Metropolitano, future host of Champions League finals and the 2030 World Cup, is still not complete. Architect Antonio Ortiz admits the venue awaits a third phase of transformation, including a new façade and improved acoustics.

From La Peineta to Metropolitano

The history of Atlético’s current stadium began in the early 1990s, when Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos won the competition to build a large sports facility in Madrid’s San Blas-Canillejas district. This gave birth to La Peineta – an athletics venue for 20,000 spectators, distinguished by its monumental west stand. It was also unique because it was very synthetic; structure, form, function – everything was contained in one element and one material, which was concrete, Ortiz recalls.

Over time, the need arose to convert La Peineta into a football stadium. For Atlético, this meant a painful farewell to Vicente Calderón but also the birth of a new home. In 2017, Wanda Metropolitano opened, incorporating the preserved stand from La Peineta. It was a happy transformation, the architect stresses.

© Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

New façade as key change

Although today the stadium is regarded as one of Europe’s football icons, Ortiz points out that his work is not finished. The Metropolitano is not complete, we are still working on it, says the 78-year-old architect.

The main task for the coming years will be to create a new façade. The current outer envelope of the Metropolitano is bare concrete, visible since the inauguration in 2017. The club increasingly emphasizes that this form no longer meets modern expectations – neither aesthetic nor technological. Atlético asked us to modify the envelope to give it a different image, and we do not refuse to cover the building. I can’t understand it, they don’t consider concrete a noble material, Ortiz admits.

The new exterior is expected to be a dynamic, lightweight multimedia skin. Its key elements will be lighting systems and surfaces capable of displaying colours, patterns and even images. The inspiration comes from the world’s biggest venues: Santiago Bernabéu, which after renovation gained a futuristic LED façade, and Allianz Arena.

© Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos

Acoustics problem

Metropolitano now serves as Madrid’s largest concert arena. While the new Bernabéu struggles with noise regulation issues, Atlético’s stadium has become the stage for international stars such as Coldplay or Bad Bunny. The problem is that concertgoers often complain about sound quality. We are making interventions in certain corners to fix the sound problem in the stadium, Ortiz announces.