Meet Mexico’s Volcano-Inspired Soccer Stadium

Sports stadia can take on all sorts of shapes and sizes, whether they be concrete, post-modern monstrosities or structures that hearken back to buildings long gone
Sports stadia can take on all sorts of shapes and sizes, whether they be concrete, post-modern monstrosities or structures that hearken back to buildings long gone. (They can even resemble a gigantic bird's nest.)

But one French architecture firm has gone beyond retro or other classifications to channel Guadalajara's love of fútbol into the local surroundings and create Estadio Omnilife, a spanking new facility that's intended to evoke the aesthetics of a volcano rising from the countryside.


The Jewel of Guadalajara

Designed to hold more than 45,000 spectators for home matches featuring the C.D. Guadalajara soccer club - better known as Chivas - the stadium features numerous technological advances as well as green-friendly infrastructure seen in few other Mexican sports facilities. The Chivas club is owned by millionaire businessman Jorge Vergara, who also owns clubs in Costa Rica and Major League Soccer in the United States. (Incidentally, the stadium is named after the nutritional supplement maker that Vergara owns.)