Beaublanc Stadium

Project description

Beaublanc Stadium is the historic football and rugby stadium of the city of Limoges. It is located in the city center, within an exceptional landscape setting, in a large Sports Park. The project aims to completely rebuild the stadium on its current site, in 3 phases, while remaining operational, to create a new iconic 20,000-seat stadium.

Beaublanc Stadium: A Urban Stadium at the Heart of an Exceptional Sports Park Landscape
Beaublanc Stadium is integrated into the heart of a large 19-hectare Urban Sports Park, which also includes a Sports Palace, a swimming pool, an athletics stadium, and six football and rugby playing fields. The Sports Park, also a public park, is open to the public during the day, allowing for a coexistence between high-level sports and spontaneous, amateur sports activities.

To preserve this unique feature, a true added value for the local community, we designed the stadium with controlled access and new attractive spaces along its façade. The open public plazas surrounding the stadium contribute to the daily life of the Sports Park, as do the spaces dedicated to the football club on the West façade, and the restaurant on the South façade, in alignment with the main entrance of the Beaublanc Park.

We have developed a comprehensive master plan for the sports park to ensure the simultaneous operation of the new stadium alongside other sports facilities. The new stadium thus encourages sports practice by allowing interactions between professional athletes and amateur sports enthusiasts.

A Tribute to the Exceptional Craft of Porcelain
Beaublanc Stadium is at the forefront of technical and architectural innovation. Its envelope pays homage to the art of porcelain manufacturing, for which the city of Limoges is universally known.

The structure consists of a white metal frame supporting a bioclimatic white concrete skin, whose composition, specially developed for this project, integrates kaolin—the component that gives porcelain its remarkable whiteness. At night, the light emanating from the glazed modules offers the stadium and the sport a prominent place in the urban landscape. It arouses curiosity and helps to enhance the city’s tourist appeal.

World-Class Sports Standards
The stadium meets the highest European and international sports standards (UEFA, FIFA, IRB, etc.) and the GEEM regulations (Large Multipurpose Facility), enabling the stadium’s multifunctionality and the accommodation of 25,000 spectators, including 9,000 on the pitch in event configuration.

Optimal Functioning for an Exceptional Spectator Experience
The stadium operates optimally with perfect management and separation of public flows (players, officials, general public, VIPs, media, logistics). It consists of four distinct stands, each with two tiers, connected at the corners by curved concourses, creating the impression of a continuous arena.

• Level N0 (Pitch level):
  West stand: locker rooms, media area with mixed zone and press conference room.
  South stand:
  East stand: a glazed box overlooking the pitch.
  North stand: logistics zone with telescopic seating for setting up the stage for events.
• Level N1: West, East, and North stands: public concourse.
  South stand: pitch-view restaurant at ground level on the main plaza.
• Level N2: West stand: official lounge and 22 VIP boxes.
  South stand: large VIP lounge.
  East stand: 20 additional VIP boxes.
  North stand: public concourse.
• Level N3: High-tier concourse on all four stands.
• Level N4: Media area linked to the press box and control room.
  
  A Sustainable Stadium, Seamlessly Integrated into the Site’s Vegetal Heritage
  In terms of sustainability, the new stadium follows a NF HQE approach and complies with the current thermal regulations (RT2012). It is finely integrated into the sloping topography of the site, descending from south to north. This results in an interesting architectural design where, to the south, aligned with the main park entrance, the restaurant is positioned on level 1, both at ground level on the plaza and overlooking the pitch at level 0.

The stadium respects the existing ecosystem, integrating within the existing tree canopy surrounding it. Its envelope has been designed as a bioclimatic shell, composed of three types of modules: solid, glazed, and glazed modules that can accommodate photovoltaic cells. The position of each module was determined by a bioclimatic study of the shell to define areas that produce the most energy, and the placement of the glazed modules for optimal natural lighting of the stadium’s internal concourses. Rainwater is stored and harvested for irrigating the park’s green spaces. All spaces benefit from natural lighting and ventilation, along with double-flow ventilation. The building envelope is highly efficient.