Earlier this week at the International Football Arena in Zurich, John Barrow, senior principal of Populous - architects of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium and also lead architects for Doha's 2020 Olympic and Paralympics bid - claimed air-conditioing Qatar's venues was entirely the wrong approach.

Qatar's planned revolutionary cooling techniques underpinned their landslide 2022 World Cup victory last December but Barrow said air conditioning was too expensive and "notoriously unsustainable" when used on a large scale.

His remarks were flashed across the world but Dan Meis, Populous senior principal, says Barrow was completely out of order and did not have the authority to speak out.

"It was an unfortunate comment from someone who hasn't been involved in detail in the planning and not one I share," Meis told the Aspire4Sport conference here. 

"The technology is far more proven than people understand.

"It's not actually that difficult and the technology which is out there is very proven.

"The trouble is that one opinion comes out into the press and goes around the world."

Populous has been commissioned to design Sports City Stadium and Barrow said this week the all the stadia being planned by Qatar could be kept cool far better by shading seats and using traditional Arabic methods for ventilation.

But Meis, who designed Sports City, says Barrow should have kept quiet.

"John has an opinion but he hasn't been involved in this project," Meis told insidethegames after his address.

"We have embraced the same cooling technology from the very beginning. John doesn't have any experience working in Qatar with this client or this project.

"It was an uninformed, off-the-cuff opinion.

"I've been working on this stadium for two years.

"There is commitment made by the bid committee to embrace this cooling technology."

During his appearance in Zurich, the hugely experienced Barrow said air-conditioning all the venues would be unsustainable in the long-term but Weis again disagreed.

"That's not my opinion, not to mention the fact that technology will advance," said Weis, who leads the Los Angeles office of Populous.

"It was incredibly embarrassing.

"The Qatar organisers were as shocked as I was.

"It was a comment by one individual who hasn't been involved and said too much.

"This kind of thing happens in big companies."

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