New Bordeaux Stadium completed by Herzog & De Meuron

Designed as an elegant white structure with slender pillars on a plinth the new Bordeaux stadium reproduces the nearby natural landscape to transform this part of the city into a vibrant new area.

Overview. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Iwan Baan.

Architects Herzog & De Meuron compare their new stadium to classical temples. This formal comparation is based on the "plinth - bowl - roof" structure that they use for giving shape to this new and ethereal volume designed for 42,000 spectators. The stadium can host sport events as rugby and soccer matches and others like shows, concerts or corporative events.

The project blurs the limit between interior and outside spaces which have been presented by other more conventional stadiums as well by the latest ones on being presented with more or less glory, providing the landscape of Burdeaux a new volumen of grand architecture which used landscape as reference element.

Description of the project by Herzog & De Meuron

The new Bordeaux stadium appears light and open; it is elegant, if such a term can be used for a building of this size. Its purity and geometrical clarity inspires a sense of monumentality and gracefulness. One might be tempted to draw a comparison with a classical temple, but unlike the elevated plinth of a temple, the grand stairs of the stadium blur the boundaries between inside and outside. Countless columns standing on the stairs accompany the visitors on their way in and out of the stadium. The fusion of stairs and columns forms a gesture of openness and accessibility.

Special attention was paid to the integration of the structure into the grand landscape of Bordeaux. The meticulous geometrical arrangement of bowl structure and columns reflects the pattern created by trees and paths in the surrounding landscape. This stadium is made for this specific place - an open, flat landscape in immediate proximity to the Bordeaux Exhibition Centre stretching along the lakefront. “Elegance" has become a depreciated term when describing architecture, but wrongly so when one looks at Bordeaux' urban and architectural legacy. We were never looking for inspiration in the historical part of Bordeaux with its breathtakingly beautiful buildings and monuments all made out of typical limestone. Much of what we perceive as elegance in Bordeaux results from its unity and homogeneity of scale and materiality and from its precision and purity of form. We could not copy this, but we certainly learned from it.

A bowl for 42'000 people.-

Seating a maximum of 42,000 people, the bowl embraces the game area, its geometry affording optimal visibility for all, along with the maximum flexibility in terms of capacity and usage. The stadium is multifunctional and conceived to welcome a rich and diversified program: not only rugby and soccer matches but also shows, concerts, and corporate events.

The bowl consists of two superposed tiers divided into four sectors and protected from the elements by the roof. The underside of the visually uniform roof guides the eye onto the playing field while allowing sunlight to pass through. Its structure does not show through on the inside of the stadium, to avoid distracting the spectators’ attention.

Raising the bowl above ground level is a compact base housing all the programmatic functions in a uniform and symmetrical volume. This plinth includes the VIP spaces evenly distributed east and west, and media areas adjacent to the spaces dedicated to players. The architectural simplicity and pure lines of the bowl and its base ensure smooth spectator flows and ease of orientation.

Plinth, Bowl and Roof.-

The bowl rests on a plinth, covered by a sharp-edged rectangular roof. The choice of this pure and almost abstract form responds clearly and efficiently to the site’s natural conditions and to the main flow of spectators from east to west.

This white rectangle seems projected earthwards thanks to the multiplicity of slender columns that shower down. A ribbon of food stalls and restrooms undulates through this forest of columns, brought alive by the movement of the crowd. At once dense and light, this structure creates an evanescent rectangular volume from which the sculpted and organic outline of the bowl emerges.

This architectural concept gives a specific identity to the new Bordeaux stadium. The diaphanous volume opens up to the surrounding landscape while the grand stairs express openness and accessibility for everyone. Its transparency reveals all the energy and activities that will transform this piece of land into a new and vibrant part of Bordeaux.

CREDITS.-

Architects.- Herzog & De Meuron.
Project name.- 367; Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.
Location.- Bordeaux, France.
Dates.- 2010-2011 (competition), 2011-2012 (project), 2013-2015 (realization).

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Surroundings. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Francis Vigouroux.

New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Francis Vigouroux. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Bowl. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Iwan Baan.

Access to the stadium. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Atelier Philippe Caumes.

New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Francis Vigouroux.

Game field. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Francis Vigouroux.

New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Atelier Philippe Caumes. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Atelier Philippe Caumes.

