National Football Stadium

Estadio Nacional de Fútbol de Venezuela, Caracas - created in collaboration with engineering firms Arup and schlaich bergermann und partner - is set in parkland on a hillside overlooking the Venezuelan capital.

RSHP’s first football stadium is the result of an initial approach by Mayor Jorge Rodriguez to look at the design of a new bus station and masterplan for the area known as La Rinconada 8.5km south-west of the capital. This masterplan includes a transport interchange (linking a new bus station with existing metro and train stations) and also establishes a new metropolitan park protecting the surrounding hillsides from further development. Within the park, existing sports facilities, including the listed Arthur Froehlich-designed racecourse, will now be augmented by a new baseball stadium, a geodesic dome for events and a colourful 50,000 capacity bowl-shaped national football stadium, providing a new focus for leisure activities in the city and an additional eight hectares of public space.

The football stadium, which features terraces cut into the hillside that give way to a series of floating esplanades providing access to the various levels, is a lightweight addition to the surrounding topography with deliberate gaps left in the structure to provide spectacular views of the city to the northeast. A brightly-coloured bicycle wheel canopy roof hovers over the complex, which will be FIFA certified and play host to Caracas FC.