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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Al Ain Stadium in United Arab Emirates by MZ ArchitectsSeptember 28th, 2012 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: MZ Architects Set into the desert landscape, the Al Ain football stadium celebrates the game it hosts as much as it celebrates the site in which it lays. Recognising the powerful language of its surroundings and intelligently approaching the issue of scale and the intermittent use of the stadium architecture, the project sinks its 200,000sqm structure into the ground and turns the rocky mountain into one of its main features. It creatively works with the topography and relies on a series of emerging planes to mould the space and help cater for the 40,000 seats it provides. The stadium maximizes the use of on-site material and its visionary design merges landscape and architecture, thus blurring the boundaries between the built and the natural and creating a space that allows the visitor to interact with the stadium activities, much as with the desert landscape itself.  Image Courtesy © MZ Architects
 Image Courtesy © MZ Architects Sunken into the cooler depth of the desert sand, the stadium presents itself to the visitor as a series of sharply inclined planes emerging from the ground. These planes, in addition to the volcanic mountain backdrop in front of which they lie, define the space of the stadium and its related activities and create a magnificent place that allows for the conglomeration of a large number of visitors in the heart of the vast landscape.  Image Courtesy © MZ Architects Issues of scale, timing and activity were highly investigated by the architects, and by forcing the stadium into the ground, the designers were strategically able to deal with the challenging issue of massiveness of scale and of the often voided space. The project not only gracefully blends itself into its surroundings but plays on the notion of distance to alternate between a strong camouflage at distance and a forceful presence at close range. The project also lights up at night, turning the stadium into a massive light beam that emerges from the ground to create a symbol, a sign, a guiding agent to the national event and place of activity in an otherwise sign-less desert environment.  Image Courtesy © MZ Architects Working with the existing site and using the local materials, the architects found themselves playing with a carefully studied palette of rock and sand that not only lead to the main façade/visual panels system adhering to the site but also create a more sustainable approach to construction and design where no material is forgotten or displaced and where all is reused.  Image Courtesy © MZ Architects  Image Courtesy © MZ Architects
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Tags: Al Ain, United Arab Emirates Category: Stadium |
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