The design and construction of a 35,000-seat multifunctional stadium was the subject of an international competition. The stadium was to be located in the valley of the Var River - the so-called Eco-Valley, declared by the French government as a "National Interest Task", and become the flagship project for the development of this area.
The construction of a new stadium in Nice to replace the dilapidated Stade du Ray has been planned for a long time, but the actual reason was the approval of France as the venue for the Euro 2016 football championship.
The competition program involved the design and sequential implementation of three projects: first of all, an international-class stadium for holding both sports and cultural events, approved by UEFA, meeting the principles of sustainable development and integrated into the urban environment, then - the National Sports Museum, and then - development a comprehensive development plan for the adjacent area. All of these projects were commissioned by Wilmotte & Associés.
Thanks to the choice of a supporting structure made of wood and metal with a beam geometry (the largest of this type in the world), it became possible in the seismic zone, which is the Cote d'Azur, to erect a ceiling of almost 50,000 m2, with cantilever extensions reaching 46 m. At the same time, despite its dimensions, the stadium looks transparent and light.
The arena with an area of 131 × 73 m allows the stadium to be used not only for game sports such as football, rugby, and tennis, but even for motorcycle and auto racing. The maximum capacity of the stadium in the "concert" configuration reaches 45,000 people, including 35,000 seats in three-tiered stands.
A key challenge for the architects was to strike a balance between sustainability and artistic awareness. For example, the supporting wood-metal structure resembles lace, and the transparent photovoltaic cladding panels, which generate enough energy to power 29 nightly events and 5 large-scale concerts a year, resemble thin sheets of tissue paper.
In addition to solar panels, the stadium is equipped with a geothermal cooling and heating system and a rainwater harvesting system. Allianz Riviera Stadium exists in symbiosis with the natural environment, both physically and visually. Delicately fitting into the landscape, from a distance it seems more like a fragile model of itself than a complex structural structure.
The National Sports Museum will be located in the stadium building itself and will open to visitors in 2014. One of the world's most extensive sports-related collections will move here from Paris - more than 100,000 objects and documents, in which there are samples dating back to the 16th century.
The project for the development of the immediately adjacent territories will include trade, recreation and food zones, which, together with the stadium, will have to work as a coherent and efficient system (including in terms of energy consumption and production). The future Eco-Quarter should become a complex organically integrated into the landscape. By drawing the master plan, it will correspond to the topographic features of the valley and echo the bend of the river. It will occupy more than 10.6 hectares, and almost half of the area will be allocated for housing.
