It's supposed to stand out among other 2018 World Cup venues thanks to a massive dome reaching 80 meters (height) and resembling a cut diamond. With its size it's expected to become a new landmark for this city.

Samara isn't a well known place despite its large size (over 1 million inhabitants). Lada factory, mafia wars and big, but underachieving football clubs come to mind among connotations from the past. In the future the new stadium should come to mind as well, improving Samara's image.

The arena already changed locations twice and is expected to be built in the east of Samara instead of Volga embankments. Now it seems nothing more can change as local organisers agreed on Monday there is no time to waste any more. New 44,000-seater needs to be delivered fast and with German GMP Architekten presenting their vision just now, there's still a lot of design work before construction can start.

What's getting built? A vast dome supported on large steel beams, reaching 80 meters at its highest point. External cladding of translucent panels should make the building somewhat similar with a cut diamond.

Under the dome double-tiered stands sloped at 34° at the top should accommodate the minimum number of fans for 2018 World Cup group games, some 44,000. Though FIFA expected 650 seats in skyboxes, it was agreed on Monday that luxurious rooms will be created on both sides of the pitch (instead of just the west stand), increasing the number to 1,200.

The increase was justified with rough climate of the city 1,000km east of Moscow, making richest people possibly more keen on closed rooms than open space during cold matchdays. But rich or not, all spectators are to benefit from the planned heating system

Already in November the cost was estimated at $430 million, more than 100% higher than initially planned. With the Monday's selections adding to the cost, we can expect further increase before the stadium is ready. This should be 2016, but may be 2017 as well, since it was agreed that the chosen solutions will be very challenging and we're still months from final design being delivered.