Soccer is a religion for most people in Europe and the stadium where games are held are nothing short of Mecca.The Allianz Arena is Munich, is considered one of Germany’s finest architectural structure and one of the best stadiums in the world today. The stadium was an alternative to the existing Olympiastadion in light of the 2006 Football World Cup. A picture of the Olympiastadion is shown below
The problems with the design of the Olympiastadion were that it did not provide customer satisfaction during the course of the games. And no customer satisfaction would lead to a bad name for the country during the world cup. The fans were too far away from the pitch. People would often say “id rather watch the game at home than at the Olympiastadion.” The players themselves did not enjoy playing there and nor did the commentators enjoy commentating. Martin Tyler (Commentator) said that he refused to commentate a match where the best teams play in the worst stadium over and over again. The newly built Allianz Arena is the home stadium for FC Bayern Munich and 1860 Munchen.
The Design
- Stadium has a capacity of 66000 seats spread over 3 rings of tiers.
- It was designed by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron
- The most unique feature of this design is the way the stadium beautifully changes its exterior color depending on the teams playing. When Bayern Munich play the stadium turns into a mix of Red and White and while 1860 Munchen hosts games at the Allianz Arena turns to Blue and White and when the National team plays it turns white.
- The stadium also features a hydraulic entrance system which lifts a part of the pitch to allow the players to enter the pitch when its time for action!
- The Stadium can take up 3 colors or a mixture in any combination of Blue, White, and Red.
- With a power consumption of 506kWh and 25344 long life fluorocent tubes it is the first and only stadium of it’s kind.
- It also holds the record for the largest L.E.D. display in Europe.
How does the stadium change its color?
The exterior of the arena is made of transparent materials, which form a blanket around the whole structure.
The arena consists of lights of the 3 colors which are inserted in it’s façade. It has about 2750 illuminated panels It has a Consumption of 506 kWh supplied by 5 transformers. The stadium is made out of a composition of steel, tin and aluminum to make it sustainable and full proof. This is what earns it the fan’s choice choice award for 2nd best stadium in Europe.
Bibliography:
http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/architecture/stadium_design/munchen_allianz.shtml
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/135586-the-best-football-stadiums-in-europe/page/5
http://www.allianz-arena.de/en/fakten/detaillierte-zahlen/
good blog