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VTB Arena Park, Moscow: Unique. Flexible. And inspired by a world of ideas

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 ~ 17:01pm

Creators and managers of Russia’s stunning VTB Arena Park (to be exclusively featured at Stadium Business Summit 2011) have drawn ideas, inspiration and practical design from everything they consider new and unique in the global sports facilities sector...

Exclusive to Summit Business Summit 2011...

A guest speaker of Stadium Business Summit 2011, Andrei Peregoudov, Senior Vice President of VTB Bank and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dynamo Property Management Company, recently discussed the new stadium concept in a Q&A session:

Following the International Architectural Contest held in 2010, the winning concept has been actively discussed publicly. However, this concept does not seem to be the final one. Are you currently developing new terms of reference and what are the results?

– We have been analyzing the 2010 winning concept for over three months already. In particular, we focus on its compliance with standards of FIFA, CHL and NHL, FIBA and NBA, as well as professional concert hall operators. We have been working closely with both Dynamo football and Dynamo hockey clubs. Based on that, we will work out a set of recommendations and amendments to the 2010 winning concept.

What are the results so far?

– As a result, we have updated the concept of VTB Arena, which consists of a football stadium and a universal sports arena. The football stadium will seat 33,000 spectators. The concept allows increasing the total number of seats by 12,000 to meet the FIFA requirements concerning international competitions such as the World Cup where 45,000 seats are needed. Therefore, we will be flexible in that. The arena will seat 12,000 spectators with a possibility to add 3,000 more seats to a total 15,000. We can also talk about a new configuration of the football field. All parameters and characteristics have been calculated in detail according to FIFA standards. The FIFA has officially confirmed that our new stadium fully matches their requirements. A sports and entertainment center will be built right under the stadium within the existing stadium walls. We keep in mind everything – distance between the field and spectators, billboard locations, etc.

Hear more from Andrei Peregoudov and project designer David Manica exclusively at Stadium Business Summit 2011. >>BOOK NOW

Are there any changes in stands and seats?

– We did a lot of work to design the stands in accordance with FIFA’s terms of reference. For example, we made precise calculations of a seat width, the distance between the seats, and the width of passes between them. We have added another level of business lounges to lease during the games. This is a new feature for Russian stadiums, although business lounges are common for sports facilities abroad. A total of 98 separate lounges will be at our football stadium, and there will be a club level for fans to use services such as restaurants and cafes where they could watch the game of their favorite team. We have designed special areas with seats for the disabled, and seats for the press. All these changes will be included in the project concept.

Do you plan to build the sports and entertainment center as an independent unit?

– Yes, but it will be part of the stadium and the arena for various events. Hopefully, it will be operational 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Spectators coming to large-scale sporting events or concerts will have an opportunity to spend their time there before and after the event, dining at restaurants, visiting children’s zones and shopping galleries. As we can see internationally, such scheme is very effective in terms of safety, convenience, and economics.

What pitch are you going to establish at the football field? As we know, some kinds of events cause significant damage to the pitch…

– There are technologies that allow protecting the pitch. Since 2011, FIFA no longer requires stadiums to have natural turf pitches. Recent developments of artificial turf make it possible to fully substitute for natural grass, as the quality is high enough.

We have not decided yet whether we would use artificial or natural pitch. Once again, FIFA’s standards allow having artificial turf, so we are flexible to decide on that. Natural pitch is a very complicated thing to grow from seed and maintain given Russia’s climate. We have a good example – Luzhniki stadium where its natural pitch has been replaced with the artificial turf.

Did you decide on a number of scoreboards and displays to use at the stadium?

– Nowadays, technologies allow assembling huge screens with the highest possible quality and resolution. We plan to install a unique huge screen at the stadium to display general view of the field, as well as its separate sections, scoreboards, replays and other information. Two smaller displays will be located above every opposite stand.

Does the stadium configuration allow for other sports besides football?

