Competition for the City Stadium in Lodz

The compositional and functional significance of Unii Lubelskiej Avenue and the location of the stadium impose the assumption that the stadium complex is to complement and close the avenue from the south. The stadium complex is to be formed so that when completed it fully closes the axis set by the tree alley.
The architecture of the facility is subordinated to the idea to create a “sign building” which will be a synthesis of the football stadium in external perception. In the architectural sense, the facility consists of two parts – a podium which also incorporates a building accommodating internal uses related to the operation and maintenance of the stadium and a hall consisting of a set of spaces, and the component directly linked to the stands and the pitch. Both those parts oppose each other in terms of form. The podium part in raw architectural concrete contrasts with a light façade which conceals the stands, clad in a mesh of metal strips thinning out upwards, which “dematerializes” the massing of the stadium stands, lending them an air of lightness. Lightness is required owing to the scale of the building – a common problem of stadium architecture. In contrast, the concrete, heavier podium determines the appropriate relationship to the existing hall of the arena. Despite its delicate pattern, the openwork “concrete curtains” topping the podium, concealing structures elevated above the ground level, ensure unity of form of the design.