Zaha Hadid Lashes Back at Critics for Comparing Qatar’s Al-Wakrah Stadium Design to a Vagina!

Posted by Rapti Gupta on Nov 25, 2013 05:47 AM EST

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Zaha Hadid, the award winning architect became the latest victim of architectural bashing when media outlets and design critics across the world (read internet) went on to compare the designs of the upcoming "Al-Wakrah Stadium" in Qatar to the female genitalia. However, the feisty architect has hit back, dismissing the comments, calling them "embarrassing" and "ridiculous", according to some media reports.

Zaha Hadid Architects revealed the designs of the stadium Nov.16. The company developed the innovative design with AECOM, a technology and management support firm. As soon as the first renderings were unveiled, the internet went frenzy over the design. Comparing its shape and colour to a vagina, several publications mocked at the proposed stadium structure.

While some media outlets first called it Hadid's 'middle finger' to the world of phallic structures (vertical skyscrapers) and male-dominated segment, others simply went on to mock at the innocent rendering, which actually drew its design from the shape of a Qatari 'dhow boat'.

Related: The Explicit Connotations of a Building

An excerpt of a feature at The Huffington Post:

With its labia-like exterior, pinkish coloring and perfectly placed opening, it's easy to see less a state-of-the-art athletic center meant to combat Qatar's scorching summer heat, and more a giant, flowering vagina that only happens to house 40,000 spectators and is part of a $140 billion spending adventure.

Hadid is clearly angered by the comments and in a recent interview with TIME magazine, she said:

"It's really embarrassing that they come up with nonsense like this. What are they saying? Everything with a hole in it is a vagina? That's ridiculous."

"Honestly, if a guy had done this project, critics would not be making such lewd comparisons," she added.

However, while the fun was on, some pointed out the bright side of the design too.

"In a world where sport and vaginas very rarely come together with such prominence (see every UK female footballers' salary versus every UK male footballers' salary), this can only be a good thing. And after all, why not have 45,000 people crammed inside a woman's reproductive system? It's not like they haven't been there before," Holly Baxter wrote for the Guardian.

"Just look at all those soccer fans nestled inside a glowing symbol of the power of womanhood. I want to petition the government to have all houses and municipal buildings feature decorative labia by 2050," Callie Beusman wrote for Jezebel.

About the Al-Wakrah Stadium

The Al-Wakrah Stadium is one of the many structures being built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Located 15 kilometres away from Doha, Al-Wakrah is the fishing capital of Qatar. While the exact size of the stadium has not been revealed, it will have a gross capacity of 40,000.

Check out a video of the renderings below:

Al Wakrah Stadium from Zaha Hadid Architects on Vimeo.

Qatar Hosting FIFA 2022

Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been a controversy in itself. FIFA has been criticized for letting the conservative country host the event. This sexual comparison of the stadium must be very embarrassing for the nation that enforces the Sharia law. Homosexuality is illegal in the country and can end one up in prison for five years. However, all the matches will be played in the winter to avoid the scorching temperatures of the summer, reports The Metro.