Timsah Arena

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Timsah Arena
Exterior view of the Timsah Arena in October 2018
Exterior view of the Timsah Arena in October 2018
Earlier names

Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi Stadı

Data
place TurkeyTurkey Bursa , Turkey
Coordinates 40 ° 12 '38.8 "  N , 29 ° 0' 33.6"  E Coordinates: 40 ° 12 '38.8 "  N , 29 ° 0' 33.6"  E
classification 4th
owner Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi
start of building June 1, 2011
opening December 21, 2015
surface Natural grass
costs 80 million €
architect Hasan Sözüneri ( Sözüneri Mimarlik )
capacity 43,331 seats
playing area 105 × 68 m
Societies)
Events
  • Games from Bursaspor (since 2016)

The Timsah Arena ( German  crocodile arena ) is a football stadium in the fourth largest Turkish city ​​of Bursa . The football club Bursaspor from the Süper Lig uses the arena with 43,331 seats as a new home ground. It replaced the Bursa Ataturk Stadı from 1979 with 25,456 seats. The building was built around five kilometers northwest of the city center. Nearby lies metro station Acemler the BursaRay . The arena meets the requirements of UEFA and is classified in stadium category 4 .

history

The stadium

In view of Turkey's bid for the European Football Championship in 2016 , the industrial city of Bursa planned to build a new stadium. In addition, Bursaspor won the first Turkish soccer championship in the 2009/10 Süper Lig season . For the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League matches , the old Bursa Ataturk Stadı had to be adapted and renovated to meet the high requirements of UEFA. In May 2010, Turkey narrowly failed in the choice of the venue for the European Football Championship 2016 to France.

Despite all this, Bursa continued planning the stadium. The design by Hasan Sözüneri from the Sözüneri Mimarlik architects' office was ultimately selected from eleven proposals . With the new stadium, Bursa was a planned venue in Turkey's bid for the 2020 European Football Championship . This changed after the decision was made in December 2012 that Euro 2020 would be held across Europe and Turkey initially competed for places with Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium .

According to Sözüneri's plans, the stadium will be shaped like a crocodile. On the north side, an oversized crocodile head with illuminated eyes will adorn the stadium. A glazed viewing platform is integrated into the head. A cafeteria and restaurants as well as a club museum adjoin the rear part . These should not only be open on match days. The stadium design goes back to the nickname of the team from Bursaspor, which is called Yeşil Timsahlar ( German  Green Crocodiles ). The main stand and the back straight are two-story. The main tier has a suggested third floor. The two rear grandstands each consist of a continuous grandstand.

The Timsah Arena will be in the club colors of Bursaspor (green and white) and will have a length of 256 meters (excluding the crocodile head) and a width of 216 meters. 70 boxes of various sizes (28 to 188 m 2 ) are planned in the stadium . These will be on two floors above the spectator seats under the roof. The boxes are also used as offices and are accessible via lifts with a personalized magnetic stripe card . 207 special places will be set up for wheelchair users. The visitors enter the stadium through 60 turnstiles and 84 entrances. 641 car parking spaces and two bus parking spaces are to be created in the stadium underground. A further 1,557 car parking spaces and 256 spaces for buses will be provided around the stadium.

The green outer sheath leads in a wave form at the sides of the stadium along and consists of a PTFE - diaphragm , which is resting on a pressure ring structure stretched over a tubular steel frame. For the top of the rope roof a is translucent , white membrane. The steel roof structure weighs approx. 7,000 tons and spans an area of ​​80,000 m 2 . The structural design and the structural planning of the roof is the work of the Stuttgart engineering office Schlaich Bergermann und partner . The stadium construction also had to take into account the fact that Bursa is located in a seismically active area. This was taken into account by not placing the roof structure directly on the concrete structure of the stadium. Slide pendulum bearings are used on concave slide plates. They are intended to prevent the tremors of an earthquake from continuing from the stadium structure to the roof structure.

In May 2014 it was announced that the Timsah Arena will get a name sponsor. The name Timsah Arena , which is popular with fans , will be retained and the sponsor's name will be added.

