The Qatar 2022™ Tree is a project at Hamad International Airport (HIA) that passed through many iterations before finally being built in its current form at the end of Concourse C. We created the living sculpture to celebrate and tell the story of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ while serving several purposes at the working airport. It is a natural meeting point for travelers. It is a beautiful (and very social media-friendly) addition to the existing artworks at HIA, including pieces by Urs Fischer, KAWS and others. And, with a trunk and roots designed for relaxation, it provides travelers a respite from the busy airport around them.
During the tournament, the tree linked up to an application programming interface (API) that transmitted live match data to its 15 double-sided LED strips. In an abstract and artistic way, this allowed the tree to broadcast all 64 FIFA World Cup™ matches live, providing information including the competing teams, goals scored, possession, yellow and red cards, penalty kicks and shootouts, along with other pertinent information.
In its post-tournament legacy mode, the Qatar 2022™ Tree continues to revel in the glories of the FIFA World Cup™, displaying highlights from each of the 64 matches. The tree is highly adaptable, meaning that it can either live on as a unique legacy of the tournament that changed the face of Qatar, or be reprogrammed to broadcast other future mega-sporting events.
