City

Dan Meis: people often ask me what the sports stadium of the future should look like

16 December 2015

Dan Meis, a famous American architect who designs sports stadiums and is the director of MEIS Architects, recently delivered a lecture in Moscow invited by SPEECH Magazine (the new issue of which is devoted to sports). The architect told the Archcouncil of Moscow how to construct durable sports facilities, which will be convenient to use.

— When designing stadiums, the technical aspect often prevails over the architecture of the facility. Is it changing today?

— It’s an important point, because traditionally they were very technically driven, they are complex. But for two reasons they have now, I think, become much more important as an experience. And one is the cost, and particularly if it’s public money, to make that kind of investment in a building that will only be used few times is a bad investment; so we need to find ways for people to come more often.

And two, maybe more importantly, because of television and other devices. There are so many other ways to watch a game and events, that it’s easier to stay home. So they need to be attractive in new ways for people to want to come.

Of course, in this respect the Roman Colosseum is a symbolic building for all architects. It has been a symbol of sports and spectacular events for two thousand years. And it is still a very viable building!

— As far as the majority of stadiums are concerned, their further existence after the key events proves to be a question of great importance….

— You’ll see some of that on the presentation, and the ways of making the building more multi-use. It’s very challenging when it’s an Olympic event or even The World Cup where a lot of stadiums can be built for a specific event, and you don’t need them beyond the event. So, what we are trying to do more now is to make stadiums temporary; that is, maybe, you build a smaller stadium and you grow it for the event or you make it large for the event and then shrink it afterward.

For example, the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, which is, of course, a beautiful stadium, but the way it is used today is terrible: there is a track in the building where people are riding segways!

So, the new stadium we are doing in Rome - we are taking one end of the stadium, which is about 15-17 thousand seats, and making the field like an arena, like Spartak. So, a piece of the stadium is used often, maybe 40-50 times a year. The rest of the stadium then doesn’t have to be used, it’s still active on the side.

Birds Nest Stadium in Beijing

— Please, tell us more about the project of the stadium in Rome...

— As the Colosseum has always had a strong influence on me, it was very important for me to participate in the design competition for the stadium in Rome. But, of course, at the same time, it was a difficult task, because it was a project for such a historical place that has a lot of cultural and historical associations. I started with the thought: what if we place a modern stadium inside and maintain certain associations with the Colosseum outside the building? And also I decided to make the building more flexible and adaptable – that is to surround the stadium with buildings, structures and service facilities that can be used continuously. 

Stadium in Rome

We managed to create a modern building, the exterior and wall arrangement of which resemble the Colosseum. In addition, it is surrounded by restaurants, public spaces, staircases, shops, which make the area really comfortable.

We also placed screens in open public spaces where people can watch game broadcasts outside the stadium.

— I’ve heard about your work experience in Russia…

— Unfortunately, I love the architecture in Russia and the history of architecture in Russia, but I didn’t work on Sochi or the World Cup very much. I consulted with the training facility for Spartak of its multi-purpose arena, so just a little bit. It’s part of the World Cup training facility next to the Spartak Stadium. I was brought in to help them make sure that it was functional beyond just football training, to be more than an arena.

I think I’m fairly sensitive to the fact that it’s important for countries to fight for the World Cup; and in the past it was very important to impress FIFA with a lot of big new stadiums. I think, unfortunately, it is going to be difficult for all the stadiums to be used beyond the World Cup. It’s one of the things, again, I’ll talk about tonight, how to make sure you are not investing a lot of money just for the World Cup. I think the ownership of Spartak, though, when I was involved with, were very smart about thinking that the training facility could be an event building, that could have concerts, that could have other uses, that even if the stadiums are not being used, the arena, at that point, could be used very often. 

— What unusual non-traditional functions can appear in contemporary stadiums?

— Football stadiums for 40-50 thousand people? Well, it’s difficult, because, even a band like U2, it’s the very few bands that can play to a stadium that big. So there aren’t a lot of uses. So what we are trying to do is to make the stadium smaller, but again grow it when you have to.

We had an interesting project in Doha. Since it is very hot there, we decided to build all the surrounding structures and service facilities inside the stadium, under its roof.... And thanks to its variable seating capacity and movable stadium blocks, we managed to design a stadium that can host events from the World Cup to chamber concerts. In the roof there is a shopping center, hotel and museum. However, this project has not been implemented, because they thought that such a small country doesn’t need to build such a massive structure.

Stadium in Doka

— Have you had experience of renovating historic stadiums?

— Yes, and it’s a little more difficult, because often historic stadiums were built around the athletics tracks for Olympic Games. So the seating and the sight lines are very bad for football, concerts or things you want much more intimate in the stadium. We end up usually taking out all of the seating row and building it closer, and leaving maybe the outside wall; or sometimes we raise the pitch level and make the stadium smaller in that way, like cutting the section.

— Bright architectural image is certainly proper for stadiums for specific sports events. What about more utilitarian stadiums? Do you think architectural image is important for them as well?  

- I personally believe that architecture should always be inspirational. So, the idea of something exciting, like the Bird’s Nest, is a symbol, that was very important to Beijing. And there is a lot of value, just in the symbol and the power of the unit. But it can’t be more important than the function; it’s a very functionally driven building type and the cost is particular, because it’s so big. So, it requires a balance, I believe.   

People often ask me, what the sports stadium of the future should look like. So, I believe that it is not some kind of big screens and super modern technology. In fact, I often say that it may never be a stadium. I have always been inspired by the example of Siena, which has a central square that twice a year turns into a huge stadium where the main events of the city take place.

It’s a wonderful example of how a city could become a venue for any event. And millions of dollars won’t be splurged to build a huge building, which will be used for two weeks, and then left behind as useless.


Images: meisstudio.com, jmpdonovan.files.wordpress.com, timesofsandiego.com, asroma.co.uk

 

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