Allianz Arena

Allianz Arena, stadium in Munich that was designed by the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and completed in 2005.

When Germany was awarded the honor of hosting the soccer World Cup in 2004, it needed new stadiums to accommodate the matches. The Allianz Arena was one of the most successful of these stadiums. It is most famous for its color scheme and futuristic appearance. The stadium is home to two teams—Bayern Munich and TSV 1860. Bayern play in red, TSV in blue, so the architects devised a way in which the stadium could be transformed, glowing like a beacon in different colors from one week to the next. They chose to clad the 66,000-seat stadium in ETFE cushions which light up in red or blue—or white when the German national team plays.

Inside modern stadiums, growing grass is often a difficult task because of the need to cram in as many fans as possible under large, overreaching roofs, thereby restricting airflow. At Allianz Arena, the roof is constructed from 2,874 pneumatic panels made of transparent and translucent ETFE laminate, an exceptionally good conductor of light—allowing the grass to grow normally. The three-tiered stadium is a modern, adaptable, and popular classic—within a few months of opening day in 2005, the distinctive shape of the arena had inspired the nickname Schlauchboot, or “inflatable boat.” The name has stuck, but this innovative stadium is much more than that.