Jury Vote

For the 5th time we invited a Jury of architectural experts who have cast their votes independently of the Public Vote, albeit at the same time. The Jury began work on February 5. 10 finalist stadiums were announced on February 26 and on March 7 we learned the name of the next Stadium of the Year. Each of them were ranked in three categories: Architectural value (maximum of 4 pts), Functionality (maximum of 4 pts) and Innovation (maximum of 2 pts). Please see the results below!

The list of architects taking part in this edition can be found below.

NICK BIRMINGHAM, Arup Associates, London | Nick leads large architectural and multidisciplinary teams, driving and facilitating the successful delivery of high quality, well resolved and efficient sports facilities.

As a project design leader he is responsible for all aspects of building design, team management (of architectural teams greater than 50 people), and cross discipline co-ordination; from project conception, through technical design development stages, to construction completion.

Nick works within the sports team at Arup delivering World Class venues, where his skills manipulating and understanding complex geometries are fundamental. This tied together with his in depth knowledge across a variety of sporting typologies, allows him to push what is possible in the future of sports venues. He utilises 3D design parametric tools, to generate, manipulate, and optimise complex structural, façade and roof geometry in order to maximise the efficiency and experience of world class buildings.

Nick's stadium design experience ranges from Olympic venues (the official Tokyo 2020 design, joint venture with Zaha Hadid Architects), through FIFA World Cup stadia (Qatar 2022 semi-demountable bowl design), Premier League stadia (Cardiff City Stadium expansion of 2013) to even NFL. He also worked on some of the most impressive Middle-Eastern sports facilities, to name just King Abdullah SC Stadium in Jeddah and Khalifa Olympic Tennis Stadium in Doha.

RICCARDO CESTARI, AND Architects, London | Riccardo is a London based Architect with 17+ years’ experience across a host of disciplines including commercial, health care, residential, maritime and industrial, with a specialism and passion for stadium design and sport-lead master planning.

Riccardo started his Architecture career in his native Italy going on to complete his Masters Degree in London whilst working for renown firms like S&P Architects and Steffian Bradley Architects. Riccardo currently works at London based AND Architects and is responsible for leading large sports, leisure and commercial projects.

His zest for sport, most notably football, has galvanized Riccardo into specializing in the sports sector and his passion visibly translates in the architecture and design of each of his projects. To date Riccardo has successfully worked on the Luton Town FC, Barnet FC sports led development projects in UK and on the Vicenza Calcio and Bassano Virtus masterplans in his native Italy.

He believes that the design of each stadium/venue should be unique and respond to the local context, people and most of all, the supporters. The focus should be on the fans and their experience inside and outside the venue. With the move towards technology-driven intelligent/green stadiums, it's important that these developments enhance rather than distract the spectators from the main sporting spectacle.

Riccardo’s sport-lead master planning projects to date include:

• Power Court masterplan, a mixed used residential-led scheme with retail, commercial, and leisure developments and a new 17,500 all-seated stadia – UEFA Category 4 for Luton Town FC;
• The Hive Football Centre and a stadium of 8,000, a mixed used community led scheme with commercial, medical and leisure facilities for Barnet FC;
• New Menti Stadium masterplan, a mixed used education-led scheme with commercial and leisure developments and a new 23,000 all seated stadia – UEFA Category 4 for Vicenza Calcio;
• New Bassano Stadium masterplan, a mixed used scheme with commercial and retail developments and a new 8,000 all seated stadia – UEFA Category 3 for Bassano Virtus 55 ST.

BÜNYAMİN DERMAN, DB Architects, Istanbul | Bünyamin Derman (b. 1965) is a Turkish architect who graduated from the Yıldız Technical University Faculty of Architecture in İstanbul. He has participated in national and international competition projects, winning many prizes and awards. Some of them are Muğla Dalaman Airport (1st prize), Khandama International Urban Design Competition (1st prize), Graphisoft Park International Competition (2nd prize), İzmir International Urban Design Competition (2nd prize), İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport (2nd prize), İzmir Opera House (2nd prize), 212 Shopping Mall (1st prize) in the invited competition for Edip Holding Beşiktaş Vodafone Park – Stadium of the Year 2016.

He also gave lectures at several platforms and served as jury member at national and international competitions. His projects and articles have been published in various architectural magazines. He serves as Professor at İstanbul Kültür University and İstanbul Technical University.

Bünyamin Derman is the founder partner of DB Architects, which was established in 1995. The office has grasped a creation philosophy in which intuition, knowledge and experience become the driving motives, enabling them to introduce significant work on different scales. The practice covers: Architecture – stadiums, shopping malls, office buildings, institutional, community and residential, urban planning, interior design and project management.

MARIA SIPIŃSKA-MAŁASZYŃSKA, PhD, APA Sipińska-Małaszyński, Poznan | First woman ever to take part in Stadium of the Year Jury, this young creator from Greater Poland was born into a family of famous architects. She earned her Masters with honours at the Poznan University of Technology, also having studied at Politecnico di Milano and Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Academy of Architecture and Urban Design in Tilburg.

After internships in New York (Richard Meier & Partners Architects) and Italy (Luca Stevanin Studio della Architettura) she returned to Poznan and joined Ewa & Stanisław Sipińscy - Pracownia Architektoniczna. In 2008 she left for Warsaw, joined JEMS Architekci and soon afterwards landed a job at Poland's grandest stadium, PGE Narodowy as deputy manager for finishing works and project manager. The subject of stadiums resurfaced in her PhD thesis, written under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Kuryłowicz and Prof. Ewa Kuryłowicz, authors of the iconic Białystok Stadium.

In 2012-2014 she authored numerous scientific articles about football stadiums and in 2015 began work as chairman and chief designer APA Sipińska Małaszyński. Privately mother of two adorable children.

SERGEI TCHOBAN, SPeeCH and Tchoban Voss Architekten, Moscow | Sergei Tchoban (born 9 October 1962) is a Russian and German architect working in various cities in Europe and the Russian Federation. He is a member of the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Union of Architects of Russia and the Union of Artists of Russia. Graduated from the Architecture Faculty at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in St Petersburg.

Founder of the Tchoban Foundation Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin. Head of architecture firms SPEECH (Russia) and Tchoban Voss Architekten (Germany). Has designed more than 40 buildings in numerous sectors, including culture, office, commercial and major sports venues and won numerous architecture prizes.

In 2008, together with Sergey Kuznetsov he established the architectural magazine speech :. Sergei Tchoban was the curator of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture two times: in 2010 he curated the project “Russia Factory” (together with Sergey Kuznetsov, Pavel Khoroshilov, Grigory Revzin), in 2012 – the project “i-city/i-land” (together with the commissary of the pavilion Grigory Revzin, co-curator Sergey Kuznetsov and Valery Kashirina), which was awarded with a Special Mention – the first time that Russia won an award at the Architectural Biennale.

Jury Vote Regulations

1. The Jury Vote runs independently from the Public Vote. Its result will reveal our second Stadium of the Year winner.
2. The Jury consists of highly-experienced architects from various countries.
3. Each Juror ranks every stadium individually. First a knock-out round reveals shortlist of 10 finalist stadiums. Then every finalist is evaluated in more detail.
4. The stadiums are graded based on best available audio-visual materials and texts. The criteria are limited only to aspects possible to verify at this early stage of each stadium’s operation.
5. Announcement of the result is expected on March 7, along with results of the Public Vote.