Milan Forest Stadium

The Wald­sta­dion in Milan

The new San Siro

 

Stefano Boeri Archi­tetti

The “new San Siro” also wants to become a Milan land­mark, but appar­ently for diffe­rent reasons than its prede­cessor. What makes the design special is the visibly green approach, the running track on the top level and the “tower of light”.

Stefano Boeri Archi­tetti

Guiseppe Meazza

The discus­sion about the new stadium for the two city rivals Inter and AC Milan has kept the inte­rested public busy for quite some time. The debate is now also being fueled by archi­tects who are presen­ting their own designs – for example Stefano Boeri Archi­tetti with the “Stadio-Bosco per Milano” (Milan Forest Stadium).

The plan­ners submitted the project toge­ther with ARUP, Fabio Novembre and Balich Wonder Studio back in 2019 as part of the compe­ti­tion orga­nized by the clubs Inter and Milan and have since revised it.

Milan’s Wald­sta­dion is to be built on the exact spot where the world-famous Guiseppe Meazza Stadium, built for the 1990 World Cup, curr­ently stands.

emis­sions

The new stadium also aims to become a land­mark in Milan’s San Siro district, but appar­ently for comple­tely diffe­rent reasons than its prede­cessor.

The aim of the project is to reduce emis­sions and energy consump­tion. Thanks to the use of large photo­vol­taic surfaces and careful plan­ning of water and waste manage­ment, the Milan Forest Stadium is set to become an energy self-suffi­cient arena.

The Wald­sta­dion Milan inte­grates the commer­cial areas that are important for both clubs, such as a museum, a sports hall, press and VIP areas as well as bars and restau­rants. There will also be a running track on the top level and the “Tower of Light”, a shining land­mark for both clubs. As it is a “one stadium for two”, the illu­mi­na­tion of this tower in the colors red (Milan) and blue (Inter) can make the respec­tive host clearly visible. There is already a parti­cu­larly dazz­ling lighting design for the “Derby della Madon­nina”.

Tower of light

What makes the design special is the visibly very green approach.

The Wald­sta­dion has 5,700 m² of hori­zontal green roofs and 7,000 m² of green facades. This includes 3,300 trees and 56,300 shrubs from 70 diffe­rent species, which absorb 162 tons ofCO2 every year.

The result is a green lung for the metro­polis and a green link in the urban fabric that helps to clean the air, absorb parti­cu­late matter and mode­rate the tempe­ra­ture in the neigh­bor­hood.

The Tower of Light houses the museums of both clubs, and statues of great foot­bal­lers and coaches from the city are to be installed at the top of the tower.  A memo­rial to the current Meazza Stadium is also to be built in the park next to the new stadium.

The discus­sion will continue.

Project data

Archi­tect

Stefano Boeri Archi­tetti
Via G. Doni­zetti 4
ITA – 20122 Milano

Buil­ding owner
Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Address

Guisepe-Meazza-Staion
Piaz­zale Angelo Moratti
ITA – 20151 Milano MI

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Super Stadium

Super Stadium in Durrës

City center

 

 

MVRDV

“The Super Stadium takes an inno­va­tive approach to inte­gra­ting a stadium into the city.”

MVRDV

Link

The design for the Super Stadium in Durrës not only aims to preserve the loca­tion in the city, but also to seam­lessly link the stadium and the city. A bowl-shaped exten­sion of the entire district with grand­stand-like roof areas turns the stadium into an open, invi­ting place where the neigh­bor­hood becomes part of the action.

The concept aims to create a vibrant, inclu­sive and sustainable envi­ron­ment that gives the Alba­nian city (popu­la­tion 100,000) a new, dynamic iden­tity.

The design comes from MVRDV.

Park

The Super Stadium will be built on the site of the exis­ting Niko Dovana Stadium, which is located in a predo­mi­nantly resi­den­tial area in the north of the city center. This area is curr­ently one of the few green spaces in the surroun­ding area, and MVRDV wants to preserve and develop it.

An essen­tial part of the plan­ning is ther­e­fore the relo­ca­tion of the previously adja­cent trai­ning pitches to another loca­tion within the city. This measure will create space for a wooded park that surrounds the stadium in a ring.

Here, native Alba­nian tree species are planted around the playing field, so to speak. A sports loop, a conti­nuous circular path, winds its way through the park and connects a variety of sports and leisure areas.

The area remains largely car-free – only two access roads lead to a parking lot located below the new stands.

Buil­ding

Twenty buil­dings will be inte­grated into the park, harmo­niously inter­wea­ving the stadium complex with its surroun­dings.

The use of the buil­dings is clearly struc­tured: In the north, resi­den­tial buil­dings adjoin the exis­ting resi­den­tial area. Educa­tional and cultural faci­li­ties are located to the south-east, adjoi­ning the schools to the east. In the south-west, in the imme­diate vici­nity of the city center, offices, hotels and retail space are being built.

All buil­dings are posi­tioned in such a way that they offer visual contact with the inside of the stadium, i.e. towards the pitch. Their stag­gered heights follow a well thought-out struc­ture: the tallest buil­dings are on the outer edge of the quarter, while the lower ones are directly adja­cent to the stadium. Their stepped roofs slope towards the playing surface and visually and func­tion­ally extend the stadium stands.

This allows the atmo­sphere of the sporting events to radiate into the surroun­ding area and involve the entire neigh­bor­hood.

