Plans have been unveiled for East Austin District, a new multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex in the US city.
Design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released a first look at what it claims to be Austin’s first professional sports stadium, which will also host workspaces, convention space, retail, medical facilities, and a large music arena.
The East Austin District in Texas will feature a 40,000-seat stadium designed for football and rugby, which will be connected to a 15,000-capacity multi-purpose arena. It will be a loose collection of buildings covered by a shared, latticed rooftop.
The roof will segment each area by function, while still allowing visitors to experience a variety of indoor and outdoor programmes.
“Like a collective campus rather than a monolithic stadium, the East Austin District unifies all the elements of rodeo and soccer into a village of courtyards and canopies. Embracing Austin’s local character and culture, the East Austin District is a single destination composed of many smaller structures under one roof,” said Bjarke Ingels, BIG’s founding partner.
There are eight outdoor courtyards in the district which will be used throughout the year and include public parks, plazas, food trucks and smaller concerts.
Austin Sports & Entertainment, which has been working closely with BIG, has been pushing to raise funding for the project, although they have declined to disclose the projected cost.
“We are in active discussions with leading global sports and entertainment organisations, including our partner Rodeo Austin as well as various corporations, to serve as anchors to accelerate the goals of the Spirit of East Austin Forum,” said Sean Foley and Andrew Nestor, co-managing partners of Austin Sports & Entertainment.
If investors for the project can be found, construction is expected to begin in 2018 and finish by 2021.
Images: BIG
