We’ve had towers that look like penises and buildings that look like bread baskets, but did you know Qatar has a stadium that looks like a vagina?
Australia is set to take on Denmark tonight at 2am AEST. The much anticipated World Cup clash, with both nations vying for a place in the final 16, is to take place in a stadium that some people think looks like a vagina.
When it was first unveiled, The Guardian journalist Holly Baxter said the accidental resemblance was “most gratifying” and that “with its shiny, pinkish tinge, its labia-like side appendages and its large opening in the middle, the supposedly innocent building was just asking for trouble.”
Cosmo’s sex and relationships editor (at the time) Anna Breslaw, for her part, said: “I’m no expert, but I think those are labia.”
The Al Wakrah stadium was built by the late Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid, who hit back at critics who said her stadium looks like a vagina, calling the claims “ridiculous.”
At the time, she said: “It’s really embarrassing they come up with nonsense stuff like this. What are they saying? Everything with a hole in it is a vagina? That’s ridiculous.”
She added: “If a guy had done this project there wouldn’t have been the same level of criticism.”
Aecom, the design firm that won the Al-Wakrah contract with Zaha Hadid, said the design was based on a traditional Qatari dhow boat.
The Al Wakrah stadium has 40,000 seats and air-conditioning. The air conditioning works by pushing cold air through 100 ventilation units into the stadium. The stadium also has a 92-metre retractable roof to give players and fans shade.
When the World Cup is over, the top level of the stadium will reportedly be taken apart and shipped to the developing world.
Hadid’s other works included the Aquatics Centre at the 2012 London Olympics, the MAXXI Museum in Italy and the Guangzhou Opera House in China.
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As for tonight’s game, Denmark come into it the betting favourite. However, after only taking one point from their last two games, and with Australia on a high after beating Tunisia, the Danes are feeling the nerves.
At a recent press conference, Denmark Manager Kasper Hjulmand said: “With football you can multiply your feelings by 10, and the fear of losing is very, very much involved. How can we best handle that? These considerations you have to make.”
“Of course there’s pressure. But we are very solid and a very good group. We are never alone – we do things together. We win, we lose, we fight … but we are together.”
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