Tissot Arena – design description

The idea of building a new football stadium, hockey arena and curling arena under one roof (!) was born in 2007, when GLS Architekten won the design competition with their idea of creating a very uniform design combining all the mentioned uses in a seamless way.

To make it possible, all sports venues are placed along one axis, which is exactly the main axis along which Biel/Bienne is growing. They’re built and decorated (barely, the entirety has a very rough feeling) using the same materials: concrete, metal mesh and tinware. Meanwhile the vast roof is to be covered with 8,100 photovoltaic panels, enough to supply electricity to 500 houses.

Together with the main building also a complex of 4 training fields (3 artificial and 1 natural) was envisaged, each located along the same axis. But as the development in eastern Biel/Bienne was planned as a public-private project, it required vast commercial spaces. This is why all of the space under the pedestal is used as a ground-level shopping centre, offering 21,000 square meters for retail and nearly 1,200 underground parking spots.

The complex comprises a stadium for 5,200 people (3,200 seated and possible to expand to 10,000 in the future), the hockey arena for 6,521 people and a small curling hall. All of which, even with the rough aesthetics, was made possible for CHF 78.7 million as HRS Real Estate agreed to become the private partner. Construction was launched in 2013 and is expected to be finalized in September 2015, though the stadium is to be opened for the entire 2015/16 league season.