Temperatures in Qatar have been increasing so much in recent years that officials have had to start introducing air conditioning outdoors - including in football stadiums ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
Qatar's summer months, from May to October, are generally pretty hot, but in July temperatures can sometimes reach as high as 43°C, according to WorldTravelGuide.
And as temperatures begin to soar across the Gulf region, new legislation for summertime working hours has been recently introduced to help protect people from heat stress, banning anyone from having to work outside between 10am and 3.30pm between 1 June and 15 September, and forcing employers to stop work if the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) rises beyond 32.1 °C in a particular workplace - as The Peninsula reports.
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Back in 2019, The Washington Post reported that Qatar had already started installing air conditioning units in a number of outdoor spaces, including open-air markets, sports stadiums and walkways.
One of the larger projects has included the 40,000-capacity Al Janoub Stadium, which was completed in 2019 for the forthcoming World Cup.
Yousef al-Horr, founder of the sustainability-focused Gulf Organization for Research and Development, told the outlet: "If you turn off air conditioners, it will be unbearable. You cannot function effectively."
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In 2022, the innovative technologies will be used across the eight World Cup stadiums to bring to temperatures to a comfortable 18-24°C.
Dr. Saud Abdulaziz Abdul Ghani is the engineer behind the cooling technologies for the World Cup stadiums, who said he was inspired by his PhD study on air conditioning for the Ford Mondeo.
He said: "These cooling technologies use the same tools, but on a much bigger scale."
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Ghani - who has been nicknamed 'Dr Cool' - continued: "When we were preparing our submission for the World Cup in 2022, we wanted a unique bid that would stand out among other bidding countries. Most countries would usually present their stadiums as a design idea and not a technology. We presented our stadiums in a new way - as a technology."
At Al Janoub Stadium, there are even under-seat diffusers which push air out at an angle in a 'gentle manner'.
Ghani added: "When we started designing for the thermal comfort of spectators, we considered that we will have people from all around the world attending the matches. We wanted to ensure that all these people would have thermal comfort during games."
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He also explained that, as the stadiums will be used all-year round, the air cooling technologies will be used far beyond the World Cup, leaving a 'legacy' for Qatar.
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