Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona : Information + Images

Camp Nou Stadium Redevelopment, Barcelona, Spain 2007- Foster + Partners image : Foster + Partners New Camp Nou Stadium for FC Barcelona 22 Sep 2007 Foster + Partners to remodel the Camp Nou Stadium, home of FC Barcelona FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium, one of the world’s greatest football venues, is to be extensively remodelled. Following an international competition, Foster + Partners have been selected as the architects for this renewal of the stadium, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. New arena - images : Foster + Partners The stadium, already the largest in Europe, will be enlarged to accommodate over 106,000 fans, together with extensive new facilities including hospitality and public areas. A new roof will also be created to shelter the fans. The stadium will be enclosed by a brightly coloured mosaic outer skin that wraps around the building and continues over a new roof. The multi-coloured enclosure comprises overlapping translucent tiles in the club colours. The myriad of tiles can be seen as symbolising the loyalty and devotion of FC Barcelona’s fans worldwide. The remodelled stadium retains the essential elements of the original Camp Nou, designed by architects Francesc Mitjans-Miró, García Barbon and Soteras Mauri, which was inaugurated in 1957. On match nights, the stadium will glow, providing a new architectural icon for the city. In the same way that FC Barcelona is ‘more than a club’, the new Camp Nou will be much more than a stadium. Lord Foster, Chairman and Founder of Foster + Partners said: ‘It is an enormous honour to have been selected to remodel Camp Nou Stadium for FC Barcelona, such an important symbol for the Barca fans and the Catalan people. Football is a powerful and democratic force that brings together all social classes in celebration, therefore a stadium, perhaps more than other type of building, is a truly democratic space, the design of a stadium is the greatest expression of an architecture that goes beyond aesthetics to have a social agenda. In this sense I believe that there is a wonderful connection between football and architecture.’ Stadium design - pictures : Foster + Partners