If only, then already

MUFC

Manchester United Foot­ball Club was founded in 1878, is the English record cham­pion with 20 league titles, has won every Euro­pean club title and is one of the most popular clubs in the world. MUFC has been at home at Old Traf­ford stadium since 1910.

In recent years, however, the club has only enjoyed mode­rate sporting success and is curr­ently langu­is­hing in the lower midfield of the Premier League. Although the stadium is a cult site for the fans, it no longer meets today’s commer­cial requi­re­ments despite nume­rous moder­niza­tions and expan­sions.

Perhaps this deve­lo­p­ment was one more reason for the club’s owners to reno­vate the entire district with the new stadium.

Plaza of dreams

Old Traf­ford was called the “theater of dreams” because it was a secluded space outside of the ever­yday life outside – a world of its own.

The design for the New Old Traf­ford Stadium now breaks with such tradi­tional stadium concepts: instead of a closed arena, an open, invi­ting design is proposed that opens up to the surroun­ding area. Circum­fe­ren­tial “balco­nies” offer views into the new district and make the stadium an inte­gral part of the city.

The new Stas­dion offers space for 100,000 spec­ta­tors. It is spanned by an exten­sive roof that coll­ects energy and rain­water and at the same time protects a huge public plaza. This plaza is to become a meeting place, not just on match days. The aim is to create a sustainable, pede­strian-friendly stadium land­scape that is easily acces­sible thanks to the expan­sion of public trans­por­ta­tion.

The archi­tec­tural concept picks up on the history of Manchester United and also aims to offer fans a sense of iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. Three striking masts, inspired by the club’s trident emblem, support the roof and create a new silhou­ette in the Manchester skyline.

Theatre of dreams

The entire New Old Traf­ford Stadium district is part of a gigantic urban deve­lo­p­ment project. It includes a network of public green spaces, roads, bridges and water features along the Manchester Ship Canal. The sustainable design provides for direct connec­tions to exis­ting city districts and trans­port networks. Rene­wable ener­gies, rain­water harve­s­ting and inno­va­tive cons­truc­tion methods are to play a central role.

There is not yet a time­table for the imple­men­ta­tion of the project.