Birmingham’s new ‘Powerhouse’ Stadium

red10

All a bit too willy wonka for me, better in the flesh maybe but very cartoonish in the rendered images

Simonsen

cabbles said:

Personally, and this might just be my age, but all new grounds are completely devoid of any soul, character and atmosphere in my opinion, regardless of how amenable or aesthetically pleasing they look.

They’re just another example of how football has tried to cater for wealthy individuals outside of the core fan bases that exist from generation to generation.

I’ve done 100 plus grounds in my life (including old and new stadiums), and I can categorically say there’s more charm, character, atmosphere and soul in a place like Port Vale or Grimsby, than there is in somewhere like the new Tottenham stadium.  They’re not building these places as football grounds.  They’re building them as multipurpose commercial venues where they want to host Jake Paul fights.  

I might sound like some grouchy old man (I’m only 43), but the true essence of what a football ground should be lives in the likes of Kenilworth road, Villa Park, Loftus Road, The Valley or any other original stadium.  People often describe Kenilworth road as a shit hole, but ask say, a West Ham fan if they would prefer that to the monstrosity they currently play in.  I think they’d bite your hand off to get an atmosphere like that of an original ground again.  I reckon it will be the same for Spurs fans soon too.  The initial ‘wow’ factor is diminishing, and ultimately they’re left with one of the slightly more modern, but still soulless stadiums, to have a ‘match day experience’.  

I hope Villa, Man Utd, Liverpool etc don’t ever go down these routes.  I think the Holt end at Villa is one of the most impressive stands ever to have been built.  Although Newcastle and places like Wolves have been completely redeveloped, they’ve still got authenticity- I’ll take those any day over a new stadium 

Yep...give me a Baseball Ground, The Bridge or even the Old Den, any day. Every old ground had its own soul. 

TootingRedArmy

One has to applaud the Blues owners who have shown real ambition & backed the club with $$$ to build a brand spanking new stadium with a huge increase in capacity. 100% built to accommodate concerts, boxing matches, NFL.. etc to fill the 60K seats.
smart move as the midlands needs a stadium for England games & a huge concert venue.

I’d be happy for Charlton to just get that old rat Roland off our back & buy The Valley back & build a new JS stand  connecting ES & WS. 

The Blues design is Peaky Blinders meets Battersea power stadium, IMO naff & misguided…chimneys just don’t match the rest of stadium. A new stadium design presents the opportunity for a world class architect to create a state of the art contemporary stadium with flair & imagination. Brummie chimneys & Man U’s Circus tent are just badly conceived and poorly designed. Two shining literally examples of modern stadium design are Everton & Spurs grounds, of course fans will hanker for the old grounds but these are superbly designed. I’ve been in WHL twice Spurs V Man City an excellent view & a concert earlier this year…again top notch. Makes sense to get more use from these stadiums so can see reasoning behind new Blues ground shame design is naff.

ElfsborgAddick

se9addick said:

When we went up there for the away match last year I walked to St Andrews from New St Station. It’s about a ~20 min walk, I’m sure loads of you have done it before. I couldn’t believe how much wasteland and derelict sites there were on that walk, this is all in a pretty central part of the second largest city in the country. 

If this stadium project helps revitalise the area then I’m all for it, regardless of how silly the stadium itself looks.

Be grateful if you did not do that walk in the 80's.

It's like Kensington now in comparison.

Covered End

Yes if they build a large multi purpose venue it’s a good idea.

But that looks an absolute monstrosity, so I hope it goes ahead 🤣

Mind you whatever it looks like will not affect the success/attendances.

SouthLincsAddick

It seems like it was designed by an American architect whose only exposure to Birmingham comes from a handful of Peaky Blinders episodes.