Barça names Nikken Sekkei 'design guardian' of the new Camp Nou

FC Barcelona has announced that it has closed an agreement for the Japanese architecture studio Nikken Sekkei, winner of the design competition for the new Spotify Camp Nou, to remain linked to the Espai Barça project during the remodeling work that will be directed by the Catalan Torrella Architecture-Engineering and JG Ingenieros.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
13 February 2023 Monday 19:10
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Barça names Nikken Sekkei 'design guardian' of the new Camp Nou

FC Barcelona has announced that it has closed an agreement for the Japanese architecture studio Nikken Sekkei, winner of the design competition for the new Spotify Camp Nou, to remain linked to the Espai Barça project during the remodeling work that will be directed by the Catalan Torrella Architecture-Engineering and JG Ingenieros. A union that "will guarantee the continuity of the initial concept when working on solutions so that the new proposals are integrated into the execution of the project in a balanced way", maintains the club.

In 2016, the Barcelona entity unanimously chose the design devised by Nikken Sekkei, the person in charge of other large sports facilities such as the Niigata and Kashima stadiums for the 2002 World Cup or the Saitama Super Arena. Once the basic project was developed, Joan Laporta's board announced in the summer that the Japanese company had concluded its contract with Barcelona, ​​but it had already expressed its interest in the study closely following the project in the construction phases.

In 2022, the club awarded the joint venture formed by the Catalan companies Torrella Arquitectura-Ingeniería and JG Ingenieros the direction of the construction phase of the project under the design chosen in 2016. A controversial change that even provoked a protest from the College of Architects of Catalonia.

As the club now explains in a statement, Nikken Sekkei "will supervise the Design team appointed by the Club, the joint venture formed by Torrella Arquitectura-Ingeniería and JG Ingenierías, in clarifying the doubts that they express in relation to the Basic Project that they already was presented". He will do so under the figure of the 'design guardian' and will be in charge of both "the bulk of the drafting work of the Execution Project", and "the Technical Assistance to the Work of the technical team that Limak will provide".