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Architects reveal plan for memorial to honour Qatar construction site deaths

Two architects have announced plans to build a 2022 World Cup memorial in honour of those who lost their lives while working on construction sites in Qatar.

Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux have plans for a tower made of concrete modules, with each one representing a deceased worker.

The duo sketched out their idea on their "1 week 1 project" website and explained the thinking behind the plans.

"The Qatar World Cup Memorial project is a scalable building that raises awareness about the number of workers who died during the construction of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar," they said.

Speaking to ESPN FC, Da Stampa and Macaux explained that they came up with the idea when reading about renowned architect Zaha Hadid -- who has proposed a design for a new Al-Wakrah Stadium for the 2022 World Cup -- before being confronted with the death toll of nearly 900 workers on construction sites published in The Guardian.

With construction work on the new Al-Wakrah Stadium to begin in 2015, the Iraqi-British architect defended her involvement in the project when speaking to The Guardian in early 2014.

She said that while migrant deaths were a serious problem, it was a matter for the Qatari government.

"I think that's an issue the government -- if there's a problem -- should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved," she said.

When asked if she was concerned, Hadid added: "Yes, but I'm more concerned about the deaths in Iraq as well, so what do I do about that? I'm not taking it lightly but I think it's for the government to look to take care of. It's not my duty as an architect to look at it."

De Stampa and Macaux told ESPN FC that "the fact that one of the most high-profile architects of the world" was not only working for the 2022 World Cup but also "had such words made us react."

"Some 900 deceased workers. It's huge. We are in 2014, and the World Cup is still eight years away," they added, while admitting that "there is always a risk on construction sites," citing a Reuters report from 2008 on workers who died on the construction site for the Bird's Nest -- the stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

According to a report in the German edition of Wired, the "tower will stand as a symbol for the guilt FIFA incurred when awarding the World Cup to states like Qatar."

"We'd love to put the idea into reality," Da Stampa and Macaux told ESPN FC. "But it's difficult. There are many touchy aspects -- Qatar, the World Cup, the dead workers. Maybe it's a project that should only virtually exist."

Renders on the "1 week 1 project" website show the tower located just outside of Doha.

"We would like to create a dialogue with the other superbuildings in Doha -- like a background made of skyscrapers," the pair said about the possible building site, should the project leave the virtual world one day. "We have talked about creating a virtual platform where you can see the tower growing until 2022, because we know that workers will keep dying in Qatar."

The working conditions on the construction sites for the 2022 World Cup, as well as the human rights situation in Qatar, have been at the centre of public attention since the Guardian revealed in late-2013 that more than 400 migrant workers had already died.

"This structure offers Nepalese and Indian families, as well as families of other nationalities, a site for mourning removed from Qatar's cities and skyscrapers," the architects said on their website. "The cranes remain positioned in altitude until 2022. If the death rate is not reduced, the Qatar World Cup Memorial could reach a height of 1.5 kilometres."

An Amnesty International report, published in November, said Qatar had "not taken credible steps required to tackle widespread labour exploitation."

But Nasser Al-Khater, the CEO of Qatar's 2022 World Cup organising committee, played down concerns about the report, and claimed that "we have had no more deaths, and the living conditions [for workers] have improved."

Qatar was backed by FIFA, which released a statement saying that the hosting of the 2022 World Cup "and the subsequent international spotlight on Qatar is serving as a catalyst for social change."

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