Somewhere in our future

IF the construction of sporting stadia were the barometer of economic well-being instead of housing, you would be forgiven for thinking the world is in a golden age of uncharted prosperity.

For all the gloom and doom forecast in the property market in Ireland, the United States and elsewhere, there is just as much excitement at construction projects for first-class sporting facilities in all corners of the planet.

From Barcelona to Boston, Durban to Dubai and Stanley Park to Eden Park, barely a day seems to go by without a government, state, city or sports team announcing plans to build a new stadium or expand an existing one.

Stadia are springing up everywhere and almost to a project, bigger and better is the motive of the developers, who recognise that better care of the people who come through their turnstiles leads reciprocally to greater profits through concessions, merchandise sales and season ticket revenue.

Even some of sports’ biggest clubs playing to huge crowds week in, week out, can see the bottom line improving if they enlarge their grounds.

Which explains why in France, Olympique Lyonnais unveiled plans for a new stadium that club president Jean-Michel Aulas hopes will allow it to close the financial gap to its major European rivals. Or why in Spain, the members of Barcelona commissioned world-renowned architect Norman Foster to redevelop the legendary Nou Camp in order to give them a capacity of 106,000.

And why in the New York metropolitan area no less seven major league franchises have begun projects or have unveiled plans to move to bigger, better designed homes.

It also helps to understand why even in a small corner of Ohio in and around Cleveland no less than $680million (€464m) has been spent on building new places to play sport since 1994, with the total investment shooting up to $1billion (€682m) if other projects earmarked for the region come to fruition.

Civic pride has a lot to do with it. In Barcelona, when the football club that claims to represent a whole people, the Catalans, opened the €250m redevelopment of its Estadio Camp Nou out to tender, it did so with the remit to create the best stadium in the world.

Bid winners Foster + Partners were happy to rise to the task.

“How could any architect not want to compete?” Lord Foster said. “Barça is an institution, an incredible opportunity. So we were very enthusiastic and excited about doing this project. I believe that the stadium is a great building and it’s one of the inspirations for our design. But it’s the 50th anniversary and even though the needs have been covered between 1957 and now, a long time has passed. It’s a great building and it has an incredible atmosphere, so we’ll try and add to the best aspects. We’ll extend the asymmetrical bowl upwards and put on a roof to protect the public. But the roof will be movable and will allow the sun to shine down.”

Lord Foster reinforced the importance of staying true to the original identity of the Nou Camp, while bringing it up-to-date with modern features.

“The stadium is very familiar to the fans so we'll make it grow. We were inspired by it, with that fantastic asymmetrical bowl, higher to the east. We'll keep all of that, we'll make it bigger, put on a roof and improve the facilities. We want to create the best stadium in the world and then we'll cover it with a kind of mosaic, with an air of Gaudí.

“And it's an ecologically responsible building: collection of rainwater, energy saving, the use of natural ventilation. It'll be a good place to be.”

In Lyon, the Stade Gerland, which hosted games at France 98, will bid adieu, to be replaced by a 60,000 arena, provisionally named “OL Land”, in the eastern suburbs of the city and capable of staging UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup finals once the project is delivered in 2010.

“The new stadium will see us close those gaps with the continent's biggest.” Aulas said, adding that the stadium's striking design, including its translucent appearance, will also have practical benefits.

“The shape will be original: an octagon. As Lyon is a city of light, it will be a stadium of light, in other words, transparent using the latest technologies to remain transparent for life. The roof will be made of resin allowing the light to pass. All the spectators in the stadium will be protected by this roof and the stadium will use all the latest technologies to last and also be ecologically sound.

A sweeping, translucent roof is also in the plans for Lansdowne Road, which also aim to increase capacity with 20,000 extra seats to an all-seat, all-covered 55,000 at a cost of €365m.

The new Lansdowne is scheduled to reopen in 2009, five years after the initial plans were unveiled. By which time, the people of Akron, Ohio, will have seen their own 30,000-seat stadium for their university football team come to pass in half the time and for a fraction of the budget.

The University of Akron is clearing a site currently used for dorms, housing and some commerce, so it can build its $55m InfoCision Stadium on the edge of its urban campus. It will replace a 65-year-old stadium located in an outer suburb of Akron, miles away from campus and the city centre. And all from privately funded donations, $21m of which comes from the founders of teleservices company InfoCision and Summa Health System after which the actual field of play will be named.

Also as part of the project will be new halls of residence and student parking and the stadium development is itself part of a wider, $350m campus upgrade.

Contrast that and all those other projects with Ireland, whose government projects include the Bertie Bowl fiasco, and whose Lansdowne Road redevelopment took a painfully long time to clear planning officials and get off the ground. The frenzy of stadium-building activity around the world should give plenty of food for thought.