Philips-Stadion – Eindhoven (NL)

Hard at work in the summer holidays

If you were to delve into the history of the Netherlands, you’d come across an astonishing fact about the history of its stadia: in Eindhoven, football is older than the town. When the first stand of the Philips Stadium was built in 1916, there was no such place as Eindhoven. It wasn’t until 1920 that the city which today has a population of 200,000 was formed from five parishes. This is why football has a special place in Eindhoven: right in the city centre. You could call the present-day Philips Stadium in Eindhoven a ‘holiday job’ then the stadium was constructed during the holidays. Even though the old football ground was continually extended up until 1977, by the mid-Eighties experts reached the conclusion that the grandstand needed a complete makeover. And so from 1988 on, the PSV premiership team’s football arena was constructed piece by piece, every year in the Dutch Football League’s summer break. It took fourteen years altogether – a period in which the PSV Eindhoven team was playing against the elite of European football – for the spectacular demolition and rebuilding of the Philips Stadium in phases. They couldn’t demolish by blasting the dilapidated football arena up in 1988 because it was located in the heart of the city. The stand’s old reinforced concrete girders – each weighing some 80 tons – had to be carefully removed. And it was only after the old grandstand had been dismantled that work could commence on the south-side construction of a modern, six-storey stadium complex with changing rooms, offices and conference rooms. A promenade with restaurants was built in the shadow of the new main stand which would later encircle the stadium. The smart new glass façade conceals a Dutch ‘first’: the first business boxes in the country. There are eight rooms at the sponsors’ disposal, and 51 business seats. Armchairs, carpeting, air-conditioning – the comfort at the Eindhoven’s Philips Stadium is up in the luxury class. Four years later, in 1992, work continued on the Philips Stadium. Between the seasons, of course, whilst the players were enjoying their summer break. HBM gave the West Stand an architectural facelift. The stand was fitted out with storage rooms and a Philips Shop. After all, the electrical firm is based in Eindhoven and is the club’s biggest sponsor. In 1993 the East Stand followed, behind the other gate, with offices to be occupied by HBM itself. Eindhoven architects from AIB, van den Pauwert and van Aken then address the corners of the stadium: in summer 1994 the link between the South Stand and West Stand was extended, the following year offices sprang up in the south-east corner. In 1996 the new North Stand was furnished with a futuristic façade. The area beneath the stand is closed only during games – the façade is open the rest of the time. This makes for a superb view from the road into the modern arena, and airs the turf. The corner joints of the north complex were completed in time for EURO 2000, with the stand complexes surrounding the entire field. Nowadays the arena holds 36,500 spectators, houses three first class restaurants— including establishments with Michelin stars—and cost a total of 50 million euros. This stadium has become a show piece in the city centre, and hardly a more dignified place can be found to host the annual championship duel in the top Dutch league, the Eredivisie. While it’s true that the arch rival Ajax Amsterdam still lies ahead in terms of the number of titles, the winning trend can be claimed by PSV. Since completion of the new Philips Stadion, the Eindhoven footballers have taken home the championship cup four times, namely in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. A hat trick that is certainly attributable to the sports-minded and strategic brilliance of both coaches and athletes. But perhaps also somewhat to the ideal sports venue, a textbook example of proud tradition in a modern façade.