In Summer of 2016, I was selected for an internship at the London offices of Zaha Hadid Architects, where I worked in a competition team involved in the planning of the Forrest Green Rover Eco Park football stadium in the UK.
We developed an innovative and unique design for a stadium entirely constructed of timber and powered by renewable energy that went on to win the international competition. In the 3rd stage of the competition, I worked on the development of an exquisite and highly detailed presentation model, as well as multitasking to help the team on various materials leading up to the final presentation.
The design retains and enhances the existing meadow landscape of the site whilst adding the stadium and other functions for the town. Embodying low carbon construction methods and operational processes, it will be the first all timber football stadium with almost every element made of sustainably sourced timber including its structure, roof cantilevers and louvered cladding.
As a building material, timber is highly durable, recyclable and beautiful. The proximity of the stadium’s structural elements to each other has also been determined to enable the seating terraces and floor slab to be made from timber. In most other stadiums, these elements are concrete or steel.
The stadium’s roof is covered with a transparent membrane, which contributes to turf growth, minimizes stark shadows for players and fans and reduces the volumetric impact of the stadium from distant views in the surrounding landscape.
The stadium’s design incorporates the club’s future growth. Initially for 5,000 spectators, increasing to 10,000 with the club’s success, expansion from phase 1 to phase 2 can be achieved without the costs of major construction works.
