After construction photos of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium with its snow-melting system attracted readers’ attention on Dezeen this week, we’ve rounded up 10 upcoming stadiums that seek to harness technology.
Photo courtesy of the Buffalo Bills
Highmark Stadium, USA, by Populous
The new stadium for National Football League (NFL) team the Buffalo Bills features what architecture studio Populous claims is “the world’s largest and technically advanced snow melt system”.
Sensors on the steel canopy – which has also been engineered to amplify crowd noise – will react to snowfall and activate a hydronic system.
Find out more about Highmark Stadium ›
Image by AFL Architects
Oxford United Football Club Stadium, UK, by AFL Architects
Oxford United Football Club’s new home will be the first all-electric stadium in the UK when it completes, powered entirely by renewable energy with the help of 3,500 square metres of roof-mounted solar panels and an air-source heat pump.
Meanwhile in the US, international architecture studio HOK is working on the first fully electric Major League Soccer stadium for New York City Football Club.
Find out more about Oxford United Football Club Stadium ›
Image by Plomp
Hangzhou International Sports Centre, China, by Zaha Hadid Architects
Architecture studio Zaha Hadid Architects has designed three venues for a vast sports complex in Hangzhou‘s Future Science and Technology Cultural District, including a 60,000-seat football stadium.
Each venue will use hybrid ventilation systems, ground-source heat pumps and photovoltaics. The football stadium’s seating will form undulations in its facade lined with louvres. This design will make the structure semi-transparent and shade food kiosks positioned behind the louvres.
Find out more about Hangzhou International Sports Centre ›
Image courtesy of Populous
Estádio da Luz, Portugal, by Populous and Saraiva + Associados
First built in 2004, Lisbon football club SL Benfica’s Estádio da Luz stadium is set to be modernised with a programmable LED skin.
It will form part of a new facade intended to help control light and heat while preserving the stadium’s characteristic roof trusses.
Find out more about Estádio da Luz ›
Image by Negativ
Athletics Las Vegas Ballpark, USA, by BIG and HNTB
BIG‘s has claimed its first baseball stadium, designed in collaboration with fellow architecture studio HNTB, will feature the “largest cable-net glass wall in the world”.
Dubbed the Armadillo for its distinctive shelled form, the ballpark is being built for Major League Baseball team the Athletics and is currently under construction in Las Vegas.
Find out more about Athletics Las Vegas Ballpark ›
Image courtesy of Foster + Partners
Manchester United stadium, UK, by Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners founder Norman Foster is famous for his fascination with incorporating technology into architecture, and the studio’s planned stadium for Manchester United is a prime example.
Enveloped in a huge tent supported by three masts, the structure will be the largest of its class in the UK with 100,000 seats. However, it is planned for completion in only five years, thanks to the use of what Foster + Partners called “cutting-edge prefabrication technologies”.
Find out more about Manchester United’s new stadium ›
Image by Manica Architecture
Chicago Bears stadium, USA, by Manica Architecture
Manica Architecture has designed a stadium for NFL team the Chicago Bears that will feature a translucent roof and a multi-storey glass wall on the northern end, as part of what the studio described as “one of the largest construction projects in Illinois history”.
However, the project has been the subject of controversy over its potential cost to the public purse and its location on the banks of Lake Michigan.
Find out more about the Chicago Bears stadium ›
Images by GMP Architekten
Olympic Stadium, Canada, by GMP Architekten
Designed by French architect Roger Taillibert, Montreal’s 1976 Olympic Stadium was arguably too technologically ambitious for its own good. Its roof, suspended from an angled tower by a series of cables, was not able to retract properly as Taillibert intended and has required multiple costly repairs over the years.
German architecture studio GMP Architekten is now designing a replacement for the roof that aims to increase natural light in the stadium bowl while maintaining the cable suspension system – at least in part.
Find out more about Olympic Stadium ›
Image courtesy of Populous
Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium, Saudi Arabia, by Populous
Saudi Arabia plans to build 11 new stadiums as part of its controversial hosting of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Among the most high-tech will be the clifftop Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium in Qiddiya, with digital screens covering its exterior and a retractable roof, pitch and LED wall.
Populous called the retractable wall “an architectural innovation offering unparalleled versatility and allowing the space to transform into different event modes in a matter of hours”.
Find out more about Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Stadium ›
Image by HOK
Stadium of the Future, USA, by HOK
Architecture studio HOK calls its design for the renovation of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ NFL stadium the “Stadium of the Future”. It will wrap the existing stadium in sinuous, reflective cladding covered in a see-through membrane.
“The venue will celebrate Jacksonville’s natural landscape and climate, offering a park-like ambiance enriched by the latest amenities, engaging social spaces and state-of-the-art technology,” said studio design principal Peter Broeder.
Find out more about Stadium of the Future ›