Iden­tity

The archi­tec­ture combines aesthetic and func­tional aspects: The façade colors are based on the first divi­sion club KF Teuta Durrës, which is at home in both the old and the new stadium. At ground level, the buil­dings begin in white and gradu­ally change to a deep blue – in keeping with the club’s colors.

To make the district sustainable, the Super Stadium relies on a wide range of envi­ron­men­tally friendly tech­no­lo­gies: solar panels on the roofs gene­rate rene­wable energy and at the same time provide shade for green roof areas.

Over­han­ging storey ceilings and shading façade panels reduce the energy required for cooling. A water reser­voir under­neath the pitch stores rain­water to serve as a resource during dry periods.

Sport Loop

The Super Stadium is not only desi­gned for major events, but remains a lively place all year round. The Sport Loop, which runs through the park, serves as a wide prome­nade and access route for stadium visi­tors on match days. In addi­tion, one of the sports areas can be used as a logi­stics zone for major events. This multiple use of diffe­rent elements keeps the area active and lively even on non-match days.

The design shows how a stadium can not only exist as an isolated venue, but also estab­lish itself as an active, inte­gra­tive part of the urban land­scape.

If it were realized.

Project data

Archi­tect

MVRDV
Winy Maas, Stefan de Koning, Valen­tina Chiappa Nunez, José Garcia Garcia, Stijn Lanters, Fran­cisco Polo, Dirco Kok, Alberto Lorenzo, Fernandez Sastre

Buil­ding owner

Bashkia Durrës

Draft

2023

Address

Niko Dovana Stadium
Rruga Paskal Prodani 1761
Durrës
Albania

Visua­liza­tion

Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luana La Martina,Marco Fabri

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Power­house Stadium

Power­house Stadium in Birmingham

Chimney stadium

62,000 fans, a retrac­table roof and urban life around the stadium: the Power­house Stadium will be Birming­ham’s new center for sport and culture. And tells the indus­trial history of the city into the future. As a new land­mark.

Design

Heather­wick Studio & Manica

Urban deve­lo­p­ment with chim­neys

With the planned Power­house Stadium, Birmingham is about to embark on one of the most ambi­tious stadium and urban deve­lo­p­ment projects in the UK. The multi­func­tional large-scale project in the east of the city will seat 62,000 spec­ta­tors and will be the new home of second divi­sion club Birmingham City Foot­ball Club. It will replace the tradi­tional St. Andrew’s Stadium, located 1.5 km to the west, and will form the heart of the new Birmingham Sports Quarter from 2030.

The project pays homage to Birming­ham’s indus­trial past and trans­lates this into a striking archi­tec­tural language. The defi­ning element are twelve high, chimney-like towers, which are remi­nis­cent of the former brick produc­tion at the site (Birmingham Wheels Park). Where possible, historic bricks are to be reused.

The towers, known as “chim­neys”, take on several func­tions: They support the roof, house stairs and eleva­tors and are part of a passive venti­la­tion concept.

The Power­house Stadium is being desi­gned by Heather­wick Studio in colla­bo­ra­tion with MANICA.

Lockable and movable

Inside, the Power­house Stadium focuses on an intense spec­tator expe­ri­ence. The steep, compact spec­tator bowl brings the fans as close as possible to the pitch and creates an enclosed atmo­sphere. High-perfor­mance acou­stic solu­tions are desi­gned to enhance the atmo­sphere while limi­ting noise pollu­tion for the surroun­ding area.

A closable roof and a movable pitch enable flexible forms of use and a wide variety of events, from soccer and other sports to inter­na­tional concerts and major events. This clearly posi­tions the stadium as a multi­func­tional arena that can be used all year round.

A special high­light: one of the towers will house an elevator to the highest bar in Birmingham – inclu­ding a pano­r­amic view of the city and a multi­media presen­ta­tion of local history.

The stadium as a public space

The central concern of all those involved is to fill the stadium with life not only on match days. A publicly acces­sible urban space is being created around the Power­house Stadium that can be used throug­hout the week. The plans include food markets, restau­rants, cafés, recrea­tion areas and play areas for children. The stadium will thus become a social meeting place and an inte­gral part of the neigh­bor­hood.

As the anchor project of the Birmingham Sports Quarter, the new stadium will have an impact far beyond soccer. In addi­tion to the stadium, trai­ning centers for compe­ti­tive and youth sports as well as mixed-use neigh­bor­hood deve­lo­p­ments are planned.

Comple­tion of the Power­house Stadium is ambi­tiously sche­duled for the start of the 2030/2031 season. A compre­hen­sive parti­ci­pa­tion program with fans and local resi­dents is due to start this year.

With its strong connec­tion to the local iden­tity, inno­va­tive engi­nee­ring and a clear opening to the city, the Power­house Stadium sees itself as Birming­ham’s new land­mark.

And on a grand scale.

Project data

Desi­gner

Heather­wick Studio

Desi­gner

Manica

Buil­ding owner
Birmingham City Foot­ball Club
Address

Power­house Stadium
1 Adderley Rd S
Birmingham B8 1AD
United Kingdom

Opening

2025

Render

Heather­wick Studio
Mir
Devi­sual

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Grand Ball­room Tirana

Grand Ball­room in Tirana

Urban Hybrid

 

MVRDV

With “The Grand Ball­room”, Tirana gains a highly expres­sive piece of contem­po­rary archi­tec­ture that merges sports infra­struc­ture, housing, hospi­ta­lity, and public space into a single, compact volume. The sphe­rical design by MVRDV estab­lishes a strong urban land­mark while respon­ding precisely to func­tional, spatial, and urban-plan­ning requi­re­ments.

