ARE / Arena 92, La Défense

How do we integrate a new stadium in the existing infrastructure-heavy urban context of La Defense? How do we mix a rugby stadium, a concert hall and 35.000 sqm of offices? The recently built stadiums are usually pushed outside of the cities and showed as icons from the distant networks.
Our situation is in the middle of a business district and we need to fit into a rather cartesian context.
The integration of offices in the Arena is part of this distinction. By overlaying the offices on the sport complex, as 4 corner towers, we increase the height, improve its visibility and allow for the field’s roof to slide up and down the towers cores as opposed to sideways.
The open-ability of the roof doesn’t impact on the light of the sport’s field, maintains rain protection and provides an additional 9000 square meters of profitable spaces right above the action! The Arena becomes multifunctional and cost efficient. In order to use the stadium to its full capacity, it must be flexible and adapt to any event: in this case a team of players can train upstairs while another one has a league game on the main field.