Located in the old plot of the Olympic stadium of Sofia, Bulgaria, the proposal for the new soccer stadium by Gras Arquitectos aims to create a new mixed complex, keeping as much as possible the green and central qualities of the plot. Designed to seat around 15,000, the plot itself works as a central park of the neighborhood. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The project rests on the old Olympic stadium in a green area in the middle of the Septiemvri neighborhood. The area consists in a high density middle class neighborhood, very close to the center of Sofia. The new program asks for a new soccer stadium of 15.000 m2 together with other programs such as residential, commercial, sports center and commercial. To make this green island possible, the residential and office program are moved to the boundaries and proposed vertical while the rest stretches along all the plot as a continuous mass of program. The stadium, together with the training fields, are carved in this mass, working as patios of the new complex. A green carpet covers the building mass, providing access to the stadium and recovering the footprint of the park on the roofs of the buildings.
The pre-existing flat park is turned into a more interesting park: the proposal works as a valley of sports with the high buildings on the wings, mountains, and the flat green area in the center. This new topography gives a fresh new image of the neighborhood while solving the complexity of the program with a single urban operation, and the most important, keeping the green quality and public aspects of the land.
The buildings underneath the park together with the high rise buildings of the sides, house 55.000 m2 of program: 20.000 m2 Residential 22.000 m2 of offices, 8000 m2 sports facilities and 3 soccer fields, one as a stadium with 15.000 seats. All this makes possible the ¨Crown of Septiemvri¨, a new jewel in the heart of the city of Sofia.
Architects: Gras Arquitectos Location: Sofia, Bulgaria Team: Guillermo Reynés, with Alvaro Pérez, Akos Csécsei, Anja Lieske and Miguel Salvá Program: Stadium 15,000 seats, 2 training soccer fields, Residential: 20,000 m2, Offices: 22,000 m2, Comemrcial: 12,000 m2, Sports facilities: 8000 m2 Year: 2011
