Serbia plans to open ‘tree stadium’ and wants Europa League final; see photos

A tree-lined stadium is being built in Belgrade, Serbia, in Eastern Europe. The arena, which will have capacity for up to 52 thousand fans, has in its design four rings suspended by cables, in addition to hundreds of trees and bushes throughout its size. Adornment that will transform the place into a kind of “giant futuristic garden”.

The arena will be the home of the Serbian National Team and is being built in the Surcin region, on the outskirts of the capital, on a 32-hectare plot of land. The name of the stadium will be chosen by the fans and it is expected that the venue will host the final of the Europa League, the second biggest interclub tournament on the continent, in 2028.

Among the new features of the project is a cooling and heating system, which can provide hot and cold water for all the building’s needs. Furthermore, the surroundings of the stadium will feature a “green” concept, with areas that match the site’s sustainable façade.

For Tatiana Fasolari, vice-president of Fast Engenharia, the largest overlay company in Latin America, sustainability and technology balance the use of old buildings with today’s environmental needs: “Technological developments mixed with sustainability are the future of the sector, being necessary to balance the modern environments we live in alongside today’s sustainable needs.”

Sergio Schildt, president of Recoma, a company specialized in sports infrastructure, states that the main challenge of this project is the maintenance cost:

“Of course, the implementation value of a project like this is high, but the conservation value is even greater. Maintaining this type of vertical garden is extremely expensive and requires cutting-edge technology. I believe that, in Brazil, it would be possible to make it viable just by financing the cost through private companies, such as relationship marketing with the community or for environmental enhancement of their brands. In the business model we have today, for example, I don’t see it working. Now, thinking about the long term, this is a big investment, but it is worth it if we take into account the ecological point of view”, he said.

Responsible for the stadium project in Serbia, the Spanish company Fenwick Iribarren Architects (FIA) also designed the 974, Al Thumama and Education City stadiums, venues for the World Cup held in Qatar in 2022.

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