It’s match day at Fulham and the fans are singing along to The Clash’s London Calling. “Cause London is drowning, I live by the river,” they belt out as the punk anthem reaches its chorus. The lyric is particularly apt as this famous Premier League club is on the banks of the River Thames in one of the most picturesque parts of London.
Fulham FC first started playing at Craven Cottage in 1896 but today its ground is at the forefront of how we might enjoy football and other kinds of entertainment in the 21st century.
The Riverside Stand, which features a swimming pool, a spa, hotel rooms, a children’s play area and Italian marble wash basins in the toilets, is a world away from the traditional football stadium.
The concept is the football club doesn’t just come alive on match day once every two weeks; it will be part of the community.
So there is a café which locals can use on days when there is no football or rooms which can be rented for conferences so workers can gaze out onto the rowers gliding along the Thames.
The transformation of Fulham is the latest project of Populous, an international architecture firm which specialises in entertainment venues.
From The Sphere, the unique LED entertainment centre in Las Vegas, to Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London and now Fulham on the banks of the Thames, they make bespoke sports and music venues.
Populous are among a series of architecture firms behind some of the most iconic stadia in the world. Others include Foster + Partners (Manchester United’s new Old Trafford), GMP Architekten (Universiade Sports Center in China) and HOK (Mercedes Benz Stadium Atlanta).
The €2.3 billion redesign of Old Trafford has captured headlines amid doubts about a wider regeneration of nearby land which is needed to accommodate a 100,000-seater stadium.
More than a sports stadium
Back at Craven Cottage, the future and the past are on show.
On one side of the pitch is the grade II listed Johnny Haynes stand, with its wooden seats and decades of history.
On the other side, is the designer Riverside Stand, with its breathtaking views over the river.
Increasingly, football stadiums and music venues have become our modern cathedrals, where we come to worship our idols, be they footballers or pop stars.
But are these creations becoming a little alike? A soulless and unimaginative one size fits all? Or are they becoming multi-purpose churches of the people?
On a tour of the stand, the emphasis here is that this is not just a football stadium. There is the children’s play area with kiddy-size toilets and soft floors. Step back ten years, perhaps, and children only entered football stadiums at their peril.
The swimming pool on the roof is perhaps the piece de resistance. For members only, it says, ‘come to Fulham and take a dip by the river – if you can afford it’. Ditto the spa.
The Italian marble basins in the toilets are a world away from the usual less than savoury experience at football clubs.
The tasteful bars, five restaurants and conference rooms give a touch of class. The hotel rooms on the top floors offer an amazing view of London for the dedicated fans.
There are tapestries in the executive suites with automatic air conditioning which adjusts according to the number of people present.
Maria Knutsson-Hall, a senior architect at Populous who was involved in the design of the Riverside Stand, said the idea was how to use the building all the time.
“The concept behind the Riverside Stand is really to rethink the matchday and the non-matchday experience. So, traditionally we always see that the stadiums or stands like this are open for game day only,” she tells Euronews Culture as she stands beside the pitch.
Fulham’s ground has until now blocked a popular path alongside the Thames which forced walkers to go round the stadium to carry on their walk. Not anymore.
Walkers can pass by the front of the stadium and drop off at the café.
Fulham last won any silverware in 2002 when they walked away with the UEFA InterToto Cup. On Sunday afternoon they lifted their chances of playing in Europe next season after inflicting a first away league defeat to title chasing Liverpool.
The Riverside stand investment, which has been reported to be around €100 million, will expand capacity to about 28,000 but whether the club enlarges the club further is unclear.
Bespoke buildings
Knuttson-Hall has worked on the Sphere, and other designs at Italy's AS Roma football club and the Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg.
She says each one is designed to fit the needs of the individual club and there is a move in entertainment architecture to broaden the appeal of the stadium.
“Each of the projects that we work on have a very bespoke approach. We tend to approach the context, the location they're in, but also that club or that community in a bespoke way,” she says.
“The demographic changes, cultural behaviour changes, which also means that the design needs to be catered for. Those needs and some of the facilities and the multi-use that we're seeing in the stadium is a similar trend.”
She is referring to the boom in women’s football.
“We see suddenly a change of demographic coming to the sports venues that we are designing. It's a much wider and broader, inclusive audience that we are designing for now compared to perhaps ten, 15 years ago. That's driven mainly because of the interest in sport itself is changing, but also the rise of women's sports, which means that an inclusive design that's catering for all.”
“The music venues and the way stadiums also convert into, music performance, (shows) changes the demographic in the buildings. You can have events like at Tottenham where Beyoncé played, which would be a predominant female audience, one week and then it switches to a predominantly male audience for a football match the next week,” Knuttson-Hall explains.
Another important current in stadium design is sustainability, she says.
“The more we use those big buildings that take a lot of carbon to build, the better. But we also see a revenue increase in the buildings that we're designing by using them on a more daily basis.”
Knuttson-Hall insists every stadium project is different.
“Every project that we work on, we highly value the fans and that audience, and we try to make it a home for them. That is perhaps different from other grounds and to make sure that, you know, you don't feel like you are going into a generic building. It needs to feel like a home or a place of that community,” she says.
Since the pandemic, the desire for live experiences has grown. The future will see a marriage between technology and watching football or concerts in the traditional way.
“I think we've seen a real increase also since the pandemic. People love to come together and share moments of live experience. It's still very much alive. There is a more innovative digital, technology driven side to the work we're doing, but we're certainly not seeing a stop to the live experience as such,” says Knuttson-Hall.
“What we are seeing is that we can complement that live experience with another type of experience on the side that will enhance it. So, you know, anything from VR headsets to in your mobile phone being able to complement your live experience is certainly a way we're going forward.”
“Now today as we speak, you have quite clunky headsets, but it's very easy to see into the future that these technologies will be simplified and that you can have an overlay of, of data, for example, or, you know, other things that will give you instant playback as you can get on your TV at home.”
World Cup visions
Knuttson-Hall is involved in the design of the Mohammed bin Salman Stadium, which is a ‘hybrid’ stadium, for the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
“So you will be able to see a traditional football game being played there. But it will be enhanced by a digital feature and screens. But then also, on live events, you will be able to go there and perhaps explore the idea of e-sports events and esport football events in a different way,” she explains.
Sound, or sometimes silence, is also crucial in stadiums where people have come to express their love for their team/idol.
Mark Murphy, a co-founder of Experience Studios, a Populous-owned company which specialises in audiovisual and acoustic design, was charged with ensuring silence reigned when redesigning Centre Court at Wimbledon to maintain sound levels when the new roof was put on.
“Part of that work was to measure the sound in the old centre court just behind the baseline for the players because the concern of the club was that when you are about to win the championship there is that moment of silence and how you define that moment and make sure that you don’t lose that moment when you enclose the building.
“That was unique for me - understanding what it means, what it means to the fans, to the club, to the players what is exceptional to them.”
