San Nicola Stadium

PROJECT DETAILS

City

Bari

Country

Italy

Customer

Bari '90 Consortium

Architectural design

RPBW Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Period

1987-1990

Amount of works

51.600.000 €

Services Provided

Structure design

Sector

Dimensions

Perimeter: 555.80 m
Area: 55,300 m²
Capacity: 58,270 people

Construction technique

reinforced concrete, steel, teflon

With Renzo Piano and Peter Rice

For the 1990 World Cup, Bari bid to build the new San Nicola Stadium. With Renzo Piano and Peter Rice, we designed its structural system.
Long steel brackets connected to the top edge of the stands support the Teflon and stainless steel cover.

With Renzo Piano and Peter Rice

Bari's San Nicola Stadium was built for the 1990 World Cup, when the city of Bari was chosen as one of 12 host venues. It is the fourth largest stadium in Italy. The structure, shaped like a flower, consists of 26 sectors, or petals as Renzo Piano called them, designed to optimize visibility for spectators. The tiers are divided into two levels, spaced apart by a 3.6 m high hollow band, which serves to ensure air recirculation, and are protected by a fabric cover.

A filter tensile structure

The roof is a tensile structure supporting 14,000 square meters of white Teflon fabric. This high-strength, self-cleaning fabric is intended to shield the audience from the sun or weather, but, at the same time, is able to filter sunlight, thus minimizing shadows on the field. The marquee is made of 130 tons of stainless steel tubulars, up to 25 m long. The tubulars are, in turn, supported by steel beams, box section and cantilevered toward the field.