

The challenge has multiple folds:

First, a huge open area needs to be air conditioned to cool both players and spectators.

Second, the requirement is to air-condition a large outdoor space without any obstructions into the playing field that could hinder normal play. In addition, a system that would not block the spectators' sight lines of the field.

Third, outdoor wind with high travelling velocities and kinetic energy with elevated temperature and thermal power may mix with the (air-conditioned space air) and normalize balance with the unacceptable outdoor temperature.

Moreover, due to the huge area, the conditioned air may escape the field without completely penetrating through the entire field.

The ATS® innovative solution

ATS® has produced the World’s First Air-Conditioned Open Stadium, the “Al Sadd Stadium” in Doha, Qatar. A very successful Outdoor Cooling Project. This diffusion stadium air conditioning system offers full climate control 20°C (68 °F) over the play yard, giving players the best possible conditions for competition.

In addition to controlling environmental conditions across the play yard, this design also included air conditioning for thousands of seats in the spectator area.

Instead of making a vertical diffusion from the top, horizontal jet streams were used to create a diffusion process in the unused space beside the playing field at ground level.

In the new system, the diffuser jets mix the conditioned air with the ambient room air by entrainment. This "Diffusion Process" reduces the air velocity and equalizes the air temperature. This diffusion process creates relatively uniform air velocity, temperature, humidity, and air quality conditions in the occupied zone.

Spectators in any of the 13,500 seats can also enjoy the matches in comfort. Finished in 2008, this technology assisted Qatar in winning the bid for the 2020 FIFA World Cup, proving that the Gulf region can compete with any other location for global events. Currently, most of the national Qatari matches take place in the stadium, as well as many other sporting and cultural activities. What some may have thought to be impossibility years ago, ATS was very successful at creating an air condition system that works efficiently and completing this outdoor cooling project.

GALLERY