Optus Stadium ‘world’s most beautiful’

Perth’s award-winning Optus Stadium, which was built with almost 30,000 tonnes of steel supplied by InfraBuild, has received its most prestigious award yet.

Perth’s Optus Stadium has won the ultimate global accolade for a sporting arena by being named the most beautiful sporting facility in the world. 

The stadium, which opened in January 2018, beat five other stadiums to win the esteemed Prix Versailles World Architecture and Design Award.

Held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Prix Versailles invites stadium architects and owners to submit their venues for judging on the basis of exterior architecture and interior design. The award is judged by an independent panel of architects, designers and prominent figures from the arts, with the winning venue chosen for its innovation, creativity, adoption of local natural and cultural heritage, and energy efficiency. 

The Prix Versailles award is the latest in a string of awards to have been won by the 60,000-seat multipurpose venue. Many of those have been for excellence in design and construction, with the stadium winning the 2018 Australian Construction Achievement Award, the 2018 Stadium Business Design & Development Awards’ Project of the year award, and the 2019 Good Design Awards’ Gold Winner award, among others.

Steel central to stadium design

Designed collaboratively by HASSELL, Cox and HKS Architects, and built by a consortium led by Multiplex, Perth’s Optus Stadium incorporates 16,000 tonnes of structural steel supplied by InfraBuild Steel Centre (formerly LIBERTY OneSteel Metalcentre) and another 13,500 tonnes of reinforcing steel supplied by InfraBuild Construction Solutions (formerly LIBERTY OneSteel Reinforcing). 

Brookfield’s James Murray-Parkes drew inspiration for the design of the stadium’s unique roof from the swing arm of a Moto2 World Championship motorcycle, with the design made possible by the use of structural steel. Fifty steel trusses make up the roof structure, with efficient use of materials enabling significant cost savings. Steel V-propping was also used throughout the stadium instead of concrete blade columns, which helped promote consistency of connections as well as design language.

HASSELL Principal Peter Dean said that winning the award was proof that the design team had delivered a fans-first stadium that could service Perth’s needs all year round.

“Optus Stadium is a landmark project that successfully changed the way fans experience sporting and entertainments events,” Dean said. This international award is a testament to the hard work of our design team, our project partners, and our talented collaborators from the Whadjuk indigenous community, who worked diligently on creating something truly spectacular.”

In its first year of operation, Optus Stadium was visited by more than two million fans and hosted 43 major events. It is the third-largest stadium in Australia by seating capacity, behind Melbourne’s MCG and Sydney’s Stadium Australia.

Two other international stadiums also received awards from the Prix Versailles judging panel. The Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York won the Special Prize for Interior award, and the Hangzhou Sports Park Stadium in Hangzhou, China, won the Special Prize Exterior award.

Find out here how an efficient steel supply chain and the forging of several strong partnerships paved the way for the opening of Perth’s newest stadium. 

Finalists of the 2019 Prix Versailles Sports award:

• Optus Stadium – Perth, Australia (winner)
• Hangzhou Sports Park Stadium – Hangzhou, China
• Édgar Rentería Stadium – Barranquilla, Colombia
• Louis Armstrong Stadium – New York, NY, United States
• Al-Najaf Stadium – Najaf, Iraq
• Luzhniki Stadium – Moscow, Russia

Main image courtesy Prix Versailles