At the end of a 10-year process, the renovated Estadio Santiago Bernabéu became a reality with the start of the 2024/25 football season.
The transformation of the Estadio Bernabeu

(Ph. Marcus Bredt).
Since its inauguration in 1947, the stadium of Madrid, and of Real Madrid, has been one of the leaders of a path that placed the visible structure and Brutalism at the centre of the aesthetics of sports facilities – an aesthetic that was in fact not very sophisticated and completely at the service of form and functional needs. Today, with the completed renovation project, the stadium finally finds a unique and recognisable aesthetic key and presents itself as a true symbol of contemporary architecture for both the city of Madrid and European football.


Concept
The design competition for the restyling of the facility had been won in 2014 by the team composed of gmp Architekten, L35 Arquitectos and Ribas & Ribas Arquitectos. The process had then materialised with the start of work in 2019 (partially slowed down by the pandemic period), keeping at the centre the objective of preserving the iconic and enveloping impact – between the bleachers and the pitch – of the previous version of the stadium, while elevating its image to a more symbolic status.
The history of the Bernabéu (whose name celebrates the memory of Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid’s symbol as a footballer and president) has always been marked by an evolution that has modified and strengthened the stadium, especially in size and in particular with the expansion of the early 1990s (made inspired by the external towers and the third ring of San Siro), without ever really distorting its image but rather layering it with punctual and targeted interventions.



The idea of the new project, on the other hand, was based precisely on this point, replacing the Brutalist exoskeleton with a steel shell enveloping the actual structure, repositioning the building and its proportions in relation to the surrounding city context. This accentuated the role of the stadium as a contemporary architectural object, while retaining an overall dimensioning that manages to dialogue with the built environment without overpowering it. The effect is almost sculptural, in line with the concept of a form that defines space but is at the same time a consequence of certain design objectives.
While the new design gives the stadium a univocal aesthetic sense for the first time, the capacity has only partially changed (from 81 thousand to 85 thousand seats) while the new choices of space and architecture allow the inclusion of services and spaces that are much more usable by the public and useful for activities and events.


Facade
The centrepiece of the new Bernabéu is the shell with continuous development around the stadium. Made with a sunshade effect (composed of 7,500 stainless steel slats), its horizontality emphasises the fluid and varied geometry of its curves. The cue is the reflection of light: the structure gives a dynamic effect that makes the building come alive in an ever-changing way during the day in the eyes of the observer, both from the square and the surrounding streets, and is then emphasised by LED backlighting at night.
From the very beginning of the idea process, the design team had in mind a cladding that could be flexible and dynamic but at the same time recognisable. The choice of this fluid geometry, its proportions and the different curves of its profile, succeed in creating a varied perception in the eyes of visitors. It also facilitated the redesigning of the outdoor areas, finding new useful spaces and breaking away from the pattern of the static block.

The stadium thus takes on the appearance of a giant ‘in motion’: ironically, its impressiveness is lightened by the combination of the curves with the semi-transparent effect of the sunshade. The latter also guarantees natural light and ventilation towards the interior, which can be modulated thanks to the possibility of mechanically varying the inclination of the louvers as required.
Exterior cladding and roof
The previous version of the Bernabéu had 58 external entrances, but none of them were the ‘main’ ones in terms of size or hierarchical importance, and there was a lot of intermingling between the surrounding highways and pedestrian access to the facility.
Now the solution of the shell – which made it possible to obtain a ‘covered’ space of about 15 metres between itself and the stadium proper, useful for organising commercial activities and accesses – has ensured that the design of the external public areas is freed up: the west side is re-proposed in natural connection with the large newly-built square in front of the Plaza de los Sagrados Corazones, which functions as an invitation space to the main entrance of the facility. The access routes for cars (with the addition of an underground car park) are minimised in visual impact by vegetation and street furniture, and the area has become a public space sheltered from outside traffic, assuming the role of a perfect meeting point for fans at matches.

A newly built large driveway tunnel has solved and will also improve all operational needs and the passage of vehicles both during the week and on match days, without interfering with the square, while the eastern side, towards Avenida Castellana, has also been cleared and redesigned with the creation of a larger access space, levelling the street level with that of the stadium.
The outer shell is therefore the key element of the Bernabéu’s renovation, and even more so because it is in symbiosis with the roof structure that naturally complements it. With a retractable structure (opening/closing in 35 minutes), supported by 106-metre long compression beams placed on the historic corner towers, and with a two-ring structure suspended with tie rods, the roof (with a total weight of around 35,000 tonnes) is the shell’s cap element and is completed at its base by the panoramic terrace with a 360° view of the city, another of the project’s most important innovations.
Internally, the famous five tiers of bleachers that have made the Bernabéu one of the most fascinating football stadiums in the world have been preserved.


During the construction phases, the most invasive intervention was carried out on the entire fifth ring, reconstructed in conjunction with the demolition of the old roof and the construction of the new roof; and on the first ring of bleachers, excavated away and rebuilt to be optimally remodelled both with respect to the rest of the cavea but above all by virtue of the new playing surface, with the innovative solution of the retractable pitch and the entire technological configuration for the sliding system and the underground storage cavea.
The foldaway retractable pitch
The foldaway retractable pitch system is perhaps the most important innovation within the restyling project of the Bernabéu Stadium.
Developed by the company Sener, it is based on the mechanism of dividing the main natural grass pitch (for football) into 6 longitudinal sections, each 15 metres wide, which are slid horizontally towards the side of the Castellana grandstand (west) and then stacked vertically, by an automatic system, inside an underground recess that descends to a height of -30 metres.

The sliding system consists of 12 track units, with a model A75 rail embedded in a concrete slab, all manufactured by the Dutch company edilon)(sedra.
The packet stacking system was the best choice, in a context where the stadium is compressed by the urban centre and has no external lateral running spaces as other examples considered by the designers such as the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen (one of the stadiums pioneering this technology) or the recent Tottenham Stadium in London.

The longitudinal sections, which are taken underground, are accommodated in a specific hangar equipped with irrigation and artificial lighting systems that guarantee the maintenance of the grass surface and optimal conditions in view of the subsequent post-event repositioning. The underground storage area is also equipped with access for the gardening team, who can continuously monitor every parameter even at this stage.
The disappearance of the main lawn then reveals the secondary sub-surface, an artificial turf field that can be adapted, covered or equipped for any other event, fair or music concert.


If sporting (but non-football) events are organised, in fact, temporary bleacher sectors can be mounted on the artificial pitch, with two main mirror-image grandstands at the half-court line, thus subdividing the space into two ideal playing fields: here one can opt, for example, for a basketball parquet on one side and a clay court for tennis on the other, thus being able to host two sporting events at the same time, in the same place and in perfect viewing conditions and comfort for the spectators as well.