coface Arena, Mainz

A vibrant landmark visible from afar: HBM is building a distinctive, striking and red stadium for FSV Mainz 05 football club outside the city gates of this German regional capital. The innovative concept – conceived by architects agn Niederberghaus & Partner – of the new Coface Arena, with four separate stands, each framed by a huge, red, goal-post arch, certainly makes it distinct from many other new stadia.

Even from a long way off, the façade of the Coface Arena leaves you in no doubt as to who will be moving in here: the red-and-whites of FSV Mainz 05. The rich red colour sets a confident example, just like the Bundesliga club. And it’ll soon all be about football. With its four single-tier stands, the edifice is evocative of the classic, atmospheric stadia of old in the UK: tight onto the pitch, steep and with a high proportion of standing room. With a total capacity of around 33,500, there are more than 13,700 spaces reserved for home and away fans to stand. From an optical point of view, the stands become wider the higher up you go, creating the effect of a sloping curve. Then again, they don’t stand completely alone – the terraces in the lower section of the corners being enclosed. Particularly eye-catching is the stadium roof, which covers all of the stands and plays with the light thanks to transparent elements in the corners and at the front. Future visitors to the Coface Arena will be fittingly welcomed: the spectacular gateway through which the majority of fans will make their way as they arrive at the stadium via Mainz University’s tram stop is the main stand. Inside this stand are five fully equipped levels. A striking, solid, square block juts out of the glass façade, picking up on the red, goal-post arch as a key visual element of all the stands. This square block belongs to the almost 3,000-m2 VIP lounge, which protrudes from the main body of the stadium over a length of 40 metres, is 24 metres deep and 13 metres high, and gives the stadium its distinctive, indeed unmistakeable, character. This attached cube, that provides additional space in the form of a ground-level tunnel that runs around the entire stadium, serves as an accreditation point for visiting VIPs. On the inner side, the new main stand offers seats for 5,200 fans, some 2,100 of which in the centre section are reserved for corporate clients, who can access the VIP lounge inside the building from their seats. This section also accommodates the 150 press desks and the main camera positions. The outer blocks of the main stand seat 2,450 fans (with no VIP access) across 23 rows, which roughly corresponds to the number of rows in the main stand of the club’s old stadium, the Bruchwegstadion. Mainz 05 will move into the red dream in time for the kick off of the Bundesliga season 2011/2012.