Wembley Stadium
| Designer | HOK Sport and Foster and Partners |
| Dates | 1996- 2007 |
Description
Owned by The FA, Wembley Stadium is located in London, at the centre of English football. At the end of the 20th century it was evident that a new stadium was needed to take English Football into the 21st century. What the architects designed and produced was and still is unparalleled.
High-Tech design and construction allowed them to produce the largest stadium in the world with every seat covered. If this was not enough, the clever design allows for a stadium with a capacity of 90,000 to have every seat with an unrestricted view.
To achieve all the seats to be covered, a roof weighing 6,350 tonnes, with an area of 45,000 square meters was needed. This in turn needed to be supported without restricting the view of spectators. To do this a 133m high, 7.4m diameter arch weighing 17,500 tonnes was used, which can be seen from 13 miles away on a clear day.
The stadium itself is designed in a 3 tier, 1kilometer circumference bowl shape with a volume of 1,139,100m³. The acoustics, light and air circulation were the key design considerations, with extensive tests carried out in computer models. The famous Wembley roar has been kept.
The scale of materials used in the construction is breath taking. Materials include: concrete (90,000m³, 212,000 tonnes), steel (structural 23,000 tonnes, reinforcement 15,000tonnes), blockwork (125,000 m²), external wall cladding (18,000m²), as wells as 30 escalators, 26 lifts, over 2690 meters of cable est.
This scale and sophisticated design did not come cheap making Wembley the most expensive stadium ever built, costing £798 million.
Wembley is used for all of the major football events including the FA Cup, England Internationals, Charity Shield, as well as many other lower league finals and semi-finals.
When the stadium is not being used for football it can be converted for other events. A purpose designed staging can be added making it the first “Flexible Events Stadium”. This means that Wembley is used for events including concerts and motor racing.
A Personal View
There are two things in my life that I enjoy the most, football and design. Wembley combines these perfectly. How can you possibly beat the best architect in the world, designing the best stadium in the world, for a nation that is the home of football.
For me the old stadium was full of passion and history, like many people I visited the old Wembley and was hesitant when they said that the Wembley twin towers were going to be demolished to make way for the new stadium. However the new arch, which is over four times the height of the original twin towers, is so spectacular that the twin towers are not thought of any more. I am sure that in 20 to 30 years time once some amazing games have been played at the stadium it will be thought of with the same love and passion that the old one was.
I am a great fan of High-Tech design and this stadium does not disappoint. The idea that form follows function is evident in the building, but is designed with such talent that it is not obvious, with the stadium appearing like it was just designed around aesthetic considerations. Like all designs and products, success is measured on how well it meets its brief and how the public take to it.
The brief has always been to create a stadium that; maximises the viewing pleasure of a game of football, creates a recognisable landmark to replace the old Twin Towers and to have a Stadium that the whole country can be proud of. I fail to see how the new Wembley does not meet and succeed all of these objects. As for the public taking to it, I have not herd one negative comment only praise so how could it not be measured as any thing else than a great success.
Context
Wembley stadium is the first example of High-Tech design being combined with a sports complex. The architects used the same principles and techniques that have been developed in office and public building design to make the environment as pleasant and healthy as possible. Every detail has been thought of, the architects even employed astronomers to calculate the position of the sun on a May afternoon, so that only the two southern corner flags are in shade during the FA Cup Final.
Wembley stadium really is the king of stadiums when compared with other sporting arenas around the world. The usability and comfort of stadium puts other stadiums to shame. This is shown in the statistics with 1.92m² of space per seat compared with just 0.88m² per seat at the Stade De France. The scale of the stadium is also unparalleled as it is twice the size of the Stade de France and three times the size of the Millennium Stadium in Wales.
Wembley Stadium had a rocky start coming in over budget and completed late attracting a lot of negative press form the English media. This was mainly due to steel contractor problems. Although the stadium was over budget it is still not overly expensive, coming in at £3,918 per seat compared with other resent stadiums like the Sapporo Dome in Japan costing £5,839 per seat.
It is not often that a new product or design comes along which raises the bench mark of design in that particular area. In aircraft design Concorde raised the bar, in car design the Burgatti Veyron reached a new bench mark. Wembley stadium has achieved this Concorde moment. This status means that all new stadiums have a higher bench mark to try to reach.
The worlds Greatest ever footballer Pelé said ‘Wembley is the Church of Football’
Below a tour of Wembley by its designer Norman Foster
Links
www.wembleystadium.com - The Wembley Stadium Home Page
wikipedia - The complete story of Wembley
Foster and Partners - The Design of Wembley
| Author: | Leigh Crowhurst | Date: | March 2008 |