BIG, the New York and Copenhagen-based architecture firm behind Google’s revamped Mountain View Headquarters, is rethinking the modern sports arena. Its conceptual plan to overhaul the Washington Redskins’ stadium would make the football team’s home a year-round destination, where sports are not the only attraction.
“The stadium is designed as much for the tailgating, like the pregame, as for the game itself,” said Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG. “Tailgating literally becomes a picnic in a park. It can actually make the stadium a more lively destination throughout the year without ruining the turf for the football game.”
As revealed in BIG’s meticulously detailed model, the design includes a moat that can be used by kayakers, and the motif of flowing water is echoed in the stadium’s undulating, semitransparent design. In early renderings, visitors can be seen lounging by the moat’s beach-like embankment.
“Does the typical NFL stadium have room for improvement?” asks Ingels. “Yes, most certainly. Is it waste of resources to have giant facilities that are only active 10 times a year? Obviously. Therefore, we have worked with our team to imagine a facility that can be active both inside and outside all year and all week — not just on a game day.”
Ingels continued: “Also, we have sought to distill the stadium experience — before, during and after the game — to its essential ingredients, to provide the greatest intimacy for the players and fans, and in doing so to create a more compact and efficient stadium as opposed to the colossal facilities of the past.”
The Redskins have recently discussed moving from its current home in Maryland back to Washington DC or relocating to Virginia, but no final plans have been made. Until then, the fate of Ingel’s dramatic stadium remains up in the air.
All Images Courtesy of the Washington Redskins and CBS News