Can a World Cup happen without demolition? Populous regenerates a Saudi sporting icon

After Strasbourg, Rabat, Thessaloniki and Palermo, Populous is once again working on another sports venue of great symbolic significance: the historic King Fahad Sports City Stadium in Riyadh, which opened in 1987 as the region’s first major stadium and which the firm will renovate ahead of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Rather than a mere functional update, the project consists of reinterpreting a national icon through an extensive retrofit strategy that gives priority to reimagining the existing structure, whilst still improving capacity, functional performance and the spectator experience. The most distinctive features of the complex will be preserved: the east and west stands will be restored and upgraded to modern standards, along with the areas historically reserved for the royal family.
Instead, where the project involves demolition and reconstruction, the approach is based on circularity. The increase in capacity will be achieved through a new lower stand, created by excavating approximately ten metres below the current level, with the earth removed from the site being reused to shape the new outdoor public landscape. Structural supports and cables from the old roof, no longer functional and now dismantled, will be repurposed as photovoltaic canopies for the car parks, helping to meet the facility’s energy needs. The distinctive hexagonal cladding that historically enveloped the ramps and podium will be reclaimed and reinterpreted in a new design. 

To cope with the region’s extreme climate, a new 36,000-square-meter metal mesh canopy will provide shade for spectators in the stands and along the surrounding bleachers, while preserving the stadium’s distinctive silhouette on the Riyadh skyline.
The project is part of a broader regeneration program aimed at extending the complex’s appeal beyond the sports calendar and transforming the infrastructure into a new urban hub, thanks to the creation of a public park featuring a soccer academy, a sports center, an amphitheater, playing fields, a footgolf course, and commercial facilities.