Volcano Stadium

A new sports stadium is set to be built into what looks like a Mexican volcano. Jean-Marie Massaud and Daniel Pouzet, partners in Paris-based Studio Massaud, won a competition to design a new soccer stadium with a grassy "volcano" enclosure and stretched-fabric "cloud" roof at Mexico’s Centro de Cultura, Convenciones y Negocios Jorge Vergara Cabrera, more commonly known as the JVC Center. Jean-Marie Massaud told Interior Design magazine:

"A soccer stadium can be beautiful, but what’s the first thing you notice? The roof. So architects overemphasize it, even though it’s really just coquetry. When the sun shines at a sharp angle, nobody gets shelter. When there’s wind or rain, it’s the same.

So we imagined the roof as a cloud floating above. Then we made the rest of the stadium disappear into a hollowed-out hill—or a volcano. That was good, because certain cultures have used volcanoes as temples. Also, parking can be hidden inside the volcano, so the outside of the stadium becomes a big park when there isn’t a match, and mothers can bring children to picnic on the grassy slope."

Interior Design Article
<Via Near Near>