– Yes, the stadium size makes it possible to host rugby and American football games as well. We also plan to have a variety of shows, including Motocross, extreme sports, live concerts, and even theater performances.

What are the events that the smaller arena could host along with its direct functions?

– We approached the design of our smaller arena the same way we did at the stadium. There will be various VIP and other lounges as well. Generally, we are trying to meet the requirements of FIBA, NBA, CHL, and Gymnastics Federation.

As for sporting events, there will be 12,000 permanent seats with a possibility to increase their total number to 15,000. In case we organize concerts there, part of the field will be used as parterre, which means that the total number of spectators would increase up to 16,000–16,500. The same about basketball games. In just 2–3 hours, we could turn our hockey box into a basketball court or a concert hall. Actually, we will be flexible to host a hockey game, a basketball game, and a concert during the same day. In order to achieve this, we should plan and design everything in advance, as it would be impossible to change when the arena is fully built. We have everything in our new concept based on all necessary calculations.

What is the technique to make the arena such flexible and transformable?

– The entire process is not based on rapid ice-making or unfreezing techniques as you might think. Actually, this option is very expensive. We plan to achieve the flexibility by using a special multilevel coating that preserves the cold ice from below and provides enough warm from above. In this case, we will have to dismantle the boards, to cover the ice, and to organize additional seats for the audience by using our transformable stands. In case we want to hold competitions in martial arts or boxing, this can be done by changing the arena size and by the same transformable stands. Typically, it takes more time to prepare to have a concert than to organize a basketball game. In case of a concert, we need extra hours to set the stage and tune up sound equipment. However, we put everything in our concept, so we have solutions to any problem we can face. We expect to have equal number of concerts, theater performances, and sporting events throughout a year. This is our approach to make the stadium and the arena commercially successful.

Along with additional seats, stage and equipment, what are other important things to organize a concert?

– Sound and acoustics are very important. We need to focus on these things at a very early design stage. In principle, any arena can be used for concerts, but the quality is usually very bad in case you do not have proper sound and acoustics. When planning the acoustics, one should take into account all details including even materials used in chairs. Some materials absorb sound, some do not. Another example, if the arena is half-vacant during a concert, its acoustic changes as well. Let us take the O2 in London, one of the most successful arenas in Europe. Given that O2 is not a home arena for any hockey or basketball team to play there regularly, the arena is universal to host any events. They have about 200–250 events annually and are generally very successful commercially. They were paying special attention to each aspect of sound and acoustics during construction. That is why now O2 can have the world’s major stars like Madonna, Linkin Park, or Gorillas. The year when Michael Jackson died, O2 was planning as many as 26 of his concerts. Any pop and rock star would go to O2 with great pleasure, knowing that the concert will be a success. We have managed to use the best international practices in this area, so we are sure to succeed.

Your project provides for a multi-training complex. Will it fit the landscape of Petrovsky Park?

– Initially, our main goal was to preserve the landscape and functionality of Dynamo sports facilities while designing the project. To date, the complex includes 15–20 different sports sections. There will be a multipurpose sport center to host basketball, volleyball, handball, and other team sports. There will be a hockey field, indoor soccer arena, gymnasium, fencing school, boxing and wrestling rings to be used all year-round. Given the fact that it is a big enough area, we can use the facilities for other sports. We have managed to integrate sports, leisure, and entertainment in one place. We love this synergy as we are creating the area of sports and healthy lifestyle. Configuration of our sports complex would be logical to fit the Park landscape, as the main entrance will be from Petrovsky Park itself.

Is the whole project really unique?

– We are doing our best to say ‘Yes’ to that question. VTB Arena is the first "stadium of the future" in Russia. We keep examining the world’s best practices. At this point, we have collected everything we consider new and unique in the world to proceed with our construction and to make the dreams come true.

Hear more from Andrei Peregoudov and project designer David Manica exclusively at Stadium Business Summit 2011. >>BOOK NOW