The Stadium of Superlatives

The Stadium of Superlatives

Wembley Stadium

Larger, wider, higher and, above all, more expensive. The World Stadium Team (Norman Foster and HOK Sport) constructed the new Wembley stadium.

In 1923, the Empire Stadium for the “British Empire Exhibition“ was built at Wembley Park. This was a colonial exhibition held in 1924 and 1925 and was staged at the new stadium.
The architects Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayerton built the Empire stadium in cooperation with engineer Sir Owen Williams within 300 days with a budget of 750,000 pounds. The stadium was opened on 28 April 1923 and became the stage for the soccer world cup (1966), the soccer European cup (1996) and many English cup matches for the following seven decades. In 1948, it was the main venue of the Olympic Summer Games (track and field athletics). Additionally, the stadium kept being a stage for concerts and other events, Michael Jackson (1988) and Queen (1986) played here live. Already during the 1990s, the ones in charge thought about re-constructing the stadium, however, the result was a completely new building. The last show before demolition was a Bon Jovi gig in the year 2000. Demolition was originally scheduled for that year, but due to political issues, it was postponed for three years.

Monumental Protection on the losing Side

There were several pre-planning stages, feasibility studies and some fights with and against the monumental protection authorities until final plans for the new building could be made. The monumental protection authorities voted for keeping the two striking towers of the old stadium for a long time, but were not able to make their way and finally permitted the Empire stadium to be demolished completely in 1999. Foster and Partners had a master plan completed already in 1996 for the whole area and got the job of planning the new stadium. England had applied for carrying through the 2006 soccer world cup, and the new "Wembley-Stadium" was planned to be the basis for the application. However, this goal could not be achieved, the first soccer match at the new Wembley stadium turned out to be a charity match on 17 March 2007.

Twice as large and four Times as high

The new stadium is a structure of Superlatives. With its 90,000 seats, it’s among the world’s largest stadiums. The size of the building is a width of 300 m and a length of 315 m. This makes the new stadium’s arena twice as large as the one the old one had, and with a height of 52 m it is four times as high. With an estimated overall construction costs (including infrastructure and financing) of 1.4 billion Euros, new Wembley stadium is the world’s most expensive stadium. Its roof can be closed fully, hung from a special construction. This is the stadiums new landmark, “The Arch“, a 133 m high arch spanning across the whole stadium.  Since this construction has no beams or other supporting elements, visitors can enjoy an unblocked view across the playing field. In order to be able to provide an appropriate stage for field and track athletics, a new concept was developed for the new stadium. If required, another stadium floor is attached above the first tier of seats and thus becomes the required basic area for field and track athletic events. The loss of the first tier of seats is compensated by an added multi-functionality. Foster and Partners have realized their stadium of superlatives in a magnificent manner, it has turned out to be a striking, urban space-creating structure. Maybe it’s able to ease the pain one fan or the other might feel due to his team losing a match, it will certainly stay in his mind. However, it’s still an unanswered question whether all this justifies construction costs of 1.4 billion Euros …

Further Olympic sports facilities 2012...

Project details

Architect:

World Sta­dium Team (Nor­man Fos­ter and HOK Sport)

Status:

Completed

Size:

300m x 315m

Height Arch 133m

Height Building 52m

Constructor:

FA Football Association

Comments

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admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 19:03

ESTAN PRECIOSOS!!!!

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 19:06

que quiten esta kkkkkk!!!

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 19:07

Un estadio increible...

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 20:23

wow!!

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 20:29

Nice work.

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 20:37

Wow.. Awesome...

admin's picture
admin 6. September 2011 - 21:53

what a bueaty... true magic of curves . . .

admin's picture
admin 7. September 2011 - 3:04

amazing what 3d modeling enables. great lines of sight.

admin's picture
admin 7. September 2011 - 18:33

really amazing...

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 16:18

ahaaa

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 16:36

superb design

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 16:40

wow..great design...

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 17:34

HERMOSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ME ENCANTAAAAAAAAAAA

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 17:46

two thumps up and i remember i watch dvd concert the foo fighter live at wembley stadium

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 20:29

mahshare...

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 21:08

De la pâtisserie pas de l'architecture !

admin's picture
admin 10. November 2011 - 21:22

wooow

eunowk0's picture
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luciouslawlet's picture
luciouslawlet 13. June 2014 - 11:51

I almost did not believe it was a real building. I imagine it's like a fantasy world. this is really great, very amazing. ApotekXAMthone Terpercaya

luciouslawlet's picture
luciouslawlet 13. June 2014 - 12:04

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luciouslawlet's picture
luciouslawlet 13. June 2014 - 12:14

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samadkhatri99's picture
samadkhatri99 14. February 2015 - 20:05

The last show before demolition was a Bon Jovi gig in the year 2000. Demolition was originally scheduled for that year, but due to political issues, it was postponed for three years. textmate2

samadkhatri99's picture
samadkhatri99 21. March 2015 - 17:04

The last show before demolition was a Bon Jovi gig in the year 2000. Demolition was originally scheduled for that year, but due to political issues, it was postponed for three years. http://www.nbcrightnow.com/

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