Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has won a design competition to build a wooden football stadium in Stroud, southwestern England.
The competition to design a home ground for the Forest Green Rovers was announced in March this year and received more than 50 entries from countries including Sweden, Germany, France and the US.
In May the club shortlisted nine entrants and gave them two months to work on their concepts, two of which made a final list in August. They were then given a further two months to further refine their concepts and produce a scale model.
The runner up was London’s Glenn Howells Architects and the winner was ZHA’s proposal to erect what is thought to be the world’s first wooden stadium.
The stadium will be almost fully wooden, from the facade to the terraces and floor slabs; the remainder will consist of sustainable materials.
The 5,000-capacity stadium can be increased to 10,000 without the need for major construction works.
The arena will be the centerpiece of the £100m Eco Park, a 100-acre sports and green technology business park proposal beside junction 13 of the M5 in Gloucestershire.
Jim Heverin, a director at ZHA, said: "Forest Green Rovers’ stadium and Eco Park aims to be carbon neutral or carbon negative, including measures such as the provision of on-site renewable energy generation.
"The buildings on the site, and their embodied energy, play a substantial role in achieving this ambitious target and demonstrate sustainable architecture can be dynamic and beautiful."
Images via ZHA, renders by MIR
