Populated with decommissioned planes in the RC Strasbourg stadium
The Populous architecture studio is preparing to reuse the fuselages of 30 Airbus A340s as sunshades for an enlarged stand at the stadium of the RC Strasbourg football club in France.
Populous will redevelop the entire Meinau stadium, which houses the French high-level football team, the Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, increasing its capacity from 26,282 to 32,000.
The south stand will be enlarged to add more seating and two open spaces overlooking the land described by the studio as “party decks”.
Additional fan spaces, including bars and hospitality lounges, will be built in the booth centered around a five-story glazed atrium, which will be covered with louvers for shade.
In a move described by Populous as a world first, these parasols will be constructed from the fuselages of retired Airbus A340 aircraft.
“As part of our environmentally sustainable approach to redevelopment, we have sought to do things differently: this is the first project to use recycled aircraft parts on this scale – using 30 different aircraft fuselages,” François Clement, senior manager at Populous told Dezeen.
A total of 4,000 square meters of fixed facade sunshades will be made from the fuselages of the Airbus A340, which come from an aircraft maintenance company.
The aluminum solar shades will be aligned vertically on the front of the stand to filter the light entering the atrium. Each will be 30 meters long and 2.5 meters wide and will be constructed from three sections taken from the upper half of the aircraft’s fuselage.
“We have always been intrigued by the huge cemeteries of American planes and the geometric juxtaposition of all these planes,” said Clement.
“There is something sculptural in their alignments and the size and proportion of the south stand at La Meinau gave us the opportunity to play with the scale of these fuselages,” he continued.
“Throughout the day, the tilted fuselages will act as a sunshade, reducing energy gain but allowing soft indirect light to enter the medium.”
In addition to the south stand, Populous will also modernize the rest of the stadium, enclosing the halls of the north, east and west stands to connect them and create spaces for the food and drink concessions.
“Strasbourg is one of the strongholds of French football and the Racing club de Strasbourg Alsace would have their stadium almost always full in every match, so the basic idea was to maintain the atmosphere while providing better facilities without increasing the price. tickets for the fans, ”added Clément.
Renovation work on the RC Strasbourg stadium is expected to start in May 2022 and be completed by July 2025.
The architect of the Populous stadium has designed numerous sports facilities in countries around the world. He designed the stadium for France’s high-level football team, Olympique Lyonnais, and created the master plan for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
He recently completed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London, which has a retractable pitch, and is working on a spherical arena in the same city.
Rendered by Luxigon, Populous and Rey de Crecy.
Group project:
Project manager and main architect: people
Local architect: Rey De Crécy Architecture Workshop
Engineering: OTE engineering
Sustainable development: Otelio
Facade consultant: Maffeis Engineering
Quantity surveyor & Site scheduling and management: C2Bi
Acoustic: Vanguardia
Sports lighting: ME engineers
Safety security: Cronos Consulting