FIFA Fan Center - Qatar 2022
The Opportunity
The FIFA Corporate Stands presents an opportunity not just to bring the President’s 11 goals to life at the Fan Festival, but for FIFA to reimagine and pioneer how fan experiences are produced. Before we present our strategy and concept for the FIFA Corporate Stand itself, we will outline the opportunity, challenges and our solution for sustainable, world class event production that meets the moment and extends well beyond into the future.
“Sports have the power to reach a large number of people who aren’t listening to scientists or politicians.”
-David Goldblatt, Playing Against the Clock
Environmental
Sustainability
FIFA has the opportunity and the responsibility to lead the way.
Others are taking action in meaningful ways and those who are not engaging authentically are under extreme scrutiny and face public backlash.
The Opportunity
FIFA’s vision is clear make football truly global. To do this FIFA must ensure that every action reinforces the vision and serves as a catalyst for change. This is not the beginning of FIFA’s sustainability story, but it’s time to accelerate to ensure cultural relevancy, authenticity, and to mitigate risk. A risk not only to global football, but also to FIFA.
The Cultural Context
The FIFA Corporate Stand at the Fan Festival is FIFA’s first opportunity following COP26 to show, not tell, the world what it stands for. To make impact and show progress, our activity cannot look the same, feel the same, or highlight the same stories.
This is an opportunity to take the FIFA climate strategy pillars from words to action and lead the way in sustainable activation.
The Proposal
-Act
Commit to sustainable building solutions for FIFA owned tournament activations, starting with the Corporate Stand in Qatar.
-Extend
Repurpose structures and materials for tournaments in 2023 and 2026 and multiple touch points in between, minimizing carbon footprint.
-Standarize
Develop guidelines for partner and rights holder activations at future tournament footprints that mandate elegant brand consistency and environmental sustainability.
Act
Introducing our
Sustainable Partner
Since 2011, Austrian design firm Hochsitz has been designing, manufacturing, installing and operating high quality, exquisitely designed, sustainable and flexible building solutions for the biggest global events.
GMR and Hochsitz have been working together at each Olympic Games since Sochi 2014, partnering to bring to life the P&G Family Home, hosting global athletes and their families. These beautiful and unique modern structures spring up as temporary hospitality spaces for all variety of guests and can be easily assembled and disassembled over and over again, leaving no mark on the footprint they occupy.
Extend
A Sustainable Model
As a global leader, Hochsitz has perfected the sustainable production blueprint. Regardless of the final design, the model remains the same:
•100% sustainable building materials used.
•“PEFC” certified cross laminated timber boards CLT (80%) in combination with steel columns (5%) and insulated glass (15%).
•No impact to the ground below through foundations.
•Extremely energy efficient to maximise air conditioning expenditure: insulation is equivalent to the European Passive House Standards and extremely noise resistant.
•Sustainable interior design materials amounts to ZERO waste.
•Planning, set up, maintenance and break down are executed in an environmentally friendly and thoughtful way, including water and food waste recycling and donation.
Scale through Modularity
For tournament footprints where space allows, our full scale design concept will wow audiences, creating beautiful areas to explore. In this bespoke structure, the stunning exterior portrays the unity of FIFA through the ring shape, while the semi transparent shade structure elegantly evokes the central feature of the beautiful game: the ball. Green space ties into the sustainability message, and the structure invites exploration, conversations and discovery through the various unique shapes and spaces. For smaller tournament footprints and budgets, the modular approach brings design consistency and repurposes the materials for a sustainable solution.
Design Flexibility
For the purposes of this proposal, we have focused on the unity ring concept, but the possibilities are endless. In partnership with FIFA, GMR and Hochsitz would customize a modular solution based on the same sustainable principles. This second concept exemplifies the creativity and flexibility of the solution. Whether combined to form a “village” within the Festival or deployed across various stadiums and host markets, the objectives and story remain the same.
A Sustainable Solution for the Future
An amortized investment in a sustainable, modular solution not only delivers on the President’s sustainability goals now, but introduces a blueprint for all future events that signals FIFA’s leadership in the global climate space.
Standardise
For Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, the NFL and Host Committee created a set of guidelines for Super Bowl City, including the fan fest and commercial showcase.
The result was a cohesive, elegant branded look and a strong commitment to sustainability by mandating certain materials, design styles and brand applications be utilized
GMR worked closely with the Host Committee and NFL for all approvals and supported more clients at Super Bowl City than any other agency, including Chevron, SAP, Visa, Intel and Sonoma County. We believe these same principles can and should be applied to FIFA Tournaments and events, creating a global standard of excellence for those within the FIFA family, including partners, as well as looking outwards to other rights holders and media. Setting the bar and driving change through the influence and power of FIFA. Spreading the message of sustainability across a global stage through each tournament and activation.
