Gewiss Stadium – design description

Atalanta asked De8 Architetti to redesign their stadium. It's the same architectural practice that had previously worked on renovation of two current stands and Atalanta's training center. While officially the project went underway only after the stadium was sold to Atalanta in 2017, preparations were ongoing earlier as well.

According to a statement from the Bergamo municipality, the club must preserve the historic facades and roofing on the west side. De8 have decided to focus mainly on rebuilding the stands behind the goals, although the eastern stand will also be modernised.

In order to reach the anticipated 24,000-seat threshold, the stands' heigh rises towards the end. New sections will have 21 rows near the historical stands and grow to 37 at full height, retaining single-tier layout.

Due to constraints of spatial and architectural nature, the stadium will have a simple yet elegant outer form. Covered with ETFE cushions in grey colours, it will only have slight accents of black and blue.

A large public plaza of over 6,000 square meters will be created in front of the south stand, with significant commercial floor space. To maximise the public space, tursntiles are hidden under upper rows of the stand itself. Parking existing on the site before will be pushed under ground.

The project started at the end of April 2019 with the reconstruction of the north stand, which was already opened to spectators at the beginning of October 2019. The second stage was the reconstruction of the east stand, preserving the historic facade. This work was carried out in summer 2020, at which time the old south stand was also fitted with new seats on a temporary basis. The complete reconstruction of this tribune will be the final stage of the work, which is scheduled to begin in May 2022 and be completed in the summer of 2023.