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It’s not just Newcastle United fans who are eagerly awaiting the results of the club’s stadium feasibility study. One of those watching from a distance is architect Angus Campbell, who has overseen some of Foster and Partners’ most complex projects including Wembley Stadium and Lucerne Erstadion, but also Commerzbank, the world’s first ecological office building and the tallest building in Europe at the time of its construction.
Campbell said the feasibility study would “define a brief” and the architects hoped there would be a “best-case” selection process that would allow the company to work out how to respond to a potential extension or redevelopment of St James’ Park. Given Foster and Partners’ background in infrastructure and stadiums, it’s clear Campbell’s stadium will be about “more than just a stadium”
“We want to be a part of it,” he told ChronicleLive. “We hope to be invited to the competition and present our ideas and approaches, but we will seek to engage with planners. What is the question? What does the city need? Because managing a stadium for a day at a competition requires a lot of effort.
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“How you engage with people and fans is really important. I know because I’ve been watching this from afar – thinking about how it’s going to hit the market – there are a lot of people who have podcasts and very public views on what them think it should be so and what them Hope it works for the fans. You have to keep your heart there. “
This is one of the reasons why the National Stadium has always remained on the same site at Wembley, for example, despite the obvious limitations of the old stadium’s footprint. Campbell spent eight years working on the project, even moving to an on-site office within walking distance to address the “collapsed” stadium.
The design team set out to retain some of the “best parts” of the old Wembley – including the orientation of the pitch and the size of the roof openings. FIFA recommends that pitches in the northern hemisphere have a north-south orientation so that shadows fall on the midfield line, but the company wants to ensure Wembley continues to have an east-west orientation to minimize shadowing on the south side of the stadium. This ultimately led to the construction of the longest single-span arched structure in the world.
Sightlines, fan experience and hospitality requirements have all changed dramatically since it was built a century ago, and the entire stadium has been brought up to modern standards. The old athletics track was demolished, along with the shallow seating bowls that kept fans away from the action, and although the Twin Towers were eventually demolished, a design to incorporate these iconic landmarks into the new Wembley has been proposed following extensive public consultation. However, in Campbell’s own words, this would result in the towers becoming “little pimples on the landscape” rather than the majestic architecture they were intended to be.
A masterplan has also been developed to improve the local area and make the stadium more accessible. The entrance and loading docks at nearby Wembley Stadium were flipped so that the ground and stadium share the same route as the nearby tube station, and the surrounding area is now a thriving mixed-use development throughout the week rather than just on match days.
“There are definitely similarities between what happened at St James’s and what happened at Wembley,” Campbell said. “Wembley is the national stadium and England plays at Wembley. I would say from that perspective you can’t move that stadium. St James’s belongs in that position. It’s unique because it’s really this part of a city.
“The location is fantastic. Where else can you get to the city center and walk to the stadium in five to ten minutes? You can also see it from everywhere. Because it’s on top of a hill above the rooftops.
“That said, unless you manage it properly it can lead to congestion and one of the things we’ve found is that a lot of stadium experts have a habit of looking at stadiums and when you go through the turnstiles, that’s the end of their understanding, so It becomes an audience experience the moment you walk in and then how much money you make from your seat, it becomes a commodity and really the biggest impact is what happens in the city.
“We did a lot of research on different clubs because you’ll find football stadiums that are fully equipped with 50, 60, 70,000 seats, but they’re locked up when they’re not in use, they’re locked in. You might There is also a big fence around the club. There is a shop, but it’s not very convenient. If you could open it up to the ground floor or patio so that on non-event days it serves the outside instead of the inside, it does have both. And there it is. It serves the community.”
At this point, as far as Campbell is concerned, anything within a mile of St. James “should be considered one, because that’s like an outdoor square.” When it comes to these venues being “public entities”, I immediately think of a nearby project that “learned lessons from” – what is now known as the Sage or Glasshouse International Music Center.
“Sage is a huge project for us,” he said. “Think about that scheme. In that scheme the council was our client. They ran an international competition. They had an idea to create a venue in the Docklands.
“Looking at the overall plan, the building was not that expensive. It was done within budget, but what we did was put a huge effort into making sure the public could interact with it so that, in effect, there was an internal street. .
“There are no tickets required to enter the building. The facilities are on one side, but there are public facilities on the street, and the street becomes part of the Baltic Sea and the launch of the bridge. This is a community project.
“People have embraced it and it has become an icon that they like very much. That’s what you want from these types of projects, which are done to improve the area. With a stadium, the owners just have to be careful. , they’ll be fine.” Don’t alienate the fans and the city by building something that’s too expensive for all of them to go to, and that has ample facilities for people who aren’t casual fans. “
For Campbell, opening is about more than just having a museum or club shop. It’s “smaller venues or things that can happen in them,” the architect said, referring to how the recent Miami Open was held at the home of NFL team the Miami Dolphins.
Campbell believes there are “a lot of constraints” on the St James’ site but stressed that by acquiring the Strawberry Place land it would “create something unique to the area and build around the stadium” which would provide “special spaces”. Chance’. A fan zone is currently being built but will have an initial lifespan of just three years as the club explores potential long-term uses for the venue. From a distance, the architects said there was a case for adding another 10,000 seats, even if it was “very tight”.
Some industry insiders Campbell has spoken to believe St James Metro Station needs to close, but the architect, who is currently working on a metro transport scheme for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, questions why it wouldn’t be retained if you “know where to put the columns and where to put the entrances” ” ,please open. So will Campbell offer any broad advice to the club? The club also commissioned a survey to find out what a range of supporters thought about the future of the stadium?
“Take your time and make sure you go through a proper selection process,” he added. “Be sure to consult those who will lead you to your destination.
“The support you have now may get you to the next level one day, but don’t forget about the fans. Now is a good time to talk to fans and the local community, consult with them and make sure their demands are understood.
“You need to be careful not to make this a deal that makes someone think, ‘I have to generate Its place in the city, so you have to get everyone involved.”
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