#stadium-design

#stadium-design

Angell covered baseball for this magazine for many years, in addition to editing fiction, and although he was ostensibly there to scout the Astros-the team had finished thirty-two games behind the National League-pennant-winning Dodgers the year before-he was distracted from his scorecard by the orange spacesuits and white helmets worn by the groundskeepers, the rainbow-colored tiers of seats, and the billiard-table green of the first synthetic field in pro sports, made of a brand-new Monsanto product called AstroTurf.

The scheme features a retractable roof and a movable pitch, allowing it to accommodate both sporting and non-sporting events. The bowl is configured to bring seating as close to the field as regulations allow, with a steep profile intended to enhance spatial intensity. Acoustic performance was a central consideration, with the design aiming to concentrate sound within the stadium while minimizing noise impacts on the surrounding neighborhood.

Populous introduces a striking environmental innovation to Strasbourg's Stade de la Meinau, repurposing sections of decommissioned Airbus A340 fuselages to form the facade of the stadium's new south stand. The project marks a world first in sustainable architecture, transforming aviation waste into a sun-shading system that glimmers across the 4,050-square-meter surface of the stand. Located in the city's La Meinau district, the 11,712-seat South Stand, designed by Populous in collaboration with local architect Rey-de-Crécy, incorporates fuselage panels sourced from 30 retired aircraft.

Located in Morocco's capital, Rabat, the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium is a 68,700-seat venue by Populous in association with Oualalou + Choi that was delivered in just 24 months and combines a parametric LED facade with a fan-centric bowl. The stadium's shimmering, golden facade is inspired by Rabat's iconic palm-lined boulevards and Morocco's artisanal heritage. Composed of 19,200 aluminum triangles, each uniquely sized, and wrapped in 70 km of LED strips, the shell transforms at sunset into a glowing spectacle. Its placement along the city's eucalyptus-lined green belt symbolically connects the stadium to Rabat's urban and natural landscape.

In Fukushima, a region still defined by the aftershocks of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster, Japanese architecture studio Vuild has envisioned a structure that seeks not only to host matches but also to embody the spirit of regeneration. The new wooden stadium for Fukushima United FC stands as a thoughtful fusion of sport, sustainability, and community resilience, offering a design that looks beyond function to symbolize healing and renewal.

The scheme was developed by a team that includes AFL Architects, Mott Macdonald engineering services, Fabrik landscape design, and Ridge and Partners built environment consultants. Designed for a capacity of 16,000 spectators, the master plan also proposes a 1,000-person events space, a 180-bed hotel, a restaurant, a health and wellbeing centre, and a new public plaza with gardens. The stadium will occupy a five-hectare (12-acre) site in the Triangle area, located 6 km north of Oxford, adjacent to Oxford Parkway railway station and Kidlington Roundabout.