A group of Middle Eastern architects have designed a football stadium in the middle of a desert mountain range that looks more like an evil villain HQ than a football stadium.
In fairness to the lads at MZ Architects, a Middle Eastern firm with offices in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, their vision of the “Rock Stadium” is pretty cool.
They say it’s half stadium and half art, which is pretty clear as it looks more like a modern art installation blasted into the side of a mountain than a stadium – that has been blasted into the side of a mountain.
The architects had originally planned on building a stadium in the middle of the Al Ain desert, however, once they saw the mountains they decided that drilling into the side of them would be better.
Here’s what MZ Architects have to say: “The project not only gracefully blends itself into its surrounding but plays on the notion of distance to alternate between a strong camouflage at distance and a forceful presence at close range.
“A sculpted landscape or a defined void, the project becomes a jewel in the desert which lights up at night allowing the active evenings to turn the stadium into a massive light beam that emerges from the ground straight to the higher sky and creates a symbol, a sign, a guiding agent to the national event and place of activity in an otherwise sign-less desert environment.”
Sadly, the “Rock Stadium” is just a dream, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it did get built in oil rich Abu Dhabi. They did build a massive palm tree island after all…
