De Moderne Kuip – design description

De Moderne Kuip is a 'last minute' concept introduced during advanced planning for the Feyenoord City project. The scheme aims at being an alternative, should the more ambitious plan fall through for any reason and the idea of upgrading De Kuip once more became viable. It's a much cheaper programme than Feyenoord City (stadium cost of €200 million compared to €444 million), which has the advantage of salvaging the iconic De Kuip for football use.

Interestingly, De Moderne Kuip would do to the old stadium what it does to its name: include the historical part within a modern form. Not only the monument-listed grandstands from 1937 would be preserved, but also the roof added in 1994. The cover would be lifted from place and incorporated into a much larger new roof in a unique piece of engineering. Even more, despite the stadium's size not needing it, the free-standing floodlight masts would be retained, albeit being moved further away to make room for expansion.

In order to increase capacity from 51,000 to 63,000, a new third ring of seating would be created on top of the existing auditorium, technically and aesthetically i line with the old steel skeleton. It would be erected on a brand new structure built outside of the existing ground. Expanding outwards means additional room for floor spaces, including HoReCa uses, a total of 70,000 square meters.

Despite very limited ingeration into the historical stands (only part of the lower ring would be replcaed with boxes and lounges), the stadium would still meet international standards in terms of hospitality, offering roughly 10% to business guests (6,250 seats plus private spaces, totalling 6,500 m²). This could, according to its proponents, provide even greater matchday revenue leap than Feyenoord City despite much lower spending.

De Moderne Kuip is the most advanced De Kuip revamp proposal in terms of masterplanning for the surrounding area, particularly the 'triangle' (15 hectares) in which the stadium sits. It would house numerous new uses, predominantly housing and commerce. Meanwhile, dropping the Feyenoord City project would mean a better position for new bridge across Nieuwe Maas, enabling a tram connection through it and boosting public transport use on matchdays.