World Cup Stadium Spectacular (6 photos)
All photos © Roy Zipstein
Roy Zipstein traveled to Durban, South Africa to photograph the newly constructed Moses Mabhida Stadium for an architectural feature in SPREAD|Artculture magazine. Of the five stadiums built for the FIFA World Cup 2010, the Moses Mabhida Stadium has the largest capacity at 70,000 seats. The only larger World Cup stadium is the renovated Soccer City in Johannesburg.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium’s key feature is the expansive 350 meter arch that rises 106 meter above the pitch at the highest point. The arch is said to represent a divided nation becoming united, its design inspired by the South African flag. Construction began in 2007 and was completed November, 2009, lead by the consulting German architectural firm von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp). The Ibhola Lethu Consortium (ILC) was responsible for the design and project management of the stadium. Schlaic, Bergermann und Partner (sbp) served as conceptual structural engineers. 32 South African architectural firms were also enlisted.