Euro 2012 stadiums – Lech Poznan
Today we begin a new cycle of interesting new buildings being constructed especially for soccer Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.
Poznan City Stadium. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.
The first stadium we will check is the Poznan City Stadium (used by the local club Lech Poznan). This arena was first placed in 1980. The first version of this stadium had a shape of a horseshoe and had a part opened to the city from the north side of the pitch. After installation of chairs and refitting existing tribunes the stadium could hold up to 25.000 people. I late ’90s city council decided to build the missing part of the stadium, giving the whole object new shape. This one tribune (called “The Fourth”) contains about 8.500 seats and will remain as an integral part of the new stadium. Everything else is brand new. The picture below presents the old view of the stadium (with characteristic four spotlight towers) taken from The Fourth:
Poznan City Stadium - an old view. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.
The old tribunes were dismantled and new ones are being currently built. New stadium will contain 41.018 seats during Euro 2012 tournament and 45.830 seats after this event. The whole stadium will be 213 meters long, 220 meters wide and 56 meters high (this is approximately the height of 18-floor building). The most interesting part of the whole stadium will be the roof (currently being constructed). This construction will be based on two main frameworks, each at weight of 1.400 tons and two auxiliary elements, each weight 450 tons. The movie below is taken from Skyscrapercity forums and shows the auxiliary element no. 1 placed on two main frameworks:
The whole stadium construction was supposed to be finished on may 2010, but this time limit will be probably shifted to autumn 2010. This is still very reasonable term – two years before the tournament starts.
Other construction pictures:
One of stadium main frameworks at night. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.
One of two auxiliary roof elements. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.
View on two main frameworks and The Fourth (smallest tribune). Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.