Today Brasilia is the only city on the planet founded in the 20th century that has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Ideal City, whose main public buildings were built in the second half of the 1950s according to designs by Oscar Niemeyer, remains an icon of modern architecture. In this setting, on the site of the original Mane Garrincha stadium (1974), the renowned German stadium architects gmp and engineers schlaich bergermann und partner, as well as the Castro Mello arquitetos from São Paulo, were to create a new stadium. It is worth noting that the aforementioned Brazilian bureau is headed by Eduardo de Castro Mello, the son and co-architect of the architect of the demolished stadium Icaro de Castro Mello, and gmp built the key arenas for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
gmp and schlaich bergermann designed the roof and esplanade around it, while its 72,000-seat bowl was designed by the office of Eduardo de Castro Mello. Architects were required to respect the existing environment and at the same time create an object with a recognizable modern look. As the largest building in Brasilia, located on its famous “Monumental Axis”, the new stadium, already due to these circumstances, has become one of its most notable structures, which should fully correspond to the spirit of the “ideal city”. To solve this problem, it was necessary to develop a clean, expressive gesture.
Such a gesture was the "forest of columns" - a regular annular colonnade that surrounds the bowl of the stadium and includes all the entrance loops; it is covered with a double suspended roof. The clarity of the solution is emphasized by the minimalist design of the elements and the choice of concrete as the main material.
The projections of the stadium bowl are clearly visible through the permeable colonnade. In the lower third of its height, the colonnade bears a "belt" of passages covering the entire perimeter. High round columns give the structure a modern lightness and at the same time the solidity of a classic amphitheater.
The round roof, hanging on the round colonnade, as on the support ring, is a two-layer suspended structure. The upper layer consists of teflon-coated fiberglass, which increases its durability and resistance to negative environmental influences, and the lower one is a translucent membrane. A metal supporting structure is enclosed between the layers.
