Aussie firm to design Venice's new stadium

[james_]

Dream job for Olympic architect

Bernard Lane
3 April 2004
The Australian

TO build in Venice is any architect's dream.

The Australian architects behind Sydney's Olympic stadium, Bligh Voller Nield, realised that dream yesterday when Venice Mayor Paolo Costa announced the firm would design the city's new soccer stadium.

"The golden aura of the Sydney Olympic Games has made a huge difference," said Lawrence Nield, principal of the firm behind Sydney's Telstra Stadium.

"The world discovered that Australians could not only win races but design buildings."

Venice's new 30,000-seat stadium will be home to the city team Venezia Calcio, as well as hosting international rugby matches such as the Six Nations.

A personal Italian connection helped Bligh Voller Nield clinch the commission.

The Mayor's son, Alessandro, an economist interested in the effect of hallmark events such as the Olympics, had a stint in the firm's Sydney office during the Games. The firm also is building sporting facilities in Athens, Beijing, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Nield said international clients were turning to Australian architects because they offered a high standard of design at a very economical price. "More and more architecture in Australia is beginning to get published in magazines based in Italy, London and New York," he said.

The new stadium for Venice and its mainland cities will be built near the airport, forming part of the main gateway to the city. "The location of the new stadium will mean thousands of soccer fans no longer rampage across the old city of Venice when they lose a match; instead, they will disperse without having an impact on one of the most beautiful urban settings in the world," the firm said.

[james_]

Hopefully the underwhelming response to this news isn't a reflection of your interest in this project!

Maybe some visual stimulation would help. Well here you go...

Team in trouble pins hopes on stadium designed down under
Geraldine O’Brien
The Sydney Morning Herald
3 April 2004

The Sydney architect Lawrence Nield and the Mayor of Venice, Paolo Costa, yesterday unveiled Bligh Voller Nield-designed plans for a $60 million soccer and rugby stadium in the Italian city.

There’s a lot riding on the new design as the home team, Venezia Calcio, or Venice Football, which has been relegated to the second division, blames its fall from the top division “on their 40-year-old, clapped out stadium”, Mr Nield said.

And like opera, he said, “soccer is an important part of the fabric of Italian society”.

Venice-Trevisio is the heartland of rugby union in Italy, so the new stadium will also host international rugby matches such as the Six Nations grand slam, he said.

The stadium, designed to seat 30,000, will be located near Venice Airport as part of the main gateway to the city, to which it will be linked by a new canal.

Bligh Voller Nield are masterplanning the entire site, which will include a new hotel.

Mr Nield said the stadium will not be curved like so many others – such as Stadium Australia, which was designed by the firm – in order to follow the curve of a running track.

“That’s actually not a good design for football because it pushes people further from the action,” he said. Instead, the Venice stadium will be “like a square, with the corners cut out”, bringing spectators closer to the pitch.

Those in the upper seats will also have views to the snow-topped Dolomite mountains and back to the campaniles of Venice.

Mr Nield said the council had asked his firm to produce a design after its work for the Athens Olympics.

This will be a great stadium. Whilst we're blessed with a number of sports facilities in Oz, it'd be great to have a couple of gems like this one.