Inaugurated in 1965 (original design by Eduardo Mendes Guimarães Júnior and Gaspar Garreto) as the second largest stadium in the world, the Mineirão Stadium is located in the surroundings of the Pampulha Lagoon, close to Oscar Niemeyer’s and Burle Marx seminal work, being part of Belo Horizonte’s main postcard. As Brazil was chosen to host the World Cup 2014, opportunity came about to transform the traditional stadium, which façade is heritage listed, into a contemporary multifunctional sports facility. The New Mineirão aims to go beyond its primary role as a world-‐class sports arena, also offering a range of services, commerce, culture and entertainment for the city, becoming a new hub of activities integrated to the modernist landscape of the leisure and touristic Pampulha complex. As for the original architecture of the Stadium, basically only the outer “shell” remained: the 88 structural semi-‐ porticos, the concrete roof and the upper tiers. The rest of the “core” was completely rebuilt to guarantee the total overhaul inside the arena, including the new extension of the roof, all the new program and infra-‐ structure, besides the lowering of the pitch and the lower tiers redesign, improving the sight-‐lines
for the new capacity of 62.160 seats. The renovation on the outside is total, with a new 200.000 m² operational platform separating the spectators´ from the accredited flow. The “Esplanade” includes various facilities around the stadium, opened to the public as an immense landscaped plaza, visually linked to the Pampulha Lagoon. This platform is sculpted and molded to the site as an artificial topography, integrated with the immediate surroundings, being perceived as a continuation of the street domain. Thus, the public is attracted by programs strategically distributed throughout the esplanade, creating areas with potential to generate activities and movement during all day, seven days a week. The project has also sustainable features, using solar energy, reusing rainwater, as well as efficient lighting systems, intelligent control of energy and so on (LEED Certification). After the event, many operational areas which are specific for the 2014 World Cup will have other uses (institutional, commercial and leisure programs), contributing for the economic sustainability of the complex.
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