7 Winning Sporting Venues of Various Shapes and Sizes

We are living in the golden age of the stadium. It is not always easy to identify the zenith of an era from within, but given the unprecedented abundance and variety of stadia being built around the world today, the assertion isn’t much of a stretch. Considering the religious devotion of aptly named fanatics, this typology is unsurprisingly likened to temples. As with religious edifices, attention and admiration is heaped disproportionately upon the cathedrals, often at the expense of the more modest churches and chapels. So, too, do well-designed stadia deserve recognition, regardless of scale.

The following collection presents seven stadia in France that are unified by exactly this sentiment. From a humble grandstand of 300 seats to the arena with capacity of 42,000, these projects share the desire to imbue the massive bulk of a stadium with lightness, airiness, even to dissolve its shape entirely. There is a parsimonious elegance to the broad strokes and a beautiful simplicity to the details that, taking these seven projects as a sample, can be seen as a nationwide philosophy to arena building.

Léo Lagrange Stadium, archi5, Toulon, France

To describe the Léo Lagrange sport complex in Toulon as a stadium in the singular is incorrect. The four massive arches of the roof actually cover two grandstands that face in opposite directions: one toward the running track, the other toward the training ground.

Stade Yves du Manoir, A+Architecture, Montpelier, France

In an age of 40,000-plus-seat footballing megachurches, a 12,000-seater might seem irrelevant, but the Stade Yves du Manoir shows us otherwise. A gentle sun sail rests leaf-like on a series of tenuous V-shaped branches, lending the whole complex an air of breezy lightness.

Dominique Duvauchelle Stadium, Atelier du Pont, Créteil, France

The 300-seat Dominique Duvauchelle Stadium proves that a modesty and good design are not mutually exclusive. The yellow stands are wrapped in a metal mesh, allowing for semi-opaque color-block reveals.

Jean Bouin Stadium, Trust in Design, Paris, France

The Jean Bouin Stadium is perhaps the most unassuming yet extraordinary project in this collection. The exterior is composed of triangular honeycombs made from precast concrete, which effectively dissolves the exterior under a massive mosquito net.

Bordeaux Stadium, Herzog and de Meuron, Bordeaux, France

Herzog and de Meuron recently opened their newest arena, which follows the trajectory set out by the Allianz Arena and the Beijing National Stadium of dematerializing the massive bulk that is a stadium. Of particular note is the exterior transition from terrace underside to the diaphanous roof.

Stade du Hainaut, SCAU Architectes, Valenciennes, France

The concept of the Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes begins with simplicity: the majority of fans can walk from street level — under a reptilian metal exterior propped up on giant stilts — directly to the lower bowl.

Saran Stadium, Poivet Chameau, Saran, France

Sometimes you only need two lines: a quarter-circle beginning at ground level and becoming the roof, and a straight line beginning at ground level and meeting this arc at its midpoint to form the stands. Repeat 10 times and you have the elegantly efficient skeleton of the Saran Stadium.