Ground broken on Milan’s Santa Giulia Arena

Article posted by Coliseum, December 5^th, 2023

Image: CTS Eventim

Construction work is underway on the Arena for Milan, a new sports and cultural events venue that will accommodate up to 16,000 visitors.

David Chipperfield Architects said the arena will form the heart of a new urban district, Santa Giulia, currently under development in the south-east of the Italian city.

A ground-breaking event took place in the presence of Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, CEO of CTS Eventim, Giuseppe Sala , Mayor of the City of Milan, Giammichele Melis, project director at Arup, and David Chipperfield.

The arena, developed in collaboration with Arup, is set to complete at the end of 2025 and will host the men’s ice hockey competitions of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games as well as the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games.

The design of the new arena will see three rings of increasing heights appear to float one above the other, wrapping around the entire building and lending it its dynamic form. Expansive outdoor areas, including a piazza of over 10,000 square metres, will provide space for social interaction.

David Chipperfield Architects further stated that Milano Santa Giulia, a new urban district, is under redevelopment in the south-east of Milan, only a few kilometres from the city centre and connected to the high-speed train network and motorway.

The centrepiece of the neighbourhood is a new arena, catering for sports and cultural events with up to 16,000 visitors.

Echoing the elliptical form of the city’s former Roman amphitheatre, the arena gives a contemporary expression to a historical archetype and creates a place for collective entertainment. It will host large concerts, sports events and festivals.

Outside of event hours, the spacious outdoor areas will provide a new opportunity for social interactions for people from the neighbourhood as well as from the whole city.

The arena, a collaboration between Arup and David Chipperfield Architects, is in the south of the site. Slightly rotated, it welcomes arriving guests from the west and draws visitors up a wide flight of steps onto a raised podium, occupying almost the entire site. Here a spacious piazza of over 10,000 square metres can be used as a venue for outdoor events.

Inside the arena, there are two tiers above the parterre level as well as an upper level with lounges and sky boxes.

All seats are accessible via spacious lobbies at all levels, as are catering and service facilities. The necessary car parking spaces are located within the podium as well as in a multi-storey car park, situated in the north of the site. In addition to measures to minimise the consumption of resources and CO2 emissions, the sustainability concept includes photovoltaic systems on the roof, largely covering the needs of the energy efficient building on site.

Construction of the new arena is expected to take around two and a half years.

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