UEFA Euro 2020 venue San Mames Stadium in Bilbao in a presentation by IDOM’s architect Diego Rodriguez Segura at RIFF Bucharest

Senior architect Diego Rodriguez Segura of the internationally acclaimed engineering company IDOM will deliver a lecture at RIFF Bucharest (31.10) about the award winning San Mames stadium located in Bilbao.

As the Deputy Architect of the project, Rodriguez Segura oversaw the design from concept to completion of the first certified building of its kind in Europe. Besides this honorific, the stadium claims other titles such as the First Prize at the Sports Category of the World Architecture Festival in Singapore, 2015 and the Second Place in the competition for the Stadium of the Year 2015 by StadiumDB.

About the Project

Shortlisted in the UEFA Euro 2020 evaluation report as one of the thirteen venues to hold the prestigious event, the New San Mames Stadium sited towards the outer edge of the central district of Bilbao develops as an imposing architectural intervention that successfully manages to incorporate elements from the neighbouring buildings, as well as the spirit of the old San Mames stadium.

The imposing figure overlooking the river is hardly just a sports facility, as the architects approached its design similarly to the creation of an urban building in close interplay with the city. In order to achieve this, careful consideration was given to the design of the facade, as the edge-element siting at the boundary between internal space and the city. Thus, through a dynamic configuration of illuminated ETFE panels that light up at night, the architects have managed to create an emblematic intervention if regarded as a sculptural object within the urban landscape, as well as in relation to the city that reflects itself into the porous, translucent façade.

With regards to the boundaries between audience and players, the new stadium sees a stand configuration that directly faces the pitch, maximising the immersive experience of the spectator and recreating the old stadium atmosphere as “a pressure cooker with the spectator baring down on the players”.

Besides the pitch, the new building incorporates areas for the club museum, a restaurant and cafeteria, the official club store, meeting and VIP areas, as well as a sports centre open for public use.

About the Speaker

Possessing great ability to conceive and deliver heterogeneous and complex projects, from refurbishing listed buildings to the construction of new built sport facilities, Rodriguez Segura has won several awards for his completed works and as participant at various ideas competitions.

In a commendable critical regionalist approach, as the main architect involved in the restoration of the University of Deusto in Bilbao, he has successfully materialised his interest in blending the use of new technologies and materials with traditional construction techniques in order to create innovative buildings in close relationship with their site and history.

Regarding his interest in competitions, the architect came out second in the International Competition for the Barcelona Football Club, with his work being assessed against other resounding names on the architecture scene, such as BIG and BAAS.

Awards:

Finalist, World Architectural Festival (WAF), Civic and Community category (Civic Center, Vitoria), 2016

First Prize, World Architectural Festival, Sports Category (The New San Mames Stadium), 2015

Winner, Best Engineering Project Abroad by Civil Engineering Spanish Association with (Line 5 of Ho Chi Minh Subway) 2015

First Prize, Competition for the Lima Convention Center, Peru 2014

Author: Stefana Gradinariu