This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
In April this year, the Manchester Evening News reported that Manