Stadium Design Trends
Design Trends of
Sport Stadiums
Dr. N. Subramanian, Consulting Engineer, Gaithersburg, MD, U.S.A
A
modern stadium is a place
or venue for outdoor sports,
concerts, or other events
consists of a ield or stage either
partly or completely surrounded by a
structure designed to allow spectators
to stand or sit and view the event. The
word "Stadium" comes from the Greek
word "stadion," a measure of length
equaling the length of 600 human feet.
Tremendous changes have occurred
in the past years about the concept
of stadiums. The modern stadiums
not only look much different from their
older counterparts but also integrate
many features. Several of them also
incorporate green design initiatives.
These trends along with the features
Figure 1: The Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens
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of a few outstanding stadiums are
described in this article.
History
The oldest known stadium is the one in
Olympia, in the western Peloponnese,
Greece, where the Olympic Games
of antiquity were held from 776 BC
until AD 393. Initially, these Games
consisted of a single event, a sprint
along the length of the stadium. Greek
and Roman stadiums have been found
in numerous ancient cities, perhaps
the most famous being the Stadium of
Domitian, in Rome. The Panathenaic
stadium, in Athens hosted the irst
modern Olympic Games in 1896
(see Fig.1). Reconstructed from
the remains of an ancient 330 B.C.
Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the
only major stadium in the world built
entirely of white marble and is one of
the oldest in the world. (At that time,
the Greek government was unable to
fund the construction of a stadium.
Hence a wealthy Greek architect,
Georgios Averoff, donated his wealth
to restore the Panathenaic Stadium).
The stadium was built long before
dimensions for athletics venues were
standardized- its track and layout follow
the ancient hairpin-like model. It could
once seat about 80,000 spectators on
ifty rows of marble steps and currently
holds 45,000 spectators (see Ref.1).
Even during that time, there were
other types of stadiums, for example,
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for
horse racing and chariot racing.
Types of Stadiums
In the present day, there are different
types of stadiums, some indoor and
several outdoor stadiums. Outdoor
stadiums are mainly used for games
like football, cricket, hockey, rugby,
tennis and other ield games.
Stadiums built for the Olympics and
World cup footfall are usually large and
could seat 50,000 to 80,000 persons.
Several stadiums are now opting for
covered roof, for uninterrupted play.
There is a proposal to cover the Arthur
Ashe stadium in the New York City,
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Figure 2: Arthur Ashe Stadium, built in 1997 at the USTA National Tennis Center in New
York City, is the world's largest tennis-speciic stadium
which the main tennis stadium of the
US Open, and the largest outdoor
tennis-only venue in the world (see
Fig.2). The Stadium, which cost $254
million to construct, features 22,547
individual seats, 90 luxury suites, ive
restaurants and a two-level players'
lounge.
Stadiums with enclosed rooing
are often called as domed stadiums;
though many of these are not actually
domes in the pure architectural
sense, some actually are having
truss-supported roofs, space frames,
tensile membranes, and others
having more exotic designs such as
a tensegrity structure. For example,
the 68m diameter Jawaharlal Nehru
Indoor Stadium at Cuttack, India is
covered by a braced ribbed dome
(see Subramanian and Ganguly
1988), The New Orleans superdome,
with a seating capacity of 80,100
and diameter of 207.3 m is covered
by a lamella dome, the Millennium
dome, the largest domed structure at
Greenwich, London is covered Telon
coated glass iber fabric, and the $200
million, 70,500 seat Georgia dome
at Atlanta, USA and designed by
engineer Matthys Levy of Weidlinger
178
Associates, is the world’s irst large-
scale oval dome- measuring 235 m by
186 m it is covered by a cable supported
tensegritic structure and fabric tensile
membrane (Subramanian 2007).
Some stadiums have partial roofs,
and a few have even been designed
to have moveable ields as part of
the infrastructure. The structures built
for indoor sports like basketball, ice
hockey and volleyball are generally
called arenas.
Current Trends
Building a new stadium is always a
massive undertaking that requires
millions of dollars, substantial physical
labor, and a vast amount of electricity
to keep it operating. Current trends of
stadium construction include (John et
al 2007):
1. Designing the stadium as a
multipurpose facility, so that it is
inancially viable,
2. Covering it with a retractable roof, so
that it can be used in any weather,
3. Make it sustainable,
4. Security and anti-terrorism
measures, and
5. Providing facilities for disabled
people.
In addition more importance is
also given to public information and
entertainment services (TV and media
facilities), attractive and eficient
catering facilities, private viewing
facilities (VIP boxes), Retail sales and
exhibitions (Museums, visitor centers
and stadium tours), and toilet facilities,
Thus, the current stadiums not only
provide entertainment in the form of
watching the sports, but also provide a
complete experience of games, food,
and shopping. Some of these trends
are covered below, by taking some
examples of stadiums. More emphasis
is given to sustainability.
Designing the
Stadium As A
Multipurpose Facility
There were concerns about the long-
term viability of huge stadiums built
just for Olympic athletics events. For
example, the Montreal stadium built
for the summer Olympics in 1976, at
an initial cost of $789 million (which
escalated to $1.5 billion in 2006 –
including additional costs, interest and
repairs), was found to be in inancial
troubles as there was no main tenant
(see Fig. 3). It also has a history of
inancial and structural problems, and
is largely seen as a white elephant. It
is now used as a multipurpose facility
for special events (e.g., concerts,
trade shows), and occasional Football
and Baseball games. The structural
details of this stadium are covered in
Subramanian 2007.
Realizing this problem, most
of the host cities, after 1976, have
constructed stadiums with their post-
Olympic life in mind. For example,
the stadium at Atlanta for the 1996
Games was designed to be converted
after the games into a baseball
stadium. Similarly, the ANZ Stadium,
constructed for the Sydney Olympics
in 2000 by HOK Sport (cost: $720
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Stadium Design Trends
Figure 3: The Montreal's Olympic Stadium, main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics
million) was designed with a total
of 110,000 seats. There were about
30,000 temporary seats, which were
removed after the games so the
building could be reduced in size to
host annual rugby, football and cricket
matches. The stadium was also made
sustainable with reduced steel weight
in the roof structure in comparison to
the Olympic stadiums of Athens and
Beijing.
Covering It with A
Retractable Roof
The 80,000 seat, $1.15 billion
Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington,
Texas is the largest domed stadium
in the world with a retractable roof.
The retractable roof was designed
by structural engineering irm Walter
P Moore and the systems were
implemented by mechanization
Figure 4: The ANZ Stadium built for 2000 Summer
Olympics in Sydney
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consultants Uni-Systems.
The retractable roof over
Wimbledon’s Centre Court is a type
of ‘folding fabric concertina’ tensile
structure (Fig.5). This allows the roof
to be folded into a highly compressed
area and parked over the ixed canopy
when not in use over the court. More
than 7000 square metres of a very
strong lexible translucent woven
Tenara material have been used for
the fabric architecture roof, which
still allows a level of natural light to
reach the grass. The roof has been
designed to close and open in under
10 minutes.
Several stadiums under
construction like the New Singapore
National stadium, Singapore, Grand
Stade Lille Métropole, Lille, France
(opened in August of 2012), Friends
Arena, Solna,Sweden, and Taipei
Figure 5: The retractable roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court
Dome in Taipei, Taiwan, are all
equipped with retractable roofs.
Stadiums with
Sustainable Features
Sustainable design recognizes the
interdependence of the built and
natural environments; eliminates
reliance on fossil fuels and toxic
materials; and seeks to improve
resource eficiency. In addition, it
promotes water conservation, use
of locally available materials that
have low life cycle costs and less
CO2 emissions, and waste reduction.
Some of the stadiums which exemplify
sustainability are given below.
Kaohsiung National
Stadium, Taiwan
Kaohsiung National Stadium is a
multi-purpose stadium in Kaohsiung,
Taiwan. It is currently the largest
stadium in Taiwan in terms of capacity.
Completed in 2009, it hosted the main
events for the 2009 World Games and
is used mostly for athletics and rugby
Taiwan football events. The stadium
has a capacity of 55,000 seats.
This World Games stadium,
designed by Japanese architect Toyo
Ito, makes use of solar energy to
provide its power needs. The semi
spiral-shaped stadium, like a dragon,
is the irst stadium in the world to
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Figure 6: Toyo Ito's design has a 14,155 m2 solar roof that is able to provide enough
energy to power the stadium's 3,300 lights and two jumbo vision screens.
Photograph: Inhabitat.com
provide power using solar energy
technology. The 8,844 solar panels
covering the roof of the stadium are
able to generate most of the power
required for its own operation, as
well as additional power that can be
saved (see Fig.6) Not only does the
solar system provide electricity during
the games, but the surplus energy
will also be sold during the non-game
period. On days where the stadium
is not being used, the Taiwanese
government plans to feed the extra
energy into the local grid, where it will
meet almost 80% of the neighboring
area's energy requirements. Overall,
the stadium will generate 1.14 million
KWh per year, preventing the release
of 660 tons of carbon dioxide into
atmosphere annually.
The stadium also integrates
additional green features such as
permeable paving and the extensive
use of reusable, domestically made
materials. Built upon a clear area of
approximately 19 hectares, nearly 7
hectares has been reserved for the
development of integrated public green
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spaces, bike paths, sports parks, and
an ecological pond. Additionally, all of
the plants occupying the area before
construction were transplanted.
London Olympic
Stadium
The stadium built for 2012 London
Olympic Games is the most sustainable
stadium. The stadium is the third
largest stadium in Britain. The stadium
is located at Stratford in London. The
stadium has a capacity of 80,000.
As compared to other stadiums, the
London Olympic Stadium is 75%
lighter when you consider the use
(it used just over 10,000 tonnes of
steel). It has employed low-carbon
concrete. The concrete is made
from industrial waste and contains
40% less carbon than usual. The
stadium’s recycled materials included
an unused gas pipe from a North
Sea oil project for the Stadium’s top
ring, while approximately 40% of the
concrete used was made of recycled
aggregate. Savings in energy was
also made possible by transporting
materials to the site by boat or train.
About 6,500 m3 of crushed concrete
– recycled from other parts of the
Olympic Park – was spread on top of
the ground to create a solid platform
for the Stadium’s construction. This
clearly relects London’s commitment
towards sustainability.
What is most unique about the
Olympics Stadium design is that the
huge capacity of 80,000 can be greatly
and easily reduced to 25,000 after
the Olympic Games and subsequent
Paralympics games are over. This is
deinitely an architectural marvel.
Although, the Olympic Stadium is
made up of layers, many of them are
temporary (see Fig. 7). The method
of constructing the Olympic Stadium
was designed intelligently based on
the principle of cut and ill. Using this
design methodology, the land was dug
deep till it assumed the shape of a
bowl, which could be made use of to
accommodate the 25,000 permanent
seats (see Fig. 7). In other words, this
bowl structure forms the permanent
part of the Olympic Stadium. The use
of a bowl in the ground minimized the
use of construction materials. This bowl
was created by excavating 800,000
tonnes of soft clay, the majority of which
was cleaned and reused elsewhere
on the Olympic Park. The architects
planned to build a temporary structure
above this permanent structure which
will accommodate the other 55,000
seats (see Fig.7).
The track and ield part of the
Olympic Stadium was laid around
the permanent structure. The existing
ground had a natural slope and the
architects took full advantage of this
aspect and incorporated it into the
design of the stadium. The changing
rooms and warm-up areas were also
built in the basement region. There
are more than 700 rooms within the
Stadium, including eight changing
rooms and four prayer rooms. The
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Figure 9: Allianz Arena is lit up in red

when Bayern Munich plays, in blue when
1860 Munich plays, and in white when in
use by the German national team

for more details about the Wembley

stadium).

Allianz Arena, Munich

Figure 7: Schematic sketch of Olympic stadium at London built for the 2012 Games The Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany is
(Source: http://www.olympicgames2012london.org/) the irst stadium in the world that has a
full changing color outside. The Swiss
upper temporary structure is made the unique spectacular design of the architect irm of Herzog & de Meuron
of demountable lightweight steel and Olympic Stadium. developed the concept of the stadium
concrete (see Fig. 7 and 8). This stadium is the third largest with a see-through exterior made of
It was decided to make the and one of the most modern in Britain. ETFE-foil panels that can be lit from
temporary structure of the Olympic The Wembley stadium, opened in the inside and are self-cleaning. In
Stadium using fabric, so that it is 2007 is the largest in Britain, and January 2006, the capacity of the
lightweight. The entire roof of the has a partially retractable roof (see stadium increased from 66,000 to
Olympic Stadium was also made Subramanian, NBM&CW, Aug.08
out of fabric and was based on the
concept of bicycle wheel. The roof,
although made from fabric, was strong
enough to hold all the lights installed
for the various sporting events and
ceremonies (Abrahams 2012).
The key feature of this modern
stadium is that after the Olympic
Games, this $ 693 million stadium
will be the home to Premier League
soccer club West Ham United, so
that it will continue to earn revenue to
maintain it. The reduced size stadium
will also be the venue for the 2015
IAAF World Championships. This is
Figure 8: The 2012 London Olympic stadium
one of the main objectives behind

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Stadium Design Trends

69,901 spectators. The roof of the stadium has in-built

roller blinds which may be drawn back and forth during
games to provide protection from the sun.
The facade is constructed of 2,874 ETFE-foil air
panels that are kept inlated with dry air to a differential
pressure of 0.038 hPa. The foil has a thickness of 0.2
mm. Each panel can be independently lit with white, red,
or blue light, as shown in Fig.9. [The Munich Police found
that the drivers on the nearby autobahn A9 distracted by
the changing lights, resulting in several car accidents!
Hence they strongly insist on uni-color only!]. Allianz
arena's innovative stadium-facade lighting concept has
been subsequently adopted in other newly built venues,
like the MetLife Stadium, in the USA.

Summary
Stadiums have evolved from the simple U-shaped track
to complicated structures with a number of facilities.
Current design of stadiums should take into consideration
various aspects such as long-term inancial viability,
aesthetics, reduced energy use, minimal disturbance
to ecology and environment and sustainability. It should
also consider the media and TV coverage aspects as the
revenue during the Games is largely dependent on it. For
example, in the 2012 London Olympic stadium, two huge
Panasonic TV screens of size 723 inches were installed
inside the stadium. To meet high-deinition TV standards,
the stadium was lit by 532 individual loodlights housed in
14 towers, each 28 m high. Facilities for disabled persons
to use the stadiums are also given increased importance.
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium
2. John, G., R. Sheard, and B.Vickery, Stadia: A Design and
Development Guide, 4th edition, Elsevier/Architectural
Press, Amsterdam, 2007, 306 pp.
3. Subramanian, N., Ganguly, K.K. Steel Dome of Jawaharlal
Nehru Indoor Stadium, International Journal of Space
Structures, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1988, pp. 231-236.
4. Subramanian, N., Space Structures: Principles and
Practice, 2 Volumes, Multi-Science Publishing Co., Essex,
U.K., 2007, 820 pp.
5. Subramanian, N., Wembley Stadium- An Iconic structure,
NBM & CW, Aug. 2008, pp.236-242.
6. Subramanian, N., Olympic Structures of China, New
Building Materials & Construction World, Vol. 14, No.5,
Nov. 2008, pp.246-264
7. Abrahams, T., The Stadium, Machine Books, 2012, 38 pp.
8. Culley, P., and Pascoe, J., Stadium Engineering, Thomas
Telford Ltd., London, 2005, 200 pp.
9. Stadium Design, DAAB, 2005, 400 pp.
10. http://www.pvmgarage.com/2010/ 09/sport-stadiums-
with-great-architecture/

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