Zaha Hadid Architects design the greenest football stadium in the world!

Compiled by TeamIAnD

Renders: VA; courtesy ZHA

Read Time: 1 min 30 sec 

.

Zaha Hadid Architects winning entry for the new football stadium in Stroud, UK will be the world’s first all-wood structure with low carbon emittance.

As winners of the competitive project, Zaha Hadid Architects have conceptualised the stadium design with green features at its core. Combining the latest material research and construction techniques with new design approaches to build a more ecologically sustainable and inclusive architecture, the new Forest Green Rovers stadium will be in line with the club’s heritage, ambition and vision.

 

.

Embodying low carbon construction methods and operational processes, the stadium will have every element made of sustainably sourced timber including its structure, roof cantilevers and louvred cladding, making it the first all-timber football stadium in the world.

 

.

The importance of wood is not only that it’s naturally occurring; it has very low embodied carbon – about as low as it gets for a building material. Also, it is highly durable, recyclable and aesthetically resplendent. Therefore, the seating terraces and floor slabs, otherwise generally made form concrete or steel, are also to be made from timber.  

 

.

The stadium’s roof will be covered by a transparent membrane, which will contribute to turf growth, minimize stark shadows for players and fans and reduce the volumetric impact of the stadium from distant views in the surrounding landscape. Furthermore, the design retains and enhances the existing meadow landscape of the site.

 

.

The spectator bowl will have fans seated as close as five metres from the pitch and the position of every seat is calculated to provide excellent, unrestricted views of the entire field of play.  Here too, future expansion has been accounted for and the initial estimate of 5,000 spectators in phase one can be scaled to double the number in phase two without the cost of major construction works.

With plans for Eco Park also in place as an adjunct to the stadium, the design embodies that sustainable architecture can be dynamic and beautiful!