Palau Blaugrana will seat 12,000 for sporting events. (Rendering courtesy of HOK)
Design details have been released for FC Barcelona’s new arena Palau Blaugrana by St. Louis-based architect HOK and Barcelona-based TAC Arquitectes. The firms were chosen in an international architectural competition that drew responses from 19 teams.
The New Palau Blaugrana will have a capacity of 12,000 for sporting events and 12,500 for social and cultural events. The venue is part of a broader project to improve FC Barcelona’s facilities and create the Espai Barça sports district, which will include a major renovation of the Camp Nou Stadium.
The cost of the entire project will be €600 million ($680 million U.S.), with the new Palau Blaugrana costing €9 million ($10.2 million).
“There have been three avenues in funding the €600 million,” said Nuno Guerreiro, senior association and architect at HOK’s Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice. “This includes naming rights, several club sources, concessions and unnamed sources.”
Construction on Palau Blaugrana is expected to begin during the 2017/2018 FC Barcelona basketball season and be completed during the 2019/2020 season. It will replace the 7,500-seat Palau Blaugrana, which opened in 1971.
“The goal was to create a larger venue with different components, while looking at the existing assets,” said John Rhodes, a London-based director of HOK’s Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice. “With this project, we’re providing new infrastructure for the basketball team and other sports teams.”
One of the biggest challenges with the design was connecting the venue to the city center.
“The ability for the club to leverage the stadium as an asset to the community is key,” said Rhodes. “These facilities are costly, so along with additional revenue streams, it’s important to look at more sophisticated sponsor partnerships and opportunities to reduce the capital cost. This has resulted in a move toward more community-based facilities like Palau Blaugrana.”
The new Palau Blaugrana will be built on the current site of the Mini Estadi, a 15,276-seat stadium. The design blends the indoors and outdoors, with a larger bowl simulating the intimacy of the former Palau Blaugrana.
“We sought to replicate the energy in the old arena with the new larger bowl,” said Rhodes. “This will include an enlarged end that creates a wall of people, which brings fans closer to the action and reduces the volume of space.”
HOK and TAC designed the seating bowl to emulate a theater environment, with an asymmetrical design—the first of its kind for a basketball arena. The bowl is designed to be tighter and steeper with good sightlines. This also captures the noise to enhance spectator experiences and intimidate visiting teams. In addition, the seating configuration is constructed to be flexible and adaptable.
Another major design element factored in Barcelona’s Mediterranean climate,with HOK leveraging the outdoors by including an external concourse that creates controlled public spaces around the building.
Outdoor patios, public plazas and green spaces across the site which will be vehicle-free, also will provide informal spaces for people to gather before, during and after events.
“This is an area where revenue can be created with concessions, bars and cafes any day of the week,” said Rhodes. “We were able to significantly reduce the building span by bringing more amenities outdoors, resulting in a compact venue with reduced building volume.”
The compact building span also lowers structural costs and improves operational efficiencies.
Another unique design feature is the arena’s curvilinear form which includes a metallic facade connected to the surroundings. A large projection screen on the underside of the arena’s roof will show footage of events.
The new facility will include 24 VIP boxes and four sky bars/lounges that provide court views. The project also incorporates three independently-functioning areas, including an adjacent court with capacity for up to 2,000 spectators, an ice rink with seating for 800 fans and the FCB Escola academy training facilities, which include two football fields.
“Specifics regarding the arena’s mixed use development have yet to be determined,” said Guerreiro.
Interviewed for this story: Nuno Guerreiro, (816) 472-2018; John Rhodes, (816) 472-2018