Stadium access, night view. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Francis Vigouroux. Via Euro Uefa 2016.

Night overview. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Iwan Baan.

New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © Herzog & De Meuron.

Model. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image © werk5 Modellbau Berlin.

General plan with grandstands. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Direct access plan floor. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Third floor plan. Circulation areas and direct access services. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

First box seats floor. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

VIP floor plan, level 1. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Lower floor plan, lockers and installations. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

General section. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Cross section, west stand. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

Stands section. New Bordeaux Stadium by Herzog & De Meuron. Image courtesy of Nouveau Stade Bordeaux.

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HERZOG & DE MEURON

Herzog & de Meuron Architekten is a Swiss architecture firm, founded and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland in 1978. The careers of founders and senior partners Jacques Herzog (born 1950), and Pierre de Meuron (born 1950), closely paralleled one another, with both attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. They are perhaps best known for their conversion of the giant Bankside Power Station in London to the new home of the Tate Museum of Modern Art (2000). Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have been visiting professors at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 1994 (and in 1989) and professors at ETH Zürich since 1999. They are co-founders of the ETH Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute, which started a research programme on processes of transformation in the urban domain.

Herzog & de Meuron is a partnership led by five Senior Partners â Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger, Ascan Mergenthaler and Stefan Marbach. An international team of 38 Associates and about 362 collaborators.

Herzog & de Meuron received international attention very early in their career with the Blue House in Oberwil, Switzerland (1980); the Stone House in Tavole, Italy (1988); and the Apartment Building along a Party Wall in Basel (1988). The firm’s breakthrough project was the Ricola Storage Building in Laufen, Switzerland (1987). Renown in the United States came with Dominus Winery in Yountville, California (1998). The Goetz Collection, a Gallery for a Private Collection of Modern Art in Munich (1992), stands at the beginning of a series of internationally acclaimed museum buildings such as the Küppersmühle Museum for the Grothe Collection in Duisburg, Germany (1999). Their most recognized buildings include Prada Aoyama in Tokyo, Japan (2003); Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany (2005); the new Cottbus Library for the BTU Cottbus, Germany (2005); the National Stadium Beijing, the Main Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China; VitraHaus, a building to present Vitra’s “Home Collection“, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2010); and 1111 Lincoln Road, a multi-storey mixed-use structure for parking, retail, a restaurant and a private residence in Miami Beach, Florida, USA (2010), the Actelion Business Center in Allschwil/Basel, Switzerland (2010). In recent years, Herzog & de Meuron have also completed projects such as the New Hall for Messe Basel Switzerland (2013), the Ricola Kräuterzentrum in Laufen (2014), which is the seventh building in a series of collaborations with Ricola, with whom Herzog & de Meuron began to work in the 1980s; and the Naturbad Riehen (2014), a public natural swimming pool. In April 2014, the practice completed its first project in Brazil: the Arena do Morro in the neighbourhood of Mãe Luiza, Natal, is the pioneering project within the wider urban proposal “A Vision for Mãe Luiza”.

Herzog & de Meuron have completed 6 projects since the beginning of 2015: a new mountain station including a restaurant on top of the Chäserrugg (2262 metres above sea level) in Toggenburg, Switzerland; Helsinki Dreispitz, a residential development and archive in Münchenstein/Basel, Switzerland; Asklepios 8 – an office building on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland; the Slow Food Pavilion for Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy; the new Bordeaux stadium, a 42’000 seat multifunctional stadium for Bordeaux, France; Miu Miu Aoyama, a 720 m² boutique for the Prada-owned brand located on Miyuki Street, across the road from Prada Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan.

In many projects the architects have worked together with artists, an eminent example of that practice being the collaboration with Rémy Zaugg, Thomas Ruff and with Michael Craig-Martin.

Professionally, the Herzog & de Meuron partnership has grown to become an office with over 120 people worldwide. In addition to their headquarters in Basel, they have offices in London, Munich and San Francisco. Herzog has explained, “We work in teams, but the teams are not permanent. We rearrange them as new projects begin. All of the work results from discussions between Pierre and me, as well as our other partners, Harry Gugger and Christine Binswanger. The work by various teams may involve many different talents to achieve the best results which is a final product called architecture by Herzog & de Meuron.”