Bordeaux’s new 43,000 capacity stadium designed by architects herzog & de meuron, open in may 2015, in addition to its primary role as the home venue for french football team FC girondins de bordeaux, will host a range of cultural events.
The VINCI-FAYAT group entrusted the New Bordeaux Stadium’s design to the international architectural firm of Herzog & de Meuron assisted by Group 6. The site’s landscaping was handed to Michel Desvigne.
A unique design
The New Bordeaux Stadium distinguishes itself from other sports venues by the pure form of its design and the extreme lightness of its structure. With an architecture both monumental and delicate, it inscribes itself with elegance into Bordeaux’s larger landscape.
The New Bordeaux Stadium’s architecture is the result of combining three integral elements: the bowl, receptacle for the game and its spectators, the passageway, transitional element between the field and the exterior surroundings, and finally appearance. The reinterpretation of these elements in function of the specific characteristics of the site impart on the venue a unique and clean visual identity.
The bowl, with a maximum capacity of around 42,000 people, is organized around the playing field following a geometry that guarantees optimal visibility to the spectators, a convivial atmosphere as well as a great flexibility in capacity and usage according to the necessary configuration.
The superposition of the two stands, the slope of the tiers along with the proximity to the playing field give the bowl a « cauldron » feel. Finally, the architectural simplicity and purity of the bowl and its base guarantee the flow’s safe management and facilitate one’s sense of direction.
Accessible from the east and west courtyards through large staircases, the passageway encircles the playing field and houses dining venues, the restrooms and services. It establishes the link between the two levels of the general public stands and allows the spectator to move about freely without leaving the stadium’s enclosure.
It offers all at once a view of the interior, the turf, and of the exterior, the surrounding landscape. The stadium’s appearance is characterized by a shower of slender columns, a veritable vertical forest inspired by the Landes’ pines, creating a perfect continuity between the courtyard’s planted trees and the building.
Overhanging these columns, which also suggest Greek temples’ influence, is an elegant, almost fragile roof, with a singular rectangular shape. With a 7° slope, the roof protects the spectators from bad weather while letting through the sunlight. It offers ideal sound quality thanks to the acoustic panels of which it is made and maintains a homogeneous appearance in order to no distract the spectators and concentrate their attention on the field.
The roof and the bowl are visually inseparable and create an evanescent rectangular volume both dense and light, revealing the stadium’s strong identity while bestowing it with an emotional dimension to which the public can claim ownership and fundamental to a stadium’s sporting and visual spectacle’s tradition. Source by Nouveau Stade Bordeaux. com.
Location: Bordeaux, France
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Stefan Marbach (Partner in Charge)
Project Team: Tobias Winkelmann (Associate, Project Director), PaulVantieghem (Associate, Project Manager), Thomas de Vries (Associate,Project Manager), Farhad Ahmad (Visualisations), Alexandria Algard, Edyta Augustynowicz(Digital Technologies), Florian Becker, Aurélie Blanchard, Claire Clément,Arianna Conca, Corina Ebeling, Martin Erlandsson, Billy Guidoni, YukoHimeno, Elisabeth Hinz, Marc Hölscher, Julia Jamrozik, Hamit Kaplan,Thorsten Kemper, Evert Klinkenberg, Solène Le Gallo, Christina Liao(Animations), Aron Lorincz (Visualisations), Donald Mak (Associate),David Palussiere, Kevin Peter, Yann Petter, Louis Putot, Susanna Rahm,Steffen Riegas (Digital Technologies), Christoph Röttinger (Associate),Amanda Hope Sachs Mangold, Katharina Schwiete, Günter Schwob(Workshop), Jan Skuratowski, Johannes Staudt, Ida Sze, MasatoTakahashi, Raha Talebi, Miriam Waltz, Shuo Susan Wang, Romy Weber,Claudia Winkelmann, Mika Zacharias (Visualisations), Christian Zerreis
Design Consultant: Herzog & de Meuron France SARL, Paris, France
Executive Architect: Groupe 6, Grenoble, France
Electrical, HVAC Engineering: Egis Bâtiments Sud-Ouest, Toulouse, France
Landscape Design: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste, Paris, France
Mechanical, Plumbing Engineering: Egis Bâtiments Sud-Ouest, Toulouse, France
Structural Engineering: Cabinet Jaillet-Rouby, Orléans, France; Structures Ile de France, Montrouge, France
Civil Engineering: Ingerop, Courbevoie, France
Maintenance: Vinci Facilities, Rueil Malmaison, France
Quantity Surveyor: Mazet & Associés, Paris, France
Acoustics: IdB Acoustique, Pessac, France
Building Physics: Egis Bâtiments Sud-Ouest, Toulouse, France
Lighting Consultant: Agence ON, Paris, France
Security Consultant: Veritas France, Cestas, France
Fire Protection: SSI Coor, Cestas, France
Signage: Agence Franck Tallon, Bordeaux, France
Pitch Consultant: ATE, Lignières les Roye , France
Client: ADIM Sud-Ouest (Vinci Construction France), Mérignac, France, CPI SOFIMA (Fayat Group), Floirac, France
Client Representative: François Vittori, Direction CPI SOFIMA – ADIM Sud Ouest
Site Area: 186’910sqm / 2’011’883sqft
Gross Floor Area: 77’090sqm / 829’790sqft
Year: 2015
Photographs: Iwan Ban, via Nouveau Stade Bordeaux
