Content: Reconstruction

Reconstruction

The new Stadion Letzigrund is a multifunctional arena without commercial service areas which, depending on the occasion, has capacity for 25,000 (football), 30,000 (athletics) or up to 50,000 (open air concerts) guests.

Stadion Letzigrund has been Zurich’s most popular new construction for many years. Its clear and light architecture is convincing; people took a shine to the new stadium long before its completion. The construction was decided on, planned and built within the shortest period of time and this made it possible to take part in EURO 2008, which the Swiss had given up hope of, and gave the Zurich stadium controversy an unexpected, positive turnaround: the miracle of Zurich.

Zurich has a new, modest, but nevertheless striking, construction: Stadion Letzigrund. In the city centre, on the site of the old stadium, it carries on the great history of this sports venue, where as many as 24 world records have been set since 1959. The clear, architectonic form of the new stadium is impressive, and the imposing, almost floating roof with its characteristic lighting and friendly openness invites you to visit it. People loved the old Letzigrund; they will take the new one to their hearts, not least because the accelerated construction enabled Zurich to participate in the EURO 2008 championships. Letzigrund always has been and will remain the stadium of the Zurich dwellers. It is designed for top-class sport at world-class level, but it also has a part to play in popular sports. It is a technically demanding construction, but still appears as simple and clear as an antique sports facility. It only towers slightly above the level of the surrounding streets and surprises visitors with its extensive spectator area which is embedded into the ground.

Source: Stadion Letzigrund Zurich, book, Daniel Kunz

1997 Landmark decision of the local council for the extension of Stadion Letzigrund.
2001 Architectural competition for a multifunctional stadium on the Hardturm site. In the same year, the Hardturm AG stadium decided to construct a dedicated football stadium.
2002 The local council decided to develop a stadium suitable for athletics. It expressly relinquished a commercial services area.
2003 Four ideas were selected for project specification out of twelve project proposals.
2004 In April, the jury selected the Corculum Impressum project as the winner. In September, Credit Suisse decided to take the appeal against the football stadium on to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, and the city council brought Letzigrund into play as a potential football European championship venue. In November, the local council approved an increase of the development credit by 82 votes to 30.
2005 In January, the city council signed the stadium agreements for the Euro 2008 football championship with the SFV and UEFA. On 9 February, the local council approved the reconstruction of Letzigrund with 116 votes to 0, the development plan with 115 votes to 0 and additional credit for the UEFA EURO 2008™ with 115 votes to 0. On 5 June, the city of Zurich’s voting population ratified the credit for the stadium totalling CHF 110 million gross with 75.25 per cent of ‘yes’ votes. And with 69.47 per cent of ‘yes’ votes, clear approval also for increasing the stadium credit by CHF 11.3 million for playing three group matches at the UEFA EURO 2008™. In August, the planning permission became legally binding and the sole contractor was selected. The official ground-breaking ceremony took place on 15 November.
05-07 The reconstruction of Letzigrund was carried out in two phases. A part of the new grandstand was created on the former training grounds from November 2005 to August 2006. During this phase, the old stadium continued to operate as normal. In spring 2006, FC Zurich played its last game at Letzigrund before relocating to the Hardturm stadium for over a year. On 18 August, thousands of spectators watched the ‘Weltklasse Zurich’ athletics meeting in the old stadium for the last time. Directly thereafter, the second phase of the reconstruction commenced, and Letzigrund then became very much a major construction site: the demolition of the old stadium (until the end of 2006), the excavation and the construction of the new stadium, which had already been completed by the end of August 2007.