Big ambitions: Nou Mestalla Stadium, Valencia

Inspired by Valencia’s city map, the Nou Mestalla Stadium is not just incredible to look at, it boasts eco-friendly technology and an impressive number of facilities

The construction of stadiums across Europe has boomed in recent years. Following in the wake of the completion of landmark football stadiums such as Bayern Munchen’s Allianz Arena in Munich and Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium in London, top Spanish club Valencia CF will have a new 75,000 capacity stadium in May 2009 located in the north-west of the city on a 90,000m² site. Known as the Nou Mestalla, the 144,000m² stadium looks set to overshadow all recent predecessors including the extraordinary Allianz Arena.

Valencia CF have big ambitions and believe
Nou Mestalla can help realise them

Architecturally stunning the Nou Mestalla boasts exceptional design innovations that will set future standards. In June 2006 Arup Sport and Reid Fenwick Associados were awarded the contract to design and build the EUR 82 million Nou Mestalla. On completion in 2009, the stadium will be one of the largest and most eco-sensitive in Europe as well as a city icon. “Football is such an emotional sport, it’s almost like a religion,” says architect Mark Fenwick. “We had to pack all of that emotion and feeling into a building that would be theirs and only theirs.” At a recent press conference Mayor of Valencia Rita Barberá recalled the origins of the project born to meet the ambitions of a more modern, dynamic Valencia – ambitions in accordance with the prestige of both Valencia CF and the city. “A project was reached in which the interests of Valencia City and Valencia CF converge,” she said. “This has been a thorough job, utterly responsible and committed.”

There are several design and construction teams associated with the project. The Madrid-office of Arup has been tasked with the stadium’s structural engineering. The installation engineers will be PGI Grup, while FCC Construction, in consortium with Valencia firm Bertolini, are building the stadium. FCC has an impressive background of building football stadiums. In 1996, the Spanish professional league commissioned it to remodel the Santiago Bernabéu and Vicente Calderón stadiums in Madrid. In 2002, it landed the contract for the Joan Camper sports complex in Barcelona. Its Austrian subsidiary Alpine built the Allianz Arena, which hosted the 2006 World Cup.

Valencia CF have big ambitions and believe Nou Mestalla can help realise them. President of Valencia football club, Juan Bautista Soler, said in 2006 that he wanted to build “the greatest stadium in the world”. The Nou Mestalla stadium is being built on wasteground on the site of a former factory in the Benicalap neighbourhood three miles west of Valencia city centre. Funding for the project is coming from the sale of the old site which is being transformed into a EUR 300 million real estate development. The first stone was laid in March 2007 and work commenced that summer. Project manager Salvador Alonso is working on a three-tier design that sits above the 105m x 68m pitch. Arup Sport and Reid Fenwick Associados designed the pitch to sit below street level so as to reduce the height of the stadium. It also allows it to be elevated for use during athletic competitions.

The unusual exterior and curved façade-roof resembles a virtual map of Valencia. The gargantuan perforated aluminium segments that cover the outside represent each major area of the city. The bowl-shaped stadium blends an aluminium and glass exterior and a wooden interior. The design has been influenced by the Turia river which runs through the centre of Valencia. The course of the riverbed is portrayed on the aluminium facade by wood and glass. In the form of giant Tectonic blocks, a map of each of the city's 16 districts will be moulded onto the facade symbolising the city wrapping itself around the team in support. The shell gives Nou Mestalla an almost weightless feel as the different shells appear to float into each other and adapt to the rounded form of the building.

Nou Mestalla’s exterior does not just look impressive, its skin is also used as a ventilation system. Computer-controlled louvers within the fissures between the plates will open and close, depending on weather conditions, to ventilate spectators as well as the playing field. Other eco-friendly technology incorporated into the design include solar panels in the roof that supply power.

Once completed, Nou Mestalla will boast five-star UEFA and FIFA facilities that include conference facilities, 75 catering venues, a 3,000m² restaurant, eight café corners and various commercial concessions throughout the building as well as an arcade with specialized shops and restaurants. The stadium will also boast 3,100 parking spaces, the majority of which will be located in a huge underground car park. Three elements are superimposed to achieve a single container. These include a stadium bowl with a geometry designed to achieve perfect visibility, an impressive internal skin that creates the overall atmosphere and the secondary external skin that establishes the character of the building’s exterior. Despite the compact nature of the sight, the stadium is able to seat 75,000 largely thanks to its innovative design. Valencia CF claim that the offer space unrivalled by any other European football stadia. In order to make the maximum use of space, the upper tier incorporates structural elements of the roof. Clever application of geometry means that all spectators have unobstructed views from any seating location in the stadium. The stadium can also be speedily converted into an athletics venue for 50,000 spectators, achieved by installing a temporary track over part of the lower tier.

Arup Sport and Reid Fenwick Associados designed the stadium’s top tier so that it can hold 22,000 spectators. The middle tier takes 18,000 spectators while the lower tier can hold 35,000. An outstanding feature of the design is the impressive number of access facilities and fire zone escapes. Nou Mestalla has 24 sets of perimeter stairs, 22 standard and freight elevators and 10 safe-zone fire escapes. For the VIP and club authorities there will be several special arrangements including a box for 150 people measuring 400m² with special direct access from the outside of the stadium. In addition to a special bronze area for 1,500 spectators, the design also includes 18 platinum boxes and 22 gold boxes, as well as a 1,200m² reception and hospitality area. Incorporated into the structure is a double tunnel system of direct access from the parking area for opposing teams. The players will have use of a total area of 4,400m² that includes a primary symmetrical changing room complex of 450m². Football officials also have access to a 750m² area, a UEFA requirement to achieve a five-star standard. The media has access to a 575m² press room in addition to a conference centre with space for 200 people.

Impressive infrastructure has already been constructed around Nou Mestalla. There is already a metro and tram servicing the site which is situated next to one of the Valencia’s principal motorways. Nearby are new-build first class hotels, including a Hilton.

Due to be completed for the 2009-2010 football season, Valencia CF football club hope that Nou Mestalla will be considered as a potential venue for the Champions League final. Indeed the desire to create a landmark stadium for big events is central to the design. “It’s much more curvaceous than most stadiums,” says J. Parrrish, Arup Sport’s architectural director, who wants the stadium to have the feel of a Spanish bullring: a tight seating bowl in which nearly all spectators face the action. This deviates sharply with traditional soccer arenas that traditionally were rectangular buildings in which many spectators faced each other. “It’s much more curvaceous than most stadiums,” says Parrrish. “You’ll be able to recognize it instantly on TV, which is a modern requirement of stadiums.”