The construction

Construction work began on June 1, 2011 with the groundbreaking ceremony by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , the then Prime Minister of Turkey, and should be finished by the end of 2012. The work proceeded according to plan, by mid-2012 the foundation work and large parts of the concrete work on the bowl-like stadium body, which consists of eight massive blocks, had been completed. After that, the construction of the arena slowed down significantly.

After months of downtime, the ring rope roof could be lifted into place at the end of June 2014. At the beginning of October 2014, the first parts of the white membrane were stretched and the first stadium seats were installed. At the same time, Mayor Recep Altepe visited the stadium construction site. On January 7, 2015, Altepe was again at the stadium construction site for an assessment. A few hundred white plastic seats were installed on the lower tier of the east stand. They should form the background for the green lettering BURSA . Elsewhere in the stands, white and green seats are arranged in a wave shape.

With the opening of the green roof membrane one waits until the temperatures are higher and more stable again. Recep Altepe said during his visit that the stadium, despite considerable delays, should be ready in June 2015 for the final of the Turkish Football Cup 2015 on June 3. Bursaspor would then start playing in the new home ground at the start of the 2015/16 Süper Lig . It is questionable whether the deadline in June can be kept in view of the construction work still to be done.

On February 1, 2015 at around 6 a.m., a construction crane crashed onto the neighboring motorway due to a strong southeast wind . A taxi driver could no longer prevent the collision. He and his passenger were seriously injured and taken to hospital, where the 28-year-old driver succumbed to his injuries.

At the beginning of April 2015, the first parts of the green roof skin could be stretched over the steel structure.

The opening

On December 21, 2015 the opening of the arena, which is still under construction, took place. Among other things, the crocodile head on the north side and parts of the membrane covering the outer facade were waiting for their final assembly. The construction costs of the stadium amount to 230 million TL (around 72 million € ). In front of around 44,000 visitors, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened with his wife Emine Erdoğan by cutting the ribbon and symbolically initiating the event. In the first game, a team from Bursa province faced a Turkish presidential selection. Many Bursaspor fans stayed away from the opening as they saw it more as a political event for Erdoğan, without the Bursaspor team. The majority of the visitors left the stadium during the game.

More than two years after the inauguration, all work on the stadium was completed in May 2018. The construction costs for the entire project amounted to around 80 million euros.

Web links

Commons : Timsah Arena  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ europlan-online.de: stadium capacity
  2. ↑ a b stadionwelt.de: Animal design causes a stir Part 1/2 article from December 21, 2012
  3. ↑ stadionwelt.de: “An architectural festival!” Article from December 23, 2012
  4. ↑ de.uefa.com: Bursaspor creates the breakthrough Article from September 8, 2010
  5. ↑ youtube.com: Animated video about the stadium construction (Turkish)
  6. ↑ a b stadionwelt.de: Animal design causes a stir Part 2/2 article from December 22, 2012
  7. ↑ bursaspor.org.tr: stadium project (Turkish)
  8. ↑ a b stadiumdb.com: Turkey: “Big lift” begins in Bursa Article from June 27, 2014 (English)
  9. ↑ stadionwelt.de: Gallery: Current construction site pictures from Bursa Article from April 26, 2012
  10. ↑ stadiumguide.com: data on the project (English)
  11. ↑ stadiumdb.com: Bursa: Timsah Arena ready in half a year? Article from January 9, 2015
  12. ↑ stadiumdb.com: Turkey: Tragedy in Bursa, driver killed by collapsing crane Article from February 2, 2015 (English)
  13. ↑ skyscrapercity.com: First parts of the green roof skin taut, pictures from April 1st, 2015 (English)
  14. ↑ haberturk.com: Timsah Arena açıldı ... Article from December 21, 2015 (Turkish)
  15. ↑ stadiumdb.com: New stadium: Controversial opening of Crocodile Arena Article from December 21, 2015 (English)
  16. ↑ stadionwelt.de: Krokodil-Arena finally lives up to its name Article from May 13, 2018