Stadium, Siena

The prize-winning design does not confine itself to the 30,000 m² stadium (FIFA/UEFA category A), but also extends to the relation between the building and the surrounding landscape. The typology of an urban structure for 'bread and circuses', like the Colosseum in Rome, was considered out of place in the context of the gentle Tuscan hills around Siena. Such a colossal and massive building would have spoilt both the landscape and the view of it from the building. Besides which, the architects wanted the building to be more than just another sports palace.

The unorthodox idea of a landscape that (literally) becomes part of a building, previously tackled by Eduardo Souta de Moura in his design for a football stadium in the Portuguese city of Braga, is explored even more thoroughly in this design. It turns the stadium inside out, changing it from an inward-looking container into an open arena intended to be used every day of the week. As Iotti and Pavarani explain, the stadium takes its cue from the theatres of ancient Greece, modelled on the natural curves of the Fossatone hills, then opening into a spacious area for concerts and outdoor events which has been broadened out to a gently sloping plane, with a view of Siena as its backdrop.

The stands (20,000 seats) are dug into the slope; the only 'constructed' element of the stadium is the 'inhabited roof': a thick slab that rises out of the ground, projecting over the grandstand and ending with a pronounced overhang above the home fans' seating. It has been conceived as a climate-controlled arcade flanked by 500 VIP seats and the stadium's representational facilities: the headquarters of the soccer club, the press area, a conference centre, shops, a medical centre and a restaurant that offers a spectacular panoramic view of both playing field and countryside.

The stadium is part of the Borgo Vecchio Park, a multifunctional area (400,000 m²) that is well served by public transport links in addition to the 3000 parking spaces for visitors and an underground car park for regular users of the complex.