San Mamés Stadium Athletic Club Bilbao, Basque Architecture, New Spanish IDOM Building Design
San Mamés Stadium Athletic Bilbao
15 July 2020
San Mamés Stadium Athletic Club of Bilbao
Design: IDOM
Location: San Mamés all-seater football stadium, Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.
San Mamés Stadium Athletic Club of Bilbao
Athletic Club of Bilbao is one of the big clubs in European football and its previous stadium, over a hundred years old, was one of the legendary ones, popularly referred to as the cathedral of football.

photos courtesy of architects
Located practically in the same place as the existing one, the new stadium overlaps with the old San Mames. This fact forced its construction to be carried out in two phases in such a way that it prevented the team from having to play away. One of the main challenges in the design of the New San Mames was maintaining the intense and magical football atmosphere of the old Cathedral. This effect has not only been sustained but increased, thoroughly satisfying the demands of one of the best fan bases in the world.

The location of the new stadium, at the end of the urban mesh of the expansion district of Bilbao, peeping over the estuary with privilege, turns the building into a piece of architecture that must be introduced categorically and with force, but at the same time, respecting the rest of the buildings that make up that area of the city. From this reflection comes one of the first aspects bo...