Bob van Bebber

As a Wits architectural student, Bob van Bebber dreamed of designing a world-class soccer stadium. At the age of 47, his dream materialised into Soccer City, the flagship stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

This year, as the applause of over 88 000 people launches the FIFA 2010 World Cup within Soccer City’s compelling calabash, Bob van Bebber (BArch 1991) will be a man fulfilled.

“I proposed the idea to my professor, Herbert Prins, for my design project, but he said that there was too much engineering in a stadium this size,” recalls van Bebber, architect of Soccer City and senior director in leading South African architectural company, Boogertman Urban Edge & Partners.

“So I designed a hotel school, but I never gave up on my dream. In my mind stadiums were ugly objects begging to be designed by architects.” As it turns out, his instinct proved right, and most of the greatest stadiums in the world today are designed by architects.

“Stadiums have become far more than functional objects, they have become aesthetic icons that people relate to, feel proud of and regard as theirs,” van Bebber explains. “Stadiums in countries like England and Holland have evolved way beyond soccer, to become centres of community life. They have become multi-purpose sports complexes, designed for conferencing, product launches and retail, with shops, restaurants, hotels, and residential units on site.

“Unfortunately we have not been able to do this locally because we were driven by financial constraints.” Perhaps his next stadium will include all the community elements, but, for now, Johannesburg celebrates and embraces the giant calabash as its homegrown monument to design.

The calabash concept came about when our firm was asked to present design ideas for an iconic stadium to Danny Jordaan in 2006 van Bebber explains.

Soccer City boasts several green credentials, including the re-use of materials from the old FNB stadium that was demolished to make way for Soccer City. Demolition materials were used as base layers for Soccer City’s parking area. The new stadium also includes water recycling (the moat constructed around the old FNB field was incorporated in the new design to water the field and flush the toilets); and all the lighting is energy efficient.

 “It’s a wonderful time for me,” he says. “And it goes without saying that when students consult me, I always impress on them never to be scared to chase their dreams.”

Piet Boer
My hopes for the stadium is for it to unite people and to become an internationally recognised icon. I wish the stadium to continue running as a successful business after the 2010 World Cup has come to an end.

During the World Cup my hope is that the stadium lives up to expectations. I trust that it will. We’ve spent a lot of time getting to it a level that it is definitely world class. It will show the world what South Africa is capable of.

As for its legacy, my ideal is that it functions as a seven day-a-week business and takes on a life of its own. 

The stadium is boasting extensive auditorium and restaurant facilities, and income could be generated after the 2010 World Cup by leasing office space, hosting conferences, leasing space for motor shows or exhibitions, and running merchandise shops or a museum for tourists. Data and power outlets throughout the site would also allow it to be used for large outdoor events, such as concerts or markets.

However, Boer said that most stadiums that succeeded as businesses were located in urban environments, and so one of the challenges facing Soccer City – which is located in an underdeveloped area near Soweto - was for it to become a catalyst for urban development in the area.

“The stadium is a catalyst for the whole precinct. I hope that it becomes a new nodal link between the city and Soweto. I am sure that there will be quite a lot of development that will make this a new urban centre.”

Soccer City is built on strong principles of sustainable development, which Boer says has resulted in some creative use, and re-use, of materials. “We’ve tried to include as many elements of sustainable design as we could with the money that is available. For example, we are collecting most of the water that falls in the bowl and on the roof and storing it in the old moat that runs around pitch. “We can store 3 million litres in there, which helps in the winter months because we don’t need rain water supply. We’ve also used sustainable materials like concrete, which doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, and low energy lights throughout the stadium.

SOCCER CITY FAST FACTS

• 80 000m3 of concrete used;
• 9 000 tons of reinforcing steel used
• 8 000 tons of structural steel used
• 120 000m3 of soil
• 1 350 piles driven into the bedrock
• Some piles 1,5m in diameter, 33m into bedrock
• Roof supported by 12 40m-high concrete shafts and 16 circular columns 1m in diameter
• Over 2 600 construction people on site;
• 88 851 seats
• 11 million bricks used