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New Wembley resembles 1941 plan for Brazil stadium
Last updated at 13:52pm on 12.02.07
Lookalikes: top is the new Wembley stadium, top, below is the strikingly similar Brazilian stadium design
Whatever the controversy about its cost and delays, most critics of the new Wembley stadium concede it is a unique architectural achievement.
But now plans by a celebrated Brazilian architect for a remarkably similar structure more than 60 years ago have been discovered.
Oscar Niemeyer sketched the design for a national stadium which, like Wembley, was dominated by a huge arch with metal cables suspended beneath it to help support the roof.
The stadium, planned for Rio de Janeiro, was never built. Sir Norman Foster, who designed the new Wembley, said in an interview his 'great arch gives an image which is unique and special to Wembley'.
Mr Niemeyer's 1941 plans were found in a book about the architect, who is now 99 but still working.
Like Wembley, his stadium was to have been built in a confined area. The book quotes the architect's notes saying: "The complex was to stand on a plot of land surrounded by existing buildings, at the junction of the main roads and close to the railway station."
Sir Norman, interviewed by the BBC, referred to "the tight constraint close to the railway" at Wembley.
The book continues: "A canopy suspended from a triangular-section arch takes the place of the traditional ringshaped roofing which would have failed to cover much of the seating."
The Rio arch would have been 984 ft high, compared with the 1,033 ft arch at Wembley that dominates the north-west London skyline, and the stadium would have had a capacity of 130,000, compared with Wembley's 90,000 seats.
An unnamed architect who discovered the plans in the book said: "The likeness is incredible. To the naked eye the Niemeyer drawings, which are quite detailed, look like the new Wembley."
Mr Niemeyer said any likeness between his design and Sir Norman's was "a coincidence".
He added: "I'm not bothered by any similarities. I wish him well with the project."
A spokesman for Sir Norman's firm, Foster and Partners, said: "We were not aware of Oscar Niemeyer's proposals.
"Although the arch designs may appear superficially similar, there are some significant differences between our design for Wembley and the Niemeyer sketch."
Reader views (5)
Well Considering the power of arches and a ovals it does not surprize me that this concept was visited prior to the new wembley. Even less surprizing is that the concept would be envisioned by a brazilian architect.
Maracana the stadium that came to be in Rio De Janeiro I believe lead to the Cookie Cutter Stadium Design in America. Brazilian architecture has be well ahead of its time for many things over the last 70 plus years.
I have to say as a teenager dreaming up stadium designs at the height of the 1970's with montreal's olympic stadium in the news . I too drafted and dream a stadium with an arch.
- Paul Taylor, Glasgow Canada
The trouble is the current England team won't match any of the Brazilian national teams.
- Mike, Bedford
Consider the 60 years of technology differences and the materials available for the construction - along with the simple thought that a good idea is always a good idea no matter how many people get it, or how far/long apart those ideas were. Form and function are always related, then or now. Why couldn't there be similarities.
- Rogan M., USA
Form often follows function. I expect that given the requirements for a usable stadium, and the requirement to build it on a site of limited size, this design is either the only solution, or the only economic one.
So it's not plagiarism, just a consequence of the way things are. Just like the way all ships are pointed at the front, or all really long bridges are suspension bridges.
- Nigel, London
Why should anyone be surprised at this? Don't you know that plagiarism, derivatism and generally passing off the ideas and work of others is the name of the game in architecture?
And in science, visual arts, music, literature, film etc.
- James Walker, Oadby, UK
