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Arena Corinthians is a new football stadium constructed in Itaquera, near the city of São Paulo. The new stadium hosts the opening of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Sport Club Corinthians Paulista is the owner and operator of the stadium.

The stadium has a standard capacity of 48,000 seats and will be fitted with 20,000 removable seats to meet the minimum requirement of 65,000 seats to host the FIFA opening match.

Corinthians and Odebrecht Infrastructure signed an agreement for the construction of the new stadium in 2010. The project was initiated in May 2011 and was scheduled for completion by December 2013 but, hampered due to death of seven workers in November 2013.

Construction of the R$820m stadium project was finally completed in March 2014 and official test event for the newly built stadium was conducted by the organisers of the 2014 Soccer World Cup in May 2014.

Structure and design of Arena Corinthians

The architectural design of the Arena Corinthians was framed by Coutinho, Diegues, Lamb Architects. The structure is based on a deep foundation integrating precast and root piles. The rectangular-shaped stadium is composed of two buildings, one on the west and another on the east side.

The west building is covered with glass façade, while the east building will have a large LED screen. The external walls are covered with ceramic tiles. The roof structure based on long trusses will include four layers made of steel, Polyisocyanurate, plasterboard and Firestone UltraPly TPO. Around 80% of the structural components including columns, beams, slabs and stairs are of precast elements.

Arena Corinthians construction details

The project has been built in a 198,000m² site, and has a built-up area of 189,000m². Construction work for the stadium began in May 2011 employing 1,530 people.

The assembling of metal structures supporting the roof on the south and north was underway by the beginning of 2013.The first two metal modules of the southern segment were hoisted by a large crawler crane, which has the capacity to lift up to 1,500t. Each roof segment composed of seven modules was mounted during October 2013.

The inner and outer walls were painted and covered by granite, porcelain and ceramic inserts. The roof of the east grandstand is covered by metal tiles. Work began on the roof of the west side in mid 2013. The installation of metal structures for the seats and the emplacement of seats were completed by the end of 2013.

Facilities at Arena Corinthians

Arena Corinthians features an auditorium, restaurants, bars, 89 suites, 502 toilets and space for shops. The lighting is provided by 352 floodlights and HQI-TS high flux metal halide lamps, fluorescent lamps and high-intensity discharge lamps. The stadium is installed with 3,500 flat-panel TVs.

There are 15 lifts and ten escalators to ease the circulation. Parking facilities include 1,620 uncovered spaces, and covered parking lots for 929 vehicles. The internal areas of the stadium buildings are fully air conditioned.

The ryegrass field is equipped with advanced drainage system, and irrigation equipment controlled by a computerised system.

The other features include 48,000 conventional seats, 20,000 retractable seats, and 120 boxes. In addition, there are around 6,000 upper chairs and 10,000 numbered chairs under rooftop cover.

Arena Corinthians sustainability

Arena Corinthians is being constructed in compliance with the sustainable design standards set by FIFA. Environmentally friendly solutions and technologies such as water conservation, rainwater harvesting, reducing and recycling the waste generated, energy sustainability, natural ventilation, and lighting are implemented in the project.

Contractors involved with Arena Corinthians project

Fast Engenharia was the construction contractor for the football stadium project. The glass façades were provided by Italian company Sunglass SRL. The video screen was supplied by Osram Traxon. Osram was also responsible for the installation of four scoreboards in the stadium. The seating for the stadium was supplied by Marfinite Arenas. World Sports along with Desso and CRL was responsible for the setting up of lawn in the stadium.

WDS Construcoes was hired by Fast Engenharia for the installation of the temporary seats at the stadium.