Hopkins Stadia For The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup

Hopkins’ Stadia For The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup

Image showing the new Stadium at Chepauk, famous home of recent IPL winners Chennai Super Kings.

Spring 2011 will herald not one but two new cricket facilities in India designed by Hopkins Architects, in time for the World Cup.

The first phase of the new Stadium at Chepauk, famous home of recent IPL winners Chennai Super Kings, is now complete. Lower and upper terraces for 10,000 spectators together with hospitality box accommodation all under a PTFE tensile membrane roof, formed a stunning backdrop to the inaugural matches of the IPL season in March. Many commentators and players, including Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavasker have praised the design, especially its ability to bring a cooling breeze across the ground. The re-construction of the entire 43,000 seat Chidambaram Stadium will be complete by mid-2011.

Further north in Maharashtra, Hopkins is also on site with the first phase of construction for the new MCA Pune International Cricket Centre. Situated on a steeply sloping site adjacent to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on the outskirts of Pune 170km southeast of Mumbai, this first phase comprises a bowl-like lower terrace for 38,000 spectators focussed around an international standard playing area with 15 pitches, and accessed by means of a generous perimeter pedestrian concourse to the rear. Above this, at the southern end, a Main Pavilion with 26 hospitality boxes and an upper terrace for a further 7,000 spectators will be created, covered by a PVDF tensile membrane roof.

Further phases will see the completion of the four separate stands at Pune, adding more hospitality accommodation and covered seating, bringing the total capacity up to 55,000.  Completion is scheduled for February 2011.

Hopkins’ schemes for cricket stadia range from their award-winning Mound Stand at Lords (1987), to Hampshire County Cricket Club in Southampton (2001), whose Rose Bowl ground is used for county and One Day International matches and will host a test match in 2011.