Sordo Madaleno unveils proposal for El Molinón stadium | all renderings © Plomp

Sordo Madaleno’s approach focuses on creating a series of semi-open spaces with a welcoming facade that integrates both new and old elements of the building with its cityscape, lending views over Isabel La Católica Park and San Lorenzo Beach. The architecture studio has designed 10 covered, open-air circulation ramps that weave around the stadium exterior. These create a visually distinct structure that highlights the role that fans—La Mareona—play in defining the stadium’s identity as they move around it. The overall effect makes for a compelling, telegenic, softly red landmark for the region. The gentle gradient of the ramps ensures independent mobility and that these walkways are comfortable for local joggers to use outside the game season. 

the project will encompass approximately 8.8 hectares of public space connected to Gijón

The new stadium design retains the position of the original pitch as well as over 28,000 sqm of the original built fabric and the number of seats for Real Sporting fans. It also builds on the pre-existing and thriving retail offer at the stadium and introduces an additional 12,600 sqm of space dedicated to a gastronomic corridor, restaurants, shops, and cultural activities. ‘Our close collaboration with Real Sporting de Gijón is about rethinking stadium design in a way that makes for a truly public place for everyone in the city to appreciate. It’s about connecting with Asturias and its people through an inclusive approach to architecture and ensuring that El Molinón thrives beyond 2030,‘ says Fernando Sordo Madaleno de Haro.

10 covered, open-air circulation ramps that weave around the stadium exterior

An important aspect of how the architects revisit the stadium as an architectural typology is creating a facility that functions beyond game days. At El Molinón, this is achieved through a mixed-use approach that includes a scenic rooftop space for hospitality and events, including exhibitions by local artists. This dimension will support the region’s cultural profile and establish El Molinón as a year-round public destination accessible to residents and visitors. Formally, the opening-up of the stadium design in a way that interacts with the surrounding parkland and invites the public realm as an extension of its architecture is typologically innovative in stadium design because conventionally, sports architects favor a more hermetic approach to enclosed buildings in isolation from their context. This openness and highly contextual approach adopted by Sordo Madaleno is also celebratory on game days as fans – La Mareona – move along the stadium ramps in a pilgrimage-like homecoming procession.

a mixed-use approach that includes a scenic rooftop space

the stadium will interact with the surrounding parkland