Few construction projects manage to generate as much intrigue and excitement as stadium builds.
These awe-inspiring structures have continually pushed the boundaries of design
to meet increasingly ambitious demands.
Whether it’s boosting capacity, improving fan experience, adopting radically different styles
or taking more versatile approaches,
stadium planners have been setting new standards for decades.
Recent builds have continued this trend and further raised the bar.
India’s Sardar Patel Stadium is a prime example.
The vast venue has taken the title of world’s biggest cricket stadium, offering space for 110,000 fans.
The newly-opened Al Janoub Stadium in Qatar also stands out.
One of eight venues that will host matches at the controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup,
the ground was designed to resemble a traditional Arabian fishing boat
that holds great cultural significance in the region.
Now, as we enter a new decade, architects and engineers are pushing the boundaries once again.
We begin our round-up in Nevada, where one of the most spectacular – and expensive – stadiums ever conceived
is entering its final stage of construction.
Costing almost $2 billion, the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will be the long-awaited new home of the Raiders,
an NFL club that is relocating from Oakland in California.
Once complete, the venue will feature a retractable field of natural turf, a domed ETFE roof
to keep out the fierce desert sun, a black glass exterior and four large rolling doors
that open up to impressive views of the Las Vegas Strip.
Spreading out over 1.75 million square feet, and with room for 65,000 fans – expandable to 72,000 –
the stadium will also be used for a variety of other sporting and non-sporting events.
In total, the venue will incorporate 28,000 tons of structural steel and more than
100,000 cubic yards of concrete, with almost half a million bolts holding it all together.
Over on the East coast, Miami Freedom Park is the proposed permanent residence of
David Beckham’s Inter Miami, a new football club set to join Major League Soccer in 2020.
The 26,000-seat stadium features a compact auditorium topped with a lightweight, translucent roof
designed to evoke the wings of a flamingo – the club’s chosen symbol.
On one side of the ground, a soaring single-tier grandstand
will be a haven for the team’s more vocal supporters.
While at the other end, the top of the structure opens up to make way for premium hospitality,
including a rooftop cocktail bar.
Large multimedia screens will be visible both inside and out, including a giant display
that will show live matches to fans watching from the park opposite.
The arena is just one part of a USD $1 billion project to redevelop a 131-acre plot of land
near the city’s airport.
The entirely private-funded complex will also include one of the city’s largest public parks,
11 community football fields, a hotel, shops, restaurants and even a tech hub.
The club hopes to move in by 2022, and will in the meantime play its first home games
at a temporary renovated ground in Fort Lauderdale.
Setting out to create “a ballpark like the world has never seen before,”
the owners of Japanese baseball team the Nippon-Ham Fighters have truly raised the bar in stadium design.
The USD $530 million Hokkaido Ballpark will boast a striking high-peaked retractable roof
reminiscent of the old-style homes that the island is known for.
An enormous transparent glass wall on the outfield side of the ground
will enable the venue to be fully closed during the cold, snowy winter months,
while ensuring it can still support a natural grass field.
Fans will be seated four tiers high, with the symmetrical playing surface
– uncommon in baseball – lying just below ground level.
Built adjacent to a new entertainment district that will also provide restaurants,
retail units, housing and parks, the stadium is due to break ground in 2020
ahead of its opening in 2023.
Qatar’s 40,000-capacity Ras Abu Aboud
is set to become the world’s first fully demountable stadium.
Made from recycled steel shipping containers, the arena’s modular design
allows for a dramatic reduction in building materials, leading to reduced waste
and a much smaller carbon footprint as compared to other stadiums of this size.
Each container will be modified to suit a range of purposes, such as removable seating,
concession stands and toilets.
The structure is being built on an artificial waterfront promontory in Doha’s West Bay
and will be completely taken apart after the tournament.
Its parts will then be used in smaller football venues around the world.
English Premier League club Everton has now submitted its plans for a USD $645 million new stadium
at Bramley-Moore Dock on the banks of the River Mersey in Liverpool.
The 52,000-seat arena will be constructed on a semi-derelict world heritage site
in the north of the city.
Its brickwork base is a nod to the area’s historic warehouse buildings and maritime past,
while the sleek steel and glass roof will help to give the stadium a more modern image.
To create an atmosphere of intensity and intimacy, fans will be sat as close to the pitch as regulations allow,
with an imposing single-tiered stand on the south end.
There will also be sections in the lower tiers that can be converted to safe standing
if new legislation permits it being reintroduced in the future.
Set to complete in 2023, the stadium will form a key part of a USD $7 billion
wider plan to overhaul Liverpool’s waterfront.
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