The Incheon main stadium being built for the 2014 Asian Games will be transformed into a public park after the sports festival, demonstrating a sustainable design in stadiums in Asia, the architecture firm that designed it has said.

“I see these sad, empty steel and concrete giant structures. They’re not eyesores because they are like sculptures, but there’s an emotional sadness attached to an empty stadium because you’re always on the outside, never on the inside where the energy is,” said Andrew James, Populous’ senior principal designer for the Incheon Stadium.

According to him, the new stadium will hold 70,000 people for the games, but it can reduce down to a single-sided grandstand for 30,000 afterwards and be turned into a park.

James explained that he kept the terms legacy and sustainability in mind as the two driving factors when designing the stadium.

“If the social legacy is done the way it was initially planned, I think the world will sit up and notice that Korea is leading the way in delivering a sports project legacy,” he told The Korea Herald.

The key factor for the stadium’s success after the games will be linking it into the surrounding parklands, transforming it into an open and accessible building for everyone to enjoy. Populous is working on the project with local firm Heerim Architects and Planners.

The stadium is based on an asymmetrical configuration with the main corporate and management facilities located on the permanent western side.

James noted that by doing so, it would create a more efficient design, both in terms of construction and operations.

“By cutting down the grandstands from 800 meters long to 150 meters long, you’ve only got one-sixth of the building to maintain. This way you can use that space for something more productive instead of having 40,000 deteriorating seats that need to be washed once a month,” he said.

James explained that the initial plan of the stadium was more grand, costing almost $500 million. It would have offered a shopping center, underground parking lot and several amenities.

But after the new Incheon mayor took over city hall, the project had to be scaled back or face being scrapped for a different design by other companies.

“We redesigned the stadium without affecting any of its functions; we mostly got rid of the basement areas,” he said.

Gone are the cinemas and the underground parking lot ― none of which were essential for the games itself, noted James.

The shopping center remained but was reworked to make it more user-friendly.

“All the areas that house the opening and closing ceremonies of the games and the area where the athletes use to warm-up, is designed as a shopping center first and then gets retrofitted to work for the Asian Games.”

The plan to retrofit Munhak Stadium was scrapped early on because of cost.

“It’s going to be a people’s park where visitors will be looking from the inside rather than always being kept out.”

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)