Sport as an Urban Cata­lyst

Located in the Alba­nian capital, the project replaces the exis­ting Asllan Rusi Sports Palace with a new mixed-use buil­ding conceived as a sphe­rical urban block with a diameter of more than 100 meters. At its core lies a 6,000-seat arena desi­gned for basket­ball and volley­ball, surrounded by comple­men­tary programs inclu­ding resi­den­tial units, a hotel, retail spaces, and publicly acces­sible outdoor areas.

With a gross floor area of appro­xi­m­ately 90,200 m², the project repres­ents one of the largest and most ambi­tious mixed-use deve­lo­p­ments in Albania, posi­tio­ning sport as a driver for urban rege­ne­ra­tion and social inter­ac­tion.

An Iconic Geometry

The sphe­rical geometry is not merely a formal gesture but a stra­tegic urban decision. The absence of a “backside” allows the buil­ding to address its surroun­dings equally on all sides, streng­thening its rela­ti­onship with the city. The compact foot­print enables high spatial effi­ci­ency on a dense inner-city site while freeing up ground-level space for public use.

Towards the base, the volume recedes to create plazas, stepped seating areas, and outdoor sports faci­li­ties, acti­vating the public realm. Upper-level setbacks gene­rate gene­rous terraces for resi­den­tial use, provi­ding shading and tran­si­tional spaces between inte­rior and exte­rior.

Layered Spatial Orga­niza­tion

Intern­ally, the buil­ding follows a clear vertical laye­ring of func­tions. A sunken public plaza forms the base, surrounded by a conti­nuous ring of retail, gastro­nomy, and service spaces that support both ever­yday use and event opera­tions. Above this level sits the main arena, with two addi­tional trai­ning halls inte­grated beneath the seating tiers.

The arena is topped by two hotel floors that main­tain a visual connec­tion to the sports hall via a large central oculus. This opening can be adjusted to meet acou­stic and climatic requi­re­ments, rein­for­cing the spatial dialogue between sport and hospi­ta­lity.

Living Within the Double Shell

The resi­den­tial units are embedded within the double-shell struc­ture of the sphere, enclo­sing a semi-open inte­rior cour­tyard conceived as a communal green space. Large openings within the buil­ding enve­lope enhance natural venti­la­tion and daylight while crea­ting shared social areas for resi­dents.

Apart­ments are oriented either outward toward pano­r­amic city views or inward toward the cour­tyard and arena. The upper­most levels accom­mo­date predo­mi­nantly maiso­nette-style apart­ments with private roof terraces, empha­si­zing the vertical grada­tion from public to private space.

A Contem­po­rary Urban Land­mark

With The Grand Ball­room, MVRDV proposes a typo­logy that fuses arena archi­tec­ture with urban living. The project rede­fines the sports venue as an inte­gral compo­nent of the city fabric—simultaneously a place for events, ever­yday life, and public interaction—contributing a strong archi­tec­tural iden­tity to Tirana’s evol­ving urban land­scape.

Project data

Archi­tect

MVRDV
Achter­klooster 7
Rotterdam
NL- South Holland 3011 RA

Client

Trema Tech shpk
Likado BV 
Alba­nian Capital Group shpk 
BCN Invest­ments BV

Artist

Helidon Xhixha

Staff

MVRDV: Winy Maas, Bert­rand Schippan, Stavros Garga­retas, Cathe­rine Drieux, Piotr Janus, Americo Iannaz­zone, Angel Sanchez Navarro, Ana Melga­rejo Lopez, Sylvain Totaro, Lola Elisa Cauneac, Miguel del Campo Grijalbo, Stanisław Rochala, Maria Stamati, Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luana La Martina, Jaroslaw Jeda, Stefano Fiaschi, Ciprian Buzdugan

Address
Asllan Rusi Sports Palace

Rruga Ali Kolonja
Tirana
Alba­nien
Visua­li­sa­tions

MVRDV

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Holy Water

Sint-Fran­ciscus van Assi­s­i­kerk in Heerlen

Holy water

 

MVRDV & Zecc Archi­tecten

More and more churches are falling out of use. Why not give them a new social purpose? A public swim­ming pool like Holy Water is certainly a great idea: swim­ming on your back beneath the church vaults, with views of colorful stained-glass windows — a comple­tely new spatial expe­ri­ence.

Trans­for­ma­tion

MVRDV and Zecc Archi­tecten won the compe­ti­tion to repur­pose the Sint-Fran­ciscus van Assisi Church in Heerlen. The concept, called “Holy Water,” envi­sions trans­forming the vacant church buil­ding into a public swim­ming pool—while preser­ving the listed historic struc­ture.

The church was built over 100 years ago and has not been used for its original purpose since 2023. The city of Heerlen now sees “Holy Water” as an oppor­tu­nity to breathe new life into the church with its distinc­tive silhou­ette at the city center. The planned swim­ming hall will not only relieve the already heavily frequented muni­cipal pools but will also become part of a larger urban renewal stra­tegy.

Preser­va­tion

The design for Holy Water features a glowing, circular canopy above the main entrance—a symbol of the connec­tion between past and present. Inside, visi­tors pass through the nave to reach the chan­ging rooms and the café, which are located in the rear part of the church. Glass walls sepa­rate these areas from the climate-controlled central swim­ming hall.

The pool’s adjus­table floor allows for a variety of uses—from a children’s splash area to an event space. When fully raised, the floor creates a comple­tely flat surface that can also be used for cultural events. Addi­tio­nally, the surface can be flooded with a thin layer of water, produ­cing a stun­ning reflec­tion of the church inte­rior. Visi­tors then get the sensa­tion of walking on water.

Back­stroke

The old church pews have found new life in the glass parti­tions: on one side they serve as seating for swim­mers, and on the other, for spec­ta­tors. Even the pulpit is repur­posed as an elevated station for the life­guard.

A major chall­enge lies in sustain­ably heating the church inte­rior while protec­ting the historic mate­rials from mois­ture. Glass walls create a thermal barrier to safe­guard the stained glass windows and artworks.

The roof is insu­lated from the outside to reduce heat loss while preser­ving the original masonry visible inside. The wooden roof struc­ture remains intact and is enhanced with sound-absor­bing elements to improve acou­stics. All buil­ding services, inclu­ding air hand­ling, are discreetly housed in the base­ment.

In short, Holy Water gains an energy-effi­cient, comfor­table design without compro­mi­sing the church’s historic fabric.

Opening is planned for late 2027.

Project data

Archi­tect

 MVRDV & Zecc Archi­tecten

Winy Maas, Gideon Maas­land, Gijs Rikken, Magda Porcoțeanu, Justin Vermeulen, Bart Keller­huis, Roy van Maar­se­veen, Thijmen Hilhorst

Client

City of Heerlen

Opening

2027

Address

Sint-Fran­ciscus van Assi­s­i­kerk
Laan­der­straat 33
6411 VA Heerlen
Nieder­lande

Illus­tra­tions

MVRDV

Text

MVRDV

Plans

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Las Vegas Ball­park

Las Vegas Ball­park

Vegas, Baby

 

 

BIG & HNTB

Las Vegas is the place where there are few limits to fantasy. That’s why the Las Vegas Ball­park fits right in.

The Couch by MVRDVPhoto: ©Daria Scagliola & Stijn Brakkee

The famed Las Vegas Strip will soon be the home of the new Las Vegas Ball­park for the Oakland A’s by archi­tec­ture firms Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and HNTB. Once complete, the project will be the new home of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athle­tics, and echo the vibrancy of the ‘Enter­tain­ment Capi­tal of the World,’ exuding an outdoor feel with pano­r­amic views of the city’s skyline.

The 33,000-capacity covered ball­park will sit on nine acres on Las Vegas Boule­vard between Tropi­cana Avenue and Reno Avenue. The expected opening date is spring 2028.

 The new Las Vegas Ballpark’s roof is accen­tuated by five over­lap­ping shells resembling base­ball penn­ants, paying homage to the sport. For players, these arched “penn­ants” will atte­nuate direct sunlight glare while welco­ming indi­rect natural light through nort­hern oriented clerestory windows. The domed ball­park is also desi­gned to feature the world’s largest cable net glass wall. The structure’s exte­rior metal clad­ding shim­mers in the natural daylight and reflects the surroun­ding Las Vegas lights at night.

The design repres­ents a capti­vating ball­park concept, seam­lessly blen­ding inno­va­tion and tech­no­logy with an enhanced fan expe­ri­ence. It is conceived in response to the unique culture and climate of the city. Five pennant arches enclose the ball­park – shading from the Nevada sun while opening to the soft daylight from the north. A giant window frames a maje­stic view of the life of The Strip and the iconic New York New York hotel skyline. All direct sunlight is blocked, while all the soft daylight is allowed to wash the field in natural light.

The resul­tant archi­tec­ture is like a sphe­rical arma­dillo – shaped by the local climate – while opening and invi­ting the life of The Strip to enter and explore. In the city of spec­tacle, the A’s ‘arma­dillo’ is desi­gned for passive shad­ing and natural light – the archi­tec­tural response to the Nevada climate gene­ra­ting a new kind of verna­cular icon in Vegas.

An elevated outdoor plaza connects to the bridges over Las Vegas and Tropi­cana Boule­vards, direc­ting fans to the ballpark’s main concourse, where a large glass atrium pulls the city into the venue. This entrance sequence will imme­dia­tely orient fans in the ball­park, allo­wing views of the entire field and seating bowl upon entry while opti­mi­zing wayfin­ding and circu­la­tion.

Secon­dary north and south entrances are marked by “boun­cing” arches to increase visitor acces­si­bi­lity and promote a connec­tion to the outdoors. Once inside, fans are met with bright, open atria, which will also serve as multi­pur­pose exhi­bi­tion spaces to show­case inter­na­tional and local artists.

The ball­park will be a climate-controlled, state-of-the-art faci­lity that will house a variety of events and guest expe­ri­ences. By opening up the roof struc­ture, the archi­tects aim to capture the energy of the iconic Las Vegas Strip and create a unique synergy between its events and the surroun­ding city. The new Las Vegas Ball­park  will push the boun­da­ries for enjoying base­ball and contri­bute to a more inter­ac­tive and spec­ta­cular urban expe­ri­ence in Las Vegas.

 Las Vegas is where the imagi­na­tion runs free, charac­te­rized by bespoke, one-of-a-kind expe­ri­ences. The A’s new ball­park will be filled with unique settings for the social inter­play between, sport, spec­tacle and entertain­ment.

The Couch by MVRDVPhoto: ©Daria Scagliola & Stijn Brakkee
The Couch by MVRDVPhoto: ©Daria Scagliola & Stijn Brakkee

Project data

Archi­tects

BIG 
Bjarke Ingels, Daniel Sundlin, Leon Rost,  Aran Coakley, Frankie Sharpe, Jan Klaska, Ricardo Palma,  Ahmad Tabbakh, Alan Maedo, Bernardo Schuh­ma­cher, Catrina Nelson, Don Chen, Douglass Alli­good, Ema Baka­lova, Hongye Wu, Hudson Parris, Jeff Tao, Margaret Tyrpa, Matthew Lau, Paul Heberle, Pooya Aleda­vood, Sunghwan Um, Thomas McMur­trie, Yuza­buro Tanaka

HNTB 
Lanson Nichols, Brad Albers, Emily Louchart, Jeff Goode, Stephanie Schnei­de­reit, Bryan Rincon, Phil Perkins, Donovan Brook, Jack Swezy, Jimena Dorador, Robbie Powell

Opening

2028

Address

Las Vegas Ball­park
USA – NV 89109

Visua­li­sa­tion

Negativ

Text

BIG

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Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo

Modern World

Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo in Sant­iago

 

 

 

Situa­tion

The Univer­sidad Cató­lica Sports Club, founded in 1937, inau­gu­rated its current stadium in 1988, known as the San Carlos de Apoquindo Stadium.

After more than three decades of acti­vity, the club decided that it needed a reno­va­tion. For this reason it held a compe­ti­tion in which nine offices were presented, and the IDOM proposal was selected.

Importance

With this reno­va­tion, the manage­ment team of Cruzado intends to moder­nize the Stadium and its surroun­dings, making it a multi­pur­pose venue, which will be an archi­tec­tural land­mark for the town of Las Condes and the city of Sant­iago, provi­ding value and services to the Commu­nity, the perfect place to orga­nize high-level sporting events, while gene­ra­ting new income.

“The new stadium will be a quality archi­tec­tural icon for the commu­nity, visible from the envi­ron­ment and respectful of it, inspired by the tradi­tional mate­rials of Chilean archi­tec­ture while looking to the future of foot­ball in the country,” says César Azcá­rate.

Loca­tion

From an archi­tec­tural perspec­tive, the project is conceived in section due to its loca­tion at the foot of the Cordil­lera, on a slight slope and looking towards the city of Sant­iago.

For this, a main buil­ding is confi­gured, which is shown towards the city and which houses a large part of the hospi­ta­lity uses.

Volume

Starting from the current Stadium, anchored to the ground as if it were a Greek amphi­theater, the new needs, the new uses and the increase in capa­city, from 14,000 to 20,000 spec­ta­tors, gene­rates a volume that is perceived as unitary, light and elevated with respect to what exists.

In this sense, the use of wood as the main element in the façade and the roof struc­ture allows dialogue to be estab­lished between the tectonic and the light, while also being a sustainable resource, in line with the whole approach to the moder­niza­tion of the Stadium.

From being open to being closed

A conti­nuous boule­vard is desi­gned that allows access to all the upper part of the lower stands and that repres­ents the line that sepa­rates what is linked to the ground from what is elevated. The new volu­metric confi­gu­ra­tion will allow the stadium to go from being open to being closed cove­ring the stands, gene­ra­ting a better foot­ball atmo­sphere, better acou­stics and greater comfort for spec­ta­tors. The stadium will also be 7/365, econo­mic­ally sustainable and with a wide range of hospi­ta­lity acti­vi­ties.

Outlook

The cons­truc­tion works are sche­duled to begin during the first half of 2022 and end in the second half of 2023, allo­wing the new venue to host some sports events of the Pan American Games to be held in Sant­iago in October of that year.

We did this.

Project data

Client

CD Univer­sidad Cató­lica

Physical address

Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo
Circun­vala­ción Las Flores 13000
Las Condes
Región Metro­po­li­tana
Chile

© IDOM

Photos

Video

Contact

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Address
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Am Weit­kamp 17
D‑44795 Bochum

Phone
+49 234 5466 0374
+49 172 4736 332

Nou Camp Nou

Forwards to nature

Nou Camp Nou in Barce­lona

 

 

 

Situa­tion

Barce­lona curr­ently has just over 6m² of green areas per inha­bi­tant. Accor­ding to the WHO (World Health Orga­niza­tion), cities should have a minimum of 9m².

The ON‑A proposal for the Nou Camp Nou (Nou Parc), a forest that would cover the Camp Nou in Barce­lona, ​​aims to turn the area into a great green lung using bioar­chi­tec­ture as a stra­tegy for rena­tu­ra­tion.

Stra­tegy

Accor­ding to the ON‑A philo­sophy, the rena­tu­ra­tion of cities and the crea­tion of quality spaces for its citi­zens is not just an inte­res­ting idea, but a need.

Nou Camp Nou aims to show how nature can return to cities without absor­bing addi­tional space.

Topo­graphy

The Nou Camp Nou project shows how nature would come back to cities without losing buildable space, raising the topo­graphy and crea­ting a blanket of green forest above the stadium and its faci­li­ties, which would remain below the surface of the new park.

Curr­ently this area is a closed concrete space and only 8% of green areas. Conse­quently, an “island” effect is gene­rated, sepa­ra­ting the neigh­bor­hoods of Les Corts and Zona Univer­si­taria.

Collapse and conver­sion

The space is huge and is in disuse most of the time, except during sport events or private visits to its faci­li­ties. Neigh­bors often expe­ri­ence collapse when the space comes into opera­tion during major events.

The conver­sion of this area would provide a great oppor­tu­nity for the city of Barce­lona, ​​which would gain a new green space capable of connec­ting neigh­bor­hoods while produ­cing 15,000kg oxygen/day and absorb 25,000kg of C02/day.

Faci­li­ties

Inside Nou Parc Nou you could walk or run along a 2.4km route, stretch in green areas and picnic in reserved areas, in addi­tion to enjoy a 360º pano­r­amic view at the highest point of the park, which culmi­nates around the stadium.

The two lakes would help to cool the tempe­ra­ture and help the deve­lo­p­ment and main­ten­ance of the area, as well as being natural coll­ec­tors of rain­water, which could be reused for the irri­ga­tion and main­ten­ance of the park.

Conclu­sion

This project helps to create a new permea­bi­lity that would allow the connec­tion between the two neigh­bor­hoods of Les Corts and the Univer­sity Area, apart from giving more value to their neigh­bors and to the city of Barce­lona itself without affect mobi­lity and current logi­stics.

Nou Camp Nou turns the journey to FC Barce­lona matches into a spec­ta­cular expe­ri­ence. On all other days, this project is just a great park.

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Project data

Archi­tect

ON‑A
C/ Doctor Rizal, 8, local 1
ESP – 08006 Barce­lona

Project team

Jordi Fernández, Eduardo Gutiérrez
Luciana Teodózio, Geor­gina Morales, Saul Ajuría, Ernest Ruiz, Javier Bernal, Claudia Anto­nacci, Natalia Cambello

Physical address

Camp Nou
C. d’Arís­tides Maillol, 12
ESP-08028 Barce­lona

Author

ON‑A

Video

Contact

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Address
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Am Weit­kamp 17
D‑44795 Bochum

Phone
+49 234 5466 0374
+49 172 4736 332

Campus de Braak

Next chapter

Campus de Braak in Helmond

 

 

 

About

The muni­ci­pa­lity council of Helmond in The Nether­lands has given the green light for Campus de Braak in Helmond. The plans for the project were put on hold at the begin­ning of this year after a diffe­rence of opinion with parther profes­sional soccer club Helmond Sport about the program of requi­re­ments, the design and the busi­ness case.

Moedersch­eim­Moonen Archi­tects, Faul­k­ner­Browns and CULD were asked to team up to create a design tail­ored to the new brief. Now that the city council also supports the renewed plan, the project can restart.

Orga­ni­sa­tion

In the design, the number of seats has been reduced to 3,600 places which creates more space for the busi­ness areas for Helmond Sport. Addi­tional space has also been created for the youth academy of the soccer club. With the colla­bo­ra­tion of the muni­ci­pa­lity of Helmond, the OMO school group and the other users, a new design has been deve­loped which is centered around multi-func­tion­a­lity.

In addi­tion, the exte­rior has also been deve­loped. Despite the fact that there are now only two large stands, the campus exudes a ‘stadium feeling’ through the dynamic verti­cality of the façades. In the case of expan­sion in the future, two new stands can be added in the current buil­ding enve­lope.

Multi-func­tion­a­lity

Multi-func­tion­a­lity is the essence of the new campus. The campus will be home to Helmond Sport and the Helmond Prac­tice School. The design includes a NOC * NSF sports hall where the amateur foot­ball clubs Helmondia and Mulo will be accom­mo­dated. Addi­tio­nally, a new loca­tion for JvdI De Fysio­club will be created. Space for indi­vi­dual sports and rela­xa­tion is also incor­po­rated with the addi­tion of a running track and shared path for pede­strians and cyclists.

The new buil­ding is surrounded by a central corridor that connects all entry­ways with each other and the surroun­ding neigh­bor­hoods. Thanks to the connec­tion between the campus and the surroun­ding area, Campus de Braak will become an acces­sible meeting and recrea­tional envi­ron­ment for the entire city.

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Project data

Client

Geme­ente Helmond

Physical address

Sport­park de Braak 5
NL – 5703 DX Helmond

Contact

What else can we do for you?

Address
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Am Weit­kamp 17
D‑44795 Bochum

Phone
+49 234 5466 0374
+49 172 4736 332

Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre

Welco­ming

Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre

Zaha Hadid Archi­tects

Situa­tion

The new Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre will be 60,000-seat stadium for national and inter­na­tional matches as well as dome­stic league games, youth trai­ning acade­mies, enter­tain­ment perfor­mances and cultural events. The centre will be located in Xi’an’s Feng­dong New District with its stations on the city’s expan­ding metro network.

With a popu­la­tion of nine million people and two profes­sional foot­ball clubs, Xi’an will be a host city of the 2023 Asian Foot­ball Confe­de­ra­tion (AFC) Asian Cup in China. Taking its legacy mode of opera­tions as the starting point of the design, the stadium has been desi­gned to provide optimum condi­tions for foot­ball and maxi­mize its use by gene­ra­tions after the 2023 tour­na­ment.

Open façades

Inte­grated within the ortho­gonal urban grid of Fengdong’s busi­ness district, Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre‘s open façades invite the city into the heart of the buil­ding to enjoy its public spaces, recrea­tion and dining faci­li­ties throug­hout the day. Located in a series of shaded south-facing garden terraces with views over the city to Qing Moun­tain, these amen­i­ties will also serve spec­ta­tors visi­ting the stadium during foot­ball matches, cultural events and perfor­mances.

The swee­ping lines of the façade protect the stadium from nort­herly winds and convey the fluid forms of the roof that shel­ters the saddle-shaped seating bowl which maxi­mizes the spec­tator seating provided at midfield.

Roof

The design employs an ultra-light­weight long span cable-net roof struc­ture, resul­ting in a minimum load and mate­rial foot­print that in turn reduces the stadium’s primary struc­ture. Wide peri­meter roof over­hangs shelter faci­li­ties within the buil­ding’s enve­lope while the large, shaded, open-air terraces and public concourses incor­po­rates exten­sive plan­ting on all levels, provi­ding comfor­table condi­tions in Xi’an’s hot conti­nental summer climate.

Supported by the tensioned cable-net struc­ture, a trans­lu­cent membrane over the seating protects spec­ta­tors from incle­ment weather and direct sunlight while also allo­wing the most amount of natural light to reach the playing surface, promo­ting the growth of grass on the pitch to provide playing condi­tions of the highest stan­dard.

Geometry

Digital model­ling has defined the geometry of the spec­ta­tors’ seating bowl to opti­mize proxi­mity and views to the field of play from all 60,000 seats, gene­ra­ting the most exci­ting atmo­sphere for foot­ball and ensu­ring an outstan­ding match expe­ri­ence for all players and spec­ta­tors.

China’s ancient capital and core of the Silk Road, Xi’an has a long history of welco­ming visi­tors from around the world. In the global arena of foot­ball, the Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre conti­nues this tradi­tion and builds a lasting legacy of new civic spaces, sports and recrea­tional faci­li­ties for the city.

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Project data

Archi­tect

Zaha Hadid Archi­tects (ZHA)

Patrik Schu­ma­cher, Charles Walker, Nils Fischer
Jakub Klaska, Lei Zheng
Shajay Bhooshan, Vishu Bhooshan, Jianfei Chu, Chun-Yen Chen, Hung-Da Chien, Marina Dimopoulou, Cesar Fraga­chan, Michael Forward, Matthew Gabe, Stratis Geor­giou, Charles Harris, Yen-fen Huang, Han Hsun Hsieh, Yihoon Kim, Henry Louth, Martha Masli, Mauro Sabiu, Xin Swift, Adeliia Papulzan, Pablo Agustin Vivas

Partner Archi­tect

Intel­li­gent Design for Emer­ging Archi­tec­ture (iDEA)

Yan Gao, Jianyou Yang, Bin Wu, Fiona Huang, Jingshan Zhong, Shis­hang Deng, Qiongli Lu, Ting Liu, Xinyu Kou, Daria Morkov­kina, Haixia Zhang

Address

Xi’an Inter­na­tional Foot­ball Centre
CN – Feng­dong, Xi’an

Author

Zaha Hadid Archi­tects

Video

Our Blog

Power­house Stadium

Power­house Stadium

A retrac­table roof, a sliding pitch, a skyline bar and twelve chim­neys: is this a foot­ball stadium or a show­case for the city’s indus­trial past? Or both?

Our News­letter

Copen­hagen Islands

Parki­pe­lago

Copen­hagen Islands

Marshall Blecher & Studio Fokstrot

About

The project intro­duces a new arche­type in urban space to the city’s harbour; a “parki­pe­lago” of floa­ting islands, open and free to be used by an incre­asing number of boaters, fishermen, kaya­kers, star­ga­zers and swim­mers.

The islands rein­tro­duce wilder­ness and whimsey to the rapidly gentri­fying harbour, with endemic plants, trees and grasses above and anchor points below provi­ding a habitat for birds and insects, seaweeds, fish and molluscs. the islands offer a constantly chan­ging, gene­rous, green space in the centre of the city. The project also hints at a new type of climate resi­lient urba­nism, inher­ently flexible in its use and only using sustain­ably sourced and recy­cled mate­rials.

Cons­truc­tion

The islands will be cons­tructed by hand in the boat­buil­ding yards in the south habour of Copen­hagen using tradi­tional wooden boat buil­ding tech­ni­ques. They will be moved seaso­nally between unde­r­uti­lised and newly devel­oped parts of the harbour, cata­ly­sing life and acti­vity.

The first proto­type island ‘CPH-Ø1’ was laun­ched in 2018 and became a popular feature in the harbour, moving from place to place, hosting part of a photo­graphy exhi­bi­tion, a series of talks and many seaside picnics. The pro­totype will be followed by three more islands to be laun­ched in 2020, CPH-Ø1, CPH-Ø2 & CPH-Ø3 with plans for even more in the follo­wing years.

Awards

Copen­hagen Islands was awarded the taipei inter­na­tional design awards for public space and the award for social design, It was a fina­list in the Beazley design prize at the London Design Museum and has just been announced as a fina­list in the Danish Design Prize.

Copen­hagen islands is a not for profit initia­tive started by austra­lian archi­tect Marshall Blecher and Danish Design studio Fokstrot, it is supported by køben­havns kommune, by og havn and den gode havneliv.

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Project data

Illus­tra­tons

Airflix (Aerials)
MIR (Visua­li­sa­tions)

Author

Marshall Blecher

Opening

2018 / 2020

Videos

Our Blog

Power­house Stadium

Power­house Stadium

A retrac­table roof, a sliding pitch, a skyline bar and twelve chim­neys: is this a foot­ball stadium or a show­case for the city’s indus­trial past? Or both?

Our News­letter

Forest Green Rovers Eco Stadium

Knock on wood

​Forest Green Rovers Eco Stadium

Zaha Hadid Archi­tects

Situa­tion

The Forest Green Rovers Eco Stadium is to become more than just a stadium. Users Forest Green Rovers are the ” gree­nest foot­ball club in the world “, their presi­dent is Dale Vince, the founder of Ecot­ri­city. The stadium will be the centre­piece of the £100 million, 40-hectare sports and green tech­no­logy park deve­lo­p­ment funded by Ecot­ri­city.

The Green Rovers Eco Stadium was desi­gned by Zaha Hadid Archi­tects, and their inte­rest in explo­ring new forms, mate­rials and tech­no­lo­gies is – proven.

However, at the moment there is not much that indi­cates that this ambi­tious project will become reality.

Vision

Forest Green Rovers have estab­lished a holi­stic vision for the site to retain its pastoral quali­ties whilst adding new faci­li­ties for the town.

While the stadium will be the centre­piece, the project creates a new public realm with both recrea­tional and occu­pa­tional uses, enab­ling the entire site to contri­bute to the town – not only on match days, but every day of the year.

Design

The design retains and enhances the exis­ting meadow land­scape of the site whilst adding the stadium and other func­tions for the town. Embo­dying low carbon cons­truc­tion methods and opera­tional processes, it will be the first all timber foot­ball stadium with almost every element made of sustain­ably sourced timber inclu­ding its struc­ture, roof canti­le­vers and louvered clad­ding.

As a buil­ding mate­rial, timber is highly durable, recy­clable and beau­tiful. The proxi­mity of the stadium’s struc­tural elements to each other has also been deter­mined to enable the seating terraces and floor slab to be made from timber. In most other stadiums, these elements are concrete or steel.

The stadium’s roof is covered with a trans­pa­rent membrane, which contri­butes to turf growth, mini­mizes stark shadows for players and fans and reduces the volu­metric impact of the stadium from distant views in the surroun­ding land­scape.

Atmo­sphere

With the team’s commu­nity and supporters at its core, fans will be as close as five meters from the pitch and the posi­tion of every seat has been calcu­lated to provide excel­lent, unrest­ricted views of the entire field of play. The stadium’s conti­nuous spec­tator bowl surroun­ding the pitch will maxi­mise matchday atmo­sphere.

The stadium’s design incor­po­rates the club’s future growth. Initi­ally for 5,000 spec­ta­tors, incre­asing to 10,000 with the club’s success, expan­sion from phase 1 to phase 2 can be achieved without the costs of major cons­truc­tion works.

Carbon

Forest Green Rovers’ new stadium and Eco Park aims to be carbon neutral or carbon nega­tive, inclu­ding measures such as the provi­sion of on-site rene­wable energy gene­ra­tion.

Dale Vince, Ecot­ri­city founder and Forest Green Rovers chairman, said: “The really standout thing about this stadium is that it’s going to be almost enti­rely made of wood – the first time that will have been done anywhere in the world.

“The importance of wood is not only that it’s natu­rally occur­ring, it has very low embo­died carbon – about as low as it gets for a buil­ding mate­rial.

“And when you bear in mind that around three quar­ters of the life­time carbon impact of any stadium comes from its buil­ding mate­rials, you can see why that’s so important – and it’s why our new stadium will have the lowest embo­died carbon of any stadium in the world.

Eco Park

Half of Eco Park will consist of state-of-the-art sporting faci­li­ties, inclu­ding the new stadium, grass and all-weather trai­ning pitches, publicly acces­sible multi-disci­pli­nary faci­li­ties, and a sports science hub.

The other half will comprise a green tech­no­logy busi­ness park with sustain­ably built commer­cial offices and light indus­trial units, giving Eco Park the poten­tial to create up to 4,000 jobs, inclu­ding room for the continued expan­sion of green energy company Ecot­ri­city, who have submitted the overall proposal and who are already the biggest employer in Stroud with 700 people located across four sites.

The proposal will also see the deve­lo­p­ment of a nature reserve on the site, a poten­tial public trans­port hub, inclu­ding a Stroud Park and Ride, as well as help with the resto­ra­tion of the Stroud­water canal.

Local parish coun­cils initi­ally endorsed the entire project, but rejected it in the summer of 2019.

Whether and how things will continue is curr­ently comple­tely uncer­tain. A shame.

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Project data and compa­nies involved

Archi­tect

Zaha Hadid Archi­tects (ZHA)

Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schu­ma­cher, Jim Heverin, Sara Klomps, Kart­hi­keyan, Aruna­chalam, Sara Akbari, Muriel Boselli, Avery Chen, Saman Dadgo­star, Cynthia Du, Paulo Flores, Fabian Hecker, Jakub Klaska, Vincent Konaté, Igor Pantic, Edgar Payan, Sven Torres, Theodor Wender, Richard Wase­n­egger

Address

Forest Green Rovers Foot­ball Club
The New Lawn Stadium Another Way
Nails­worth GL6 0FG
Verei­nigtes König­reich

Videos

Our Blog

Power­house Stadium

Power­house Stadium

A retrac­table roof, a sliding pitch, a skyline bar and twelve chim­neys: is this a foot­ball stadium or a show­case for the city’s indus­trial past? Or both?

Our News­letter

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