Philippine Arena and Philippine Sports Complex Dec. 2013 UPDATE

 

*All photos posted here are with permission to the original owner

Discovery Channel 

MAN MADE TRAVELS: QUAKE PROOF

Demand for Arenas to feed Asia's MTV generation

Asia’s increasing wealth makes its population of youth, raised on a diet of MTV, a ripe target for visiting foreign entertainment acts.

The problem is a lack of suitable venues, says the architect behind a 50,000-seat stadium in Manila.
“They really want to enjoy themselves,” Populous senior principal Andrew James says. “You’ve got your 18 to 35-year-olds wanting to go out and have fun every weekend. They haven’t been brought up on sport. There’s a big demand for entertainment among these people.”

While sports venues in western countries – such as Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, which Populous designed for the 2000 Olympics – have largely provided the venue for touring large-scale music and entertainment acts, the lack of arena sports played in Asian countries means there are few equivalents.

However, the demand is there.

James estimates India could support at least eight mega-arenas and Indonesia at least two but the problem is making the business case for local private business to make the $200 million outlay for such a venue.
James is overseeing the construction of the stadium in the Philippines capital, which will be the largest of its type in the world.

The client is not the government – as would often be the case for an equivalent project in Australia – but a large church, the Iglesia ni Cristo.

“It’s a church but as it turns out, it’s exactly the same format as a 50,000-seat entertainment arena or mega-theatre,” James says.

The size of the arena is significant.

The Manila venue is much larger than most covered entertainment arenas, which tend to have capacity for only 15,000, he says.

“Once you get to 50,000 seats, the game changes economically,” James says. “All of a sudden, Lady Gaga’s saying ‘I’ve only got to sell those seats for $20 instead of $150 like I normally do’.”

Once you get to 50,000 seats, the game changes economically

The economics remain tricky. Unlike sports stadiums that are used each week and have a regular, predictable revenue stream, entertainment venues are a harder call.

But given the current state of affairs, and the lure of Asia’s emerging middle-class to big name acts, it’s only matter of time before the infrastructure appears.

“When Deep Purple played in India, they played in a field,” James says. “They set up a stage. There was just everyone standing in the field. They put up a fence made of hessian so people couldn’t see through.”

source: brw.com.au


The vast scale of the new Philippine Arena unfolds after 20 months of construction on the world’s largest arena
 
Populous Associate Principal Ron Van Sluijs who regularly travels to the site in Manila reports:

The Philippines is a country going through rapid economic development. Where one day there are scattered rusty corrugated metal roof farm houses surrounded by lush green rice paddies and mature mango trees, the next day the world largest indoor arena sits among them.

Due for completion in April 2014, the Philippine Arena will be the world’s largest indoor arena seating 50,000 people. Situated on a green field site north of Manila, the arena is of a scale not previously seen before in the Philippines, and will put the country on the world stage.

The Client for the arena is Iglesia Ni Christo who are building it as part of a community development which, when completed, will include an arena, a university, a stadium, a sports hall, a hospital, several hotels and residential accommodation.

Over the last 18 months, two shifts a day working from 7am to midnight, have kept the construction site buzzing with activity. A constant flow of concrete mixers, trucks with reinforcement steel, semi-trailers with huge pre welded steel components shipped from Korea, and many other trucks with materials and products from around the world have been pushing along a narrow dirt road full of pot holes that provides site access until the proper free-way ramps are completed.

The scale of the project has become the talk of the town. In recent months installation of the roof cladding has commenced and the true scale of the 65m tall 220x170m wide building has become evident.

For the full content, visit popolous.com