Zaha Hadid Architects has revealed images of the new Xi’an International Football Centre, to be ready by 2023, in time for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. The facility will include a stadium with a 60,000-seat capacity, along with civic, sports, and recreational spaces for the city.
Providing optimum conditions for football, the Xi’an International Football Center was also designed in a way to maximize its use by future generations after the 2023 tournament. Located in Xi’an's Fengdong New District, the center will welcome national and international matches as well as domestic league games, youth training academies, entertainment performances, and cultural events. Integrated within the business zone, the project takes on public spaces, recreation, and dining facilities positioned on a series of shaded south-facing garden terraces.
Minimum load and material footprint are achieved through the use of an ultra-lightweight long span cable-net roof structure. To face Xi’an’s hot continental summer climate, a “wide perimeter roof overhangs shelter facilities within the building's envelope while the large, shaded, open-air terraces and public concourses incorporate extensive planting on all levels”. In addition, a translucent membrane over the seating protects spectators from extreme weather conditions and direct sunlight, while allowing an abundance of natural light in the project.
Regarding the facades, the open envelope invites the city into the heart of the building, and its “sweeping lines protect the stadium from northerly winds and convey the fluid forms of the roof that shelters the saddle-shaped seating bowl which maximizes the spectator seating provided at midfield”. In fact, the geometry of the seating bowl was generated digitally, in order to optimize proximity and views to the field of play.
- Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
- Design: Patrik Schumacher
- ZHA Project Directors: Charles Walker, Nils Fischer
- ZHA Project Associate: Jakub Klaska, Lei Zheng
- ZHA Project Team: Shajay Bhooshan, Vishu Bhooshan, Jianfei Chu, Chun-Yen Chen, Hung-Da Chien, Marina Dimopoulou, Cesar Fragachan, Michael Forward, Matthew Gabe, Stratis Georgiou, Charles Harris, Yen-fen Huang, Han Hsun Hsieh, Yihoon Kim, Henry Louth, Martha Masli, Mauro Sabiu, Xin Swift, Adeliia Papulzan, Pablo Agustin Vivas
- Partner Architect: Intelligent Design for Emerging Architecture (iDEA)
- iDEA Project Director: Yan Gao
- iDEA Project Team: Jianyou Yang, Bin Wu, Fiona Huang, Jingshan Zhong, Shishang Deng, Qiongli Lu, Ting Liu, Xinyu Kou, Daria Morkovkina, Haixia Zhang
- Structural Engineering: Qiang Chang
- Local Design Institute: Arcplus Institute of Shanghai Architectural Design & Research
- Sports Consultant: Clive John Lewis
- Lighting: Lichtvision Design
