Dirty TackleSiena's new stadium will be below ground level
As Siena sit in position for promotion back up to Serie A, preparations are being made to ensure they play future matches below ground level. The unusual design for the club's new stadium kind of looks like an in-ground swimming pool and is the winner of the prestigious 2011 Architectural Review Future Projects award.
The people responsible for the design, Marazzi Architetti, explain it like so:
The project develops the insertion of a large sport complex in a prestigious environmental context. The Council of Siena, after identifying a large area in the south of the city, left the designers the responsibility to choose the most appropriate collocation for the stadium.
Our proposal was to preserve the environmental integrity of the area and with great attention the project appears like a kind of natural incident caused by an idrogeological phenomenon or by an earthquake. Like the ancient Greek Theater, the stadium for 20.000 spectators is set within the Fossatone slopes, and takes shape as it curves through its bends, opening out to create a spacious area for concerts and outdoor events, excavated to form an inclined plane, offering a view of Siena in the background.
On the west side the “inhabited roof” is the sole built element of the stadium: this is a thick deck that emerges from the ground, projects over the grandstand and ends with a pronounced overhang above the curves.
It definitely is a creative design and blends in to the surrounding area. It also looks like it would create an amazing atmosphere for a match. Siena just better hope it never floods.
More artist's renderings of what it will look like right this way...
Construction hasn't begun yet on the new stadium, which will be located in Isola d'Arbia. So it's hard to say when it will be up and running.
