Stadio della Roma

With the sporting world’s eyes firmly fixed on Rio for the next Summer Olympics, Rome is celebrating a sports milestone of its own, in the lead-up to 2016. AS Roma’s new stadium, Stadio della Roma, by Woods Bagot was unveiled at a press conference on 26 March 2014.

Scheduled for completion in 2016, the stadium will be located in Rome’s south west, at Tor di Valle. Star players Daniele De Rossi and Francesco Totti were among the VIP list at the launch, along with AS Roma President James Pallotta, and the mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino who unveiled the new stadium live on Youtube.

Dan Meis, Woods Bagot director of sport, at the press conference unveiling plans of the Stadio della Roma.

Dan Meis, Woods Bagot director of sport, at the press conference unveiling plans of the Stadio della Roma.

Image: Courtesy Woods Bagot

Designed by Woods Bagot director of sport, Dan Meis, the arena draws on the architectural language and gladiatorial spectacle of the Colosseum, with a floating stone ‘scrim’ surrounding the steel and concrete seating bowl, and a large hydraulic lift that elevates players into the arena. However, nods to ancient history are only half the story. One of its distinctive features will be the new ‘Curva Sud’, a steeply pitched, clearly delineated section of around 14,000 seats for AS Roma’s hard-core supporters. Long recognised as the section of the existing Stadio Olympico that is home to die-hard AS Roma fans, this part of the new stadium will have a more muscular and raw architecture, clearly identifying it as AS Roma heartland.

“Stadio della Roma will be one of Europe’s most sophisticated stadiums, groundbreaking in its ancillary development of restaurants, entertainment and training facilities,” says Meis, who will lead the Woods Bagot design team, with members of the Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco studios.

Overall seating capacity will be around 52,500, which is intimate by world standards, and the super-premium club section of just 600 seats offers direct access to the pitch. Amplifying the modern game-day experience has been integral every part of the design, including its ambition to be Europe’s first carbon neutral major sports centre – with maximum recycling capabilities and state-of-the-art renewable energy and conservation programs. As a performance venue, it will offer multiple stage configurations with an expansion capacity of 60,000.

“Rome has an unparalleled architectural history, so to be able to build anything there is the gift of a lifetime,” says Meis. “To build a new home for AS Roma, and the most passionate fans in football, is heart stopping.”

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