Despite the fact that no substantial news has arrived on the project for a few weeks, the new stadium continues to be one of the hottest subjects surrounding AC Milan.
Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) and Il Giorno (via Radio Rossonera) have updated fans on the progress of the project which will be built in the south-east portion of the city, more specifically the San Donato area.
The shape of Milan’s new stadium is increasingly defined. In the San Francesco part of San Donato, writes La Gazzetta, a 70,000-seat stadium will be built in the shape of a rectangle with rounded curves. Even if this type of external structure now seems to be the chosen one, official decisions are expected ‘in the coming months’.
Along with the stadium, a new club headquarters, a hotel, an arena for live music and a theatre for 3000 spectators will be built, in addition to the store, restaurants and shops. Il Giorno also confirms the idea of ’a 3,000-seat auditorium for shows and cultural events’, also adding the detail of the ‘ Milan Museum, with a gallery of images and memorabilia’.
The latter state that the stadium itself will have a capacity of 72,000 while the former state it will be 70,000. Both agree it will have two tiers and will be built on a ‘podium’, i.e. a raised structure where there will also be bars, restaurants, shops and a hotel.
There will also be a theme park for children and families, and under the ‘podium’ there will be a two-storey above-ground car park.
With regards to the more bureaucratic issues, Il Giorno also writes that ‘the preliminary investigation phase has now reached the final stages in the Council, i.e. the examination of the documentation presented by Sportlifecity for the request for an urban planning variant on the San Francesco area’.
After the conformity checks it will be necessary to pass through the council: the local executive will have to take note of the procedability of the project and at that point the technical-political process begins, meaning an information campaign will be launched among the population to illustrate the contents and objectives of the plans.
Recently, the newspaper concludes, the project for the new AC Milan stadium was presented to the mayors of southern Milano, especially the parts that have to do with the rethinking of roads and transport, including ring roads and railway services.
In addition to the meeting with the mayors of the Hinterland, the mayor of San Donato Milanese Francesco Squeri also recently met Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan.
My only worry is that San Donato is so far away. It will take hours to get there for many inhabitants. Other than that it sounds good. Except the theatre. It sounds unnessesary.
It takes 35 min from the Duomo metro if you switch to Trenord at Rogoredo, and about the same if you stay on the metro to San Donato and walk (with the walk being 21 of those minutes and perhaps the only annoying part). It takes about 20-23 min from the Duomo to San Siro on the metro. As the crow flies S. Donato is a little further, but as to public transport from the city center it’s only another 10-15 min. It’s not “hours”.
Why can’t anyone design a stadium that is beautiful? Scaling up an internet access point device to stadium proportions is not what I call design. I know Milan has a history of embracing “modern” architecture, but there’s nothing majestic about slab sides and lack of detail, especially in a very large structure. People don’t like it, and they certainly aren’t inspired by it.
Why not create a design inspired by the Galleria? Something people will find beautiful, that comes from the time when the club was founded. Create something even non football tourists will make a point to see. I can dream.
This design is very disappointing. To be honest, I even find it ugly. What happened to ‘Cathedral’ idea??? That looked unique, modern and beautiful.
Why such a plain and ugly design? San Siro is the most beautiful stadium in the world and has very distinctive architecture. Can’t they do something at least sort of special with the new stadium. Realy don’t want Milan to have a stadium that looks like every other stadium built in the last 10 years. The Cathedral design was pretty good – why not go back to something similar?