11 Nov 2010
Real Club Deportivo Espanyol stadium, Barcelona, has been named as the best sporting facility worldwide in 2010, in a competition organised by the Guinness group and StadiumBusiness.com.
Arup worked on the structural and fire engineering for the stadium, in close collaboration with architects Reid Fenwick Associates and Gasulla & Associates. Located in the city of Cornellá, Barcelona, the stadium has a capacity of 45,000 spectators along with commercial and sports facilities such as a library and hotel.
The firm's structures team in Madrid provided structural design of stands, foundations and roof – designed in reinforced concrete and steel. The unique roof is totally flat and features very large lights between columns of up to 200m.
With the aim of achieving optimum visibility, the design positions spectators as close as possible to the playing field.
The evacuation strategy for the stadium followed a method based on analysis of pedestrian flows, from software developed by Arup. These methods have been successfully used in several previous projects.
The RCD Espanyol Stadium stands out because of its multifunctional design, proven economic viability and sustainable use of resources.
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