Asian Games Sports Center, Tehran Iran

1968-1974
(Nader Ardalan with AFFA)

The design and construction of the 100,000 seat stadium first began in 1968 and was completed in just eighteen months by April 1, 1971. Meanwhile, in 1970 Iran was awarded the September 1974 Asian Games, thus the project had to be extensively expanded to accommodate the nearly 20 events in which 25 Asian countries and 3010 athletes ultimately participated, making it the largest number of participants in the game’s history at that time. The decision was made to place the stadium into a natural valley that existed on the barren site and to scoop two million cubic meters of earth from the valley floor and build it up on the east and west with multiple 30 centimeter layers of compacted earth that allowed seating gradients for the spectators. In the excavated valley to the north of the stadium we created a dam that held a lake filled with water from a nearby riverbed and that body of water provided three benefits: First it irrigated an area of 165 hectares of trees and shrubs so that the site eventually became a green park; Second, it could allow for the thousand- meter rowing event of the Olympics; and third because it was beautiful and could change the micro-climate to be more suitable for athletic events and training. The Alborz Mountain range provided a perfect backdrop.

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