Volgograd Arena: a case study for would-be architects

Volgograd Arena was for the first time visited by architects-to-be. Through the stadium example the students of Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering of VolgSTU study the process of constructing large sports facilities with international standards applied. The tour series of tours for the 4th year students is organized by the general contractor JSC Stroytransgaz.

In the course of the tour the students were showed to the stadium premises, and got to the football field where the temporary metal structures of the cable roof are assembled at the moment. From the beginning of the tour it was clear that the builders dealt with specialists: the students were making the most out of their visit asking competent questions. For example, they were interested in how the rain water was going to be drained away from the stadium membrane roof; the volume of snow load held by the cable system; solutions for organization of entrances for persons with reduced mobility. The STG expert for general construction issues Aleksander Meshcherskiy and the customer’s (Sport-In FGUP) project head Yuriy Barabanov - both being former graduates of the institute - answered all questions of their future colleagues. 

“I am overwhelmed! The stadium looks very beautiful and solid as a rock at the same time. The construction scale is amazing! Getting close to such enormous installation and machinery one can’t help but feel being a party to the sublime. I am glad that apart from the stadium there will be new landscaped areas for people to have a rest”, shared her impressions Ksenia Bolotova, a student of Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

According to the students themselves, visiting the construction site is the best way to know the material of a number of subjects they study at the university on a practical level. For example, a separate module in the university course of studies is dedicated to design of sports facilities. In 2015 the would-be architects presented their project of a sports and health center, and one of them even manually cut a tiny copy of the multi-beam structures of the Volgograd Arena facade.

The future designers are next to visit the “construction project of the century”. A total of over 80 of the VolgSTU students will visit the site.