The New Chelsea Stadium Will Be Designed By The Minds Behind Beijing’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ Stadium

The new Chelsea stadium will stay put at the old Stamford Bridge Grounds, but will undergo a drastic design upgrade to meet the new needs of the club and its legions of fans. From the minds of Herzog & de Meuron, who co-designed the iconic ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium in Beijing and Bayern Munich’s incredible Allianz Arena, the new stadium will have a new three-tier design, bringing the capacity up from 41,600 to 60,000.

One of the main design challenges for the new Chelsea stadium was to make sure it didn’t stick out like a sore thumb in the West London neighborhood. So the designers drew inspiration from Westminster Abbey and surrounded the stadium with 264 massive brick columns, with glass and decorative metal between them.

But perhaps most importantly, the fans will still have the same seats as in the existing stadium. Some slight seating rearrangements will ensure every single fan has an unobstructed view of the field. Front row seats will be as little as 7.2 meters from the players, as well.

Chelsea will have to vacate the facility for at least four years while their new home is being built. But if everything goes according to plan, the new Chelsea stadium should be ready for game one of the 2020-2021 Premier League season.