L.Birznieks I.Cohen P.Papanastasis W.M.vanMeijeren

1. 1 Smoke Ring
# One of our favourite things about the programme given for the
stadium was the requirement to integrate the stadium and the city.
Initially, it sounds like a contradiction - a stadium is introverted by
it’s nature. For the spectators the focal point is inside the stadium
and since the building should house as many seats as possible a tall
solid mass is created that does not communicate with the sur-
rounding city.
Our proposal suggests the creation of a split stadium. Partly cov-
ered in ground and partly floating over the pitch. A volcano and a
smoke ring if you may. The first ring, as well as the pitch, the park-
ing lot and several other functions would be slightly submerged
and covered until a height of about 10 meters in artificial soil, act-
ing as a green roof, with only the entrances peaking out of it.
Above the top of the first seat ring, a 10 meter gap would allow a
continuous view of the city through the stadium, from the city into
the stadium and from the stadium towards the city.
The top seating ring would be concealed in a light-as-possible con-
struction, that would appear to be floating over the hill, making it
iconic, memorable and unique. The smoke ring would be fixed on
a set of columns that would include the horizontal moment axises
– the stairs and the lifts.
The top structure would also include the VIP rooms and some of
the functions.
the sustainable approach taken in this concept is of a more social
nature. We look at the connection with the city and the the trans-
parency as values of great importance in the relation to the con-
text, and enables the community to feel greater connection to the
place, that is open to all, not only for the paying crowd, the new
sloped terrine created would encourage new uses instead of the
conventional carpet of parking lots surrounding most stadiums.
This green strip continues the master plan’s intention of creating
an urban part, making the mountain a focal point in it.

6. 2 Chameleon
# This proposal does not regard the shape of the stadium itself, but
an idea in which the facade and roof system take a new role upon
themselves. Not only they would protect the spectators from the
elements, they would also play an important role in communicat-
ing the building’s status and use to the city’s inhabitants.
The continuous facade and roof system could be positioned in
one of four modes, acting as either an internal roof to cover
stadium in case of rain, an external roof to shelter venues outside
the stadium, a fully retracted mode, in which the roof covers the
entire facade, and a half covered state in which the roof covers
the top ring.
This multifunctional roof system would act like an extrovert sign,
allowing the people of the city to understand by a quick look what
is happening at the moment in the building. The envelope itself
would be modular and adjustable. The system must enable great
flexibility to adopt to changes in geometry.
The moving skin would be a platform that could contain photo
voltaic cells as well as built in RGB LED lights. By using small tiles
and individually controlled LED light, the whole surface, on both of
it’s sides could be used as a gigantic display and give unprecedent-
ed visual effects in matches, concerts, urban installations etc’. The
internal part of it could emit a constant, balanced, and shadowless
lighting when positioned as a roof, that would enable high quality
TV broadcasting.

14. 3 lift!
# The city of Rotterdam is best known by it’s port. Since the site is
located at the sea front, the distinct aesthetics of the cranes and
harbor machines makes scene as a contextual choice. The cranes
are massive and impressive mechanisms, that were designed to
last and are able to carry tremendous loads. We came up with an
idea to reuse unused cranes from the port (and other ports as
well) to support the stadium and it’s roof, instead of investing huge
amount of resources and energy to create new construction. Old
cranes of various sizes and shapes could be used to support the
seating rings, staircases and the roof. There is also the possibility
to use them to lift the pitch upwards to the level of the upper ring
in smaller matches when not all of the stadium is in use and even
further to the top level in case the stadium is used as a concert
hall or just to expose the grass to the sun in an optimal way.