The municipality of Braga, Portugal, sought to integrate a degraded area into the life of the city with nature, through a bioclimatic design that sought to minimize the impact of the architectural intervention on the environment.
The Municipal Stadium of Braga was conceived as a model of sustainable architecture, its main objective was to recover a territory that was degraded, product of the extraction of granite from Dume, on the northern slope of Monte Castro, and return it to Braga as a healthy space, in balance with nature, open and as a sports centre of the city.
The 40-metre-deep quarry that gave rise to the project has a privileged location between Dume and the centre of Braga, generating a revitalising connector of the urban fabric for mass sporting events. These meetings, in addition, are generators of an infrastructure in the surroundings that collaborates with the needs of sporting events.
Based on the exhaustive analysis of the state in which the area was, the first general guideline of the project was designed: to transform the place while preserving nature in a sustainable way. The first guiding premises of the project arose from the study of the bioclimatic behaviour of the area and the problems that arose from the place and destination of the building that would be installed there to be part of the venues of the Euro 2004, with observations from UEFA according to orientation and lighting.
The Architect Souto de Moura is the one who drew the main guidelines for the recovery and is the one who designed the sports venue with national and international significance for its sculptural character.
Firstly, the walls of the quarry were adapted to prevent possible collapses by anchoring them in rock and soil. In addition, a complete sanitation of the place. It was essential to stabilize the site of the Stadium to prevent future structural pathologies.
At the same time, various topographical, geological, and environmental studies were conducted that made it possible to draw up a guiding line of the project that guaranteed optimal location conditions. In a comprehensive way, the prevailing winds, temperatures, soil type and rainfall and the management of rainwater from the grandstand roofs were analysed.
A sustainable project was achieved where an innovative storm drainage system was designed to slow the descent of rainwater, nourish the soils and ensure the sustainability of the multiple surrounding green spaces through sculptural water channels at the ends of the roof with gargoyles.
The architectural strategy for the building development, with a capacity for more than 30,000 spectators, is to ensure its integration into the natural and urban context through squares at diverse levels of access to the “Nascente” and “Poente” stands. At the same time, it should be noted that the topography of the quarry allows the largest building to decrease from the maximum height allowed, and thus recover the horizon of the original landscape, visually integrating with the urban context of Braga.
The stadium is the spectacular natural setting for sporting events, the current headquarters of the Sporting Clube de Braga, consisting of two exposed concrete stands on the sides of the playing field, with a cable cover that links the two stands, a span of 220m. It consists of three circular galleries that cross the sixteen support partitions and has two floors of underground parking.
The gesture of the absence of the stands in the goal area is to be able to integrate the landscape into the sporting event, a visual exchange with the environment.
The reconversion of this urban space meant a great step towards a responsible perspective proposed by the project of Arch. Souto de Moura. The beginning of a path towards the construction of an identity in favour of environmental awareness embodied through an urban sculptural landmark of exposed concrete was decisive in revitalizing the place.
Arch. Bernadette Chaix
Architect FADU UBA – Argentina
Member of the Professional Practice Commission of the Central Society of Architects (SCA).
Professor of Design Structural at the Architecture College of the University of Belgrano (UB).
Data Sheet:
Project: Municipal Stadium of Braga, Headquarters of the Sporting Clube de Braga.
Design authors: Eduardo Souto de Moura
Type of Sport: Football
Year of construction: 2000-2003
Location: Braga City, Portugal.
Capacity: 30,154 spectators.
