Khalifa Stadium: Main Venue of The 15th Asian Games

The newly redeveloped Khalifa Stadium will be the main venue for Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Athletics events as well. This is the main venue for the next Asian Games which will be held here in Doha, Qatar. And I am proud to say that many OFW's like myself played major roles in this project from conception to construction. Our office is the primary consultant and I am one of its Project Architects (ehem!). It's been a year now since it was completed. The Qatari government gave it baptism of fire when it opened in December of last year for the final match of a national football tournament. I only supervised the architectural aspects of the project. There were other works done by specialists from different parts of the world. For example, structural design of the two gigantic arches, one supporting the teflon roof and the other acting as a counter balance and supports events lighting, was done by Ove Arup & Associates. To those who are not familiar with the name, they are the structural engineers of the Sydney Opera House. The soft opening last year was spectacular and I can foresee that the Asian Games events will be even more of a spectacle. I am here right now and I would be crazy if I'd miss that. I hope to see and meet the Philippines representatives here in December 2006 during the games. Thank you all and see you at the Games :)