ARX retractable pitch-kinetic architecture tech

Article posted by Coliseum, May 29^th, 2026

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Puneet Khunger, Director of ARX, is a leading expert in global venue design and kinetic architecture with over 20 years of experience in the field. Khunger now leads ARX’s efforts to advance retractable pitch and moving structure technology, strengthening client relationships and guiding transformative projects from concept to completion.

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In an exclusive conversation with ‘Coliseum’, Puneet Khunger Director, ARX, UK, talks about retractable pitch systems and presents a case study of the 62,850-seat Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England (UK). He says that there are currently only two dividing retractable pitch systems in the world – one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the other one at the 83,186-capacity Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, while the rest of the moving pitches are single tray systems. He also shares that the Kinetics Solutions Group of which ARX is a part has completed the largest pitch pocket in the world and the retractable roof acoustic seals at the 50,000-capacity Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong.

ARX

Sheffield (UK)-based ARX solves complex kinetic challenges for the world’s most ambitious architectural projects. They design, build and install some of the world’s most iconic kinetic architecture.

Kinetics Solutions Group

Puneet Khunger started by stating, “ARX is part of the Kinetics Solutions Group which has four verticals within it. There is SCX (Specialist Handling Solutions). SCX is basically into high integrity cranes. There’s DHX (Denley Hydraulic Solutions) which is an in- house hydraulics function that we have where we do precision hydraulics mostly for our own projects. And then there is the in-house service and maintenance called ISX (In-Service Support Solutions) which has long-term operational contracts. So, it is a fully integrated kinetic engineering design and build company that is based in Sheffield in the United Kingdom.”

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Added Khunger, “We did our first kinetic architecture retractable tray project at the Ascot Racecourse in England (UK). The Tottenham retractable pitch, which buolt on these principles, was fabricated in our Sheffield facility. At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the field changes from a football field to a National Football League (NFL) or concert field. Now, just talking about the design itself, this pitch system moves laterally into three parts and then slides under the South Stand. The total weight of the pitch system and the soil to make it feel like real ground is about 10,000 tons. The whole process takes less than half an hour. It takes more time to set up the rest of the field then it does to actually make the pitch movement happen.”

“So, there’s a lot of clever engineering that has gone into it and really if we think about the technology it is quite simple. There are wheels, rails and sides that allow this movement to happen. The pitch trays themselves are composed of multiple modules. All of these modules were fabricated and then taken to the site. The important thing to consider over here is that the pitch needs to feel like a real field. The other thing that really works well over here is the joints so every single time the pitches come together you have been able to play on it immediately.

Wrap-up

Retractable Pitch Systems

First System

Puneet Khunger wrapped up by talking about the retractable pitch systems, “In the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the sides open up, the pitch divides and then it slides on the three rails under the South Stand. The key thing over here if you see it is that this system allows you to have structural support in the stand. If there is a single tray then that becomes a bit of a complication transferring the complexity from the pitch system to the structural design of the stand which almost has to behave like a 3D truss.”

Second System

Here, the pitch is divided, and moved to an underground store (like in the 83,186-capacity Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid). Here the trays can move both laterally and lengthwise into a deep, climate-controlled underground storage.

Third System

“The third system is the single tray system that we see at the 63,400-capacity State Farm Stadium in Glendale (US) where the entire pitch slides and sits outside. I think one difference over here is that in the first and the second systems you could, because of the size of the trays, themselves fit them underneath the stands but in the third system you have to move it outside. And as I said the complexity shifts from the pitch system to the system of the design stand itself.”

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