Looking from the right angle, you can see inside it or even through it – the revamped Erzgebirgsstadion in Aue will be cut into two parts. Presentation took place today.

The concept of Erzgebirgsstadion’s thorough redevelopment respects current location and layout of the stadium. Built in the challenging topography of Aue, the stadium would retain its southern terrace and distinctive floodlights.

Three remaining sides would be reconfigured from athletic to football-only, seeing new stands built behind both goals (west and east) and the main grandstand in the north. The structure would be simple and mostly prefabricated, but an interesting feature is also planned for stands on both ends of the field.

Each end stand would be cut in half and the thin strip of open space would be decorated by columns in club colours. This would allow people outside to get a glimpse of the atmosphere or even see through the stadium. It also has a practical use in facilitating crowd segregation between home and away followings.

The main grandstand’s external cladding is to be closely associated with mining traditions of the city and region, depicted by brown background with symbolic ‘tunnel’ cuts.

Making this plan reality would cost an estimated amount of €17.3 million. The club hopes to provide majority of the budget (€15m), partly by new member-shareholder recruitment. To provide sustainable financial situation, Erzgebirge also aim at renegotiating the stadium lease with authorities to differentiate fees depending on league the club would play in.