Situation

Athletic Club of Bilbao is one of the big clubs in Euro­pean foot­ball and its previous stadium, over a hundred years old, was one of the legen­dary ones, popu­larly referred to as the cathe­dral of foot­ball.

Located prac­ti­cally in the same place as the exis­ting one, the new stadium over­laps with the old San Mames. This fact forced its cons­truc­tion to be carried out in two phases in such a way that it prevented the team from having to play away.

History

Opened in 1913, old San Mames was Spain’s oldest built stadium. The stadium was built near a church called San Mamés. The first match was played in August 1913, the first goal was scored by the famous striker Pichichi. San Mamés could seat almost forty thousand people and was renowned for ist unique atmo­sphere fans created on match-days.

In 1982, on the occa­sion of the World Cup, in which Bilbao was one of the venues, San Mamés expe­ri­enced its last great trans­for­ma­tion, remai­ning with the current design. Back then, the stadium had a capa­city for 46,000 spec­ta­tors, later reduced to the current 40,000 spec­ta­tors after the adapt­a­tion of the UEFA secu­rity regu­la­tions.

In March 2006, a project was approved to replace the stadium with a new and larger version, thereby incre­asing the stadium capa­city to 53,000.

Club

San Mames is the home of Athletic Bilbao (Basque: Athletic Kluba). The club is one of three foun­ding members of the Primera Divi­sión that have never been rele­gated, the others being Real Madrid and Barce­lona. Athletic have won La Liga on eight occa­sions. In the table of Copa del Rey (spanish footall cup), Athletic is second only to Barce­lona, having won it 24 times.

Athletic Bilbao is known for its policy to promote young Basque players, as well as recrui­ting top Basque players from other clubs like Joseba Etxe­berria and Javi Martínez. Since its foun­da­tion in 1898, Athletic has played exclu­si­vely with players meeting the criteria to be deemed as Basque players, and has been one of the most successful teams of La Liga – a quite unique case in Euro­pean foot­ball.

Maintaining the magic

 One of the main chal­lenges in the design of the New San Mames was main­tai­ning the intense and magical foot­ball atmo­sphere of the old Cathe­dral. This effect has not only been sustained but increased, thoroughly satis­fying the demands of one of the best fan bases in the world.

The loca­tion of the new stadium, at the end of the urban mesh of the expan­sion district of Bilbao, peeping over the estuary with privi­lege, turns the buil­ding into a piece of archi­tec­ture that must be intro­duced cate­go­ri­cally and with force, but at the same time, respec­ting the rest of the buil­dings that make up that area of the city. From this reflec­tion comes one of the first aspects borne in mind for its design. That is, the percep­tion of the erected cons­truc­tion as an urban buil­ding, in rela­tion to the others and not just as simple sports faci­li­ties.

Worthless to valuable

It was intended for those stadium areas that are tradi­tio­nally wort­hless to become valuable. These are located between the stadium’s peri­meter and the rear part of the stands and consti­tute the circu­la­tion areas through which you can access and exit the stands, which are, after all, the main part of the whole foot­ball stadium. In order to give these areas an added value, the stra­tegy of the project consisted of, not only giving them spatial features, but also making sure that they had a very intense connec­tion with the city and the surroun­dings.

For this purpose, a basic element that will surely give character to the New San Mames stadium is put into play on the façade. This is, the repe­ti­tion of a twisted ETFE element, giving the eleva­tion energy and unity. This element will be illu­mi­nated at night, thus crea­ting an urban land­mark over the estuary, projec­ting a new image of Bilbao from within, thanks to one of the most advanced dynamic lighting systems in the world. The roof, formed by powerful radial metal trusses orien­tated towards the centre of the pitch, is covered with white ETFE cushions, cove­ring the entire stands.

The set-up of the stands is totally focused on the field, maxi­mi­zing the pres­sure that the fans exert on the game, just like in the old San Mames, known the world over for being like a pres­sure cooker where the public would be on top of the players.

Minimal distance, maximum access

In first instance the new stadium main­tains the dimen­sions of the original field, 105 x 68 meters, and also keeps at a minimum the distance between the playing field and the first row of stands demanded by inter­na­tional stan­dards.

The new stadium playing field has been buried about 7.8 meters below ground level so as to reduce the overall height of the cons­truc­tion and thus allow direct access without barriers to the lower stands. In addi­tion, throug­hout the peri­meter of the stadium a pede­strian walkway has been obtained which will faci­li­tate access and exit of spec­ta­tors and will become an ample urban space on the days there are no matches.

The stadium has ample hospi­ta­lity areas, with VIP boxes, premium seating and its leisure and meeting areas, restau­rants, cafes, the Club’s Museum, the Offi­cial Shop and areas for meetings, as well as a sports centre open to the general public under one of its stands. Its capa­city will exceed 53,000 spec­ta­tors.

In addi­tion, San Mames complex includes other uses such as the museum, a commer­cial area, restau­rant, cafe­teria, event halls and confe­rence halls.