Johan Cruyff Stadium for FCBarcelona

Estadi Johan Cruyff, where dreams are made, it is the first completed element of the Espai Barça project and it is the flagship facility at the Ciutat Esportiva, a new home for Barça B, Barça Women and the U19s in the UEFA Youth League. The architectural design is for a modern, efficient and functional stadium. The design is asymmetrical, with the mainstand taller than the others, yet maintaining a sense of unity. Hosting 6,000 spectators, a relatively small venue, the stadium could have been solved with a single low tier. However, the will to conceive a high standard stadium, fulfilling the requirements of a UEFA Cat III stadium, compelled us to install tiers higher than the rest of the stadium, integrating technical requirements for television, lightning, VIP areas, etc.. The proposal integrates this important asymmetry in a single gesture, generating a unifying perception within the whole complex that provides the project with its iconic image. The new Johan Cruyff Stadium, 137,5 m long and 110 m wide, follows the old platform building concept hosting most of the building’s facilities and a low U shaped roof enclosing the remaining 3 sides of the pitch perimeter. This way all the tiers remain sheltered, encircling the pitch with no interruption around the corners, generating maximum proximity between players and spectators. The building continues with the orthogonal direction of the training facilities adapting to the site’s existing topography and the facing streets. Exterior urban arrangement is distributed on two large platforms surrounding the stadium. The main pedestrian entrance is located at the lower level +20.60, generating a civic square framed by the stadium’s main elevation. A pedestrian ramp connects with the higher level +24,35 encircling the perimeter of the whole stadium. Most surface parking is concentrated on this platforms and this is where the stadium is accessed, through the entrances located on all four corners. On this level, spectators circulate until they reach their seats. Following the classical Greek theater model, spectators always reach their seat from the superior level. This gesture provides a general view of the whole stadium upon arrival, improving the user’s comprehension of space. Tiers are placed on two levels, aiming at improving views for all spectators and being as close as possible to the pitch. Vertical communication runs along exterior staircases for the general public and a central staircase with lifts for VIP, press, and internal operations. The exterior image of the stadium is characterized by a neutral color plinth of prefab concrete elements and perforated folded metal sheets; contrasting with an envelope of red metal trays on the upper levels. On the platform’s main elevation, we created a dynamic façade. A second light skin made with anodized aluminum circular discs the size of a football moved by the wind’s pressure. A canvas where the invisible is drawn, the air’s movement, reminding us that the ball is always moving inside the stadium, even when it is empty. Thus, the project for the new Johan Cruyff Stadium consolidates as an iconic ensemble, without complex or superfluous strategies, linked to the Club, its colors, and its values, conceived to provide the best comfort to players and the best service to spectators. A stadium carrying the name of the legend, the cradle where tomorrow’s football stars will arise from.