Architect: J.S.K Architekci
Location: Wrocław
Client: Wrocław 2012
Date: 2011
J.S.K Architekci, founded by its directors Zbigniew Pszczulnego and Mariusz Rutz, has an international team working primarily on projects in Germany and Poland. The practice has designed office buildings, retail and residential projects but specialises is the design of airports and rail terminals, sports stadiums and arenas. Projects have included: the Daimler HQ in Warsaw and the Legia Warsaw football stadium as well as two stadiums for the UEFA EURO 2012 tournament: the Wrocław Municipal Stadium and Warsaw National Stadium. Current projects include the expansion of the Wrocław Starachowice International Airport and the Lech Walesa Airport in Gdansk.
Driving the new highway ring on the west side of Wrocław allows one to catch a glimpse of an intriguing building. Come after twilight and you see what appears to be a giant lantern of changing colours, whereas during daylight hours you are greeted by a vast, translucent white oval membrane. The structure in question is the Wrocław Municipal Stadium, built as one of the venues for the UEFA Euro 2012 football competition in Poland and Ukraine.
The competition to design the stadium, with a capacity of 45,000, was won in 2007 by Warsaw architects J.S.K Architekci. Its neighbour on one side is a distinctive Zaha-Hadid-style reinforced concrete tram stop by local architecture office Mackow Pracownia Projektowa. But on the other side a void has been left, after preparations for building a shopping centre were abandoned by a private developer.
The stadium’s most spectacular feature, its façade of translucent fibreglass mesh covered with Teflon, is also a reminder of just how much the stadium cost: a not immodest 170 million euros. And although this expensive building was intended to hold live music, festivals and various sporting events after the games, it has proved difficult to fill it to capacity since. I (Łukasz Wojciechowski)
Photos: Jakub Certowicz
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