In 2012, Poland and Ukraine will be hosting the UEFA European Football Championship.
For the occasion, a new national stadium will be built in Warsaw on the existing but crumbling rubble-built Dziesieciolecia Stadium abandoned for sports uses in 1988. The stadium is in Skaryszewski Park east of the city center on the bank of the Vistula, and will form the heart of a new sports park. The construction of the stadium is divided systematically into two. The stand consists of prefabricated concrete parts. Above this is a steel wire net roof with a textile membrane hung on freestanding steel supports with inclined tie rods. The interior roof consists of a mobile membrane sail that folds together above the pitch. The video cube with four screens giving optimal sightlines from all seats is also in the middle of the pitch. The top tier is accessed via twelve archshaped, single-flight staircases. The exterior façade consists of anodized expanded metal that provides another transparent envelope for the actual thermal shell of the interior areas and access steps. The stadium with its exterior façade in the national colors of Poland will stand out in the park as a landmark visible from afar.
Data of the Project
Competition 2007 – 1st prize
Design Volkwin Marg and Hubert Nienhoff with Markus Pfisterer
Project leaders Markus Pfisterer, Martin Hakiel
Project leader, roof Martin Glass
Cooperation with J.S.K. Architekci Sp. z o.o. and schlaich bergermann und partner
Structural concept and design roof schlaich bergermann und partner – Knut Göppert with Knut Stockhusen and Lorenz Haspel
Technical equipment HTW, Hetzel, Tor-Westen + Partner, Biuro Projektów „DOMAR“ Landscape design RAK, Architectura Krajobrazu, Warsaw
General contractor Konsorcjum ALPINE BAU DEUTSCHLAND AG, ALPINE BAU GmbH, ALPINE Construction Polska Sp. z o.o., HYDROBUDOWA POLSKA S.A. i PBG S.A
Client Narodowe Centrum Sportu Sp. z o.o.
Seats 55,000
Construction period 2008–2011
WARSAW The National Stadium in Warsaw built by construction group ALPINE has been honoured with two CEEQA awards (Central & Eastern European Real Estate Quality Awards 2012) by the international organisation CEE Insight Forum and the Financial Times. The unique stadium, which will host the opening match between Poland and Greece in the UEFA EURO 2012 championship on 8 June, came top in two categories: "Hotel, Leisure & Residential Development of the Year" and "Building of the Year".
"We are delighted with the accolades for the National Stadium Warsaw, which is not only a new landmark in Poland's capital, but also another wonderful advertisement for Alpine's successful stadium construction division," says Karsten Hell, CEO of ALPINE Bau Deutschland AG.
The National Stadium was designed and planned by the architectural consortium of JSK Architekci Sp. z o.o., gmp International GmbH and Schlaich Bergermann und Partner GmbH. ALPINE built the 58,000-seat stadium in collaboration with two Polish partners.
The Central & Eastern European Real Estate Quality Award (CEEQA) is an industrial prize, which is awarded annually for outstanding achievements in the Central and Eastern European commercial property sector. It honours projects in the 18 countries making up the CEE and SEE markets.
World Stadium Award 2012
During the “World Stadium Congress 2012” in Doha, Quatar on 4 June 2012, entries were selected for the “World Stadium Congress Awards”. Warsaw’s National Stadium prevailed against international competition and won the prize in two of five categories:
- best multifunctional stadium design
- most innovative use of technology in stadium design.
On the occasion of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, the National Stadium in Warsaw, which was designed by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners, was reconstructed on top of the existing – but since 1988 no longer used and dilapidated – earth wall stadium (Stadion Dziesieciolecia), and re-opened in January of this year.
The stadium’s construction consists of two succinct parts – the grandstand built of pre-fabricated concrete components and the steel wire net roof with a textile membrane suspended from freestanding steel supports with inclined tie rods above this. The interior roof consists of a retractable membrane sail which folds together above the centre of the pitch. This is also where the four-screen “video cube” is installed so as to provide an optimum view from all seats. The top tier is accessed via 12 arch-shaped, single-flight staircases. The exterior façade consists of anodized expanded metal that provides another envelope for the actual thermal shell of the interior areas and access steps. The panels with their red and bright silver colour scheme appear either closed or transparent, depending on the light angle, and from a distance evoke the image of an artistic composition in white and red, the country’s national colours.
The stadium has been designed as a multifunctional events centre and, with its approx. 20,000 sqm of lettable office and conference facilities, comprises a comparatively high proportion of floor space which can be used independently of the stadium operation. These spaces are available for all types of events and include the necessary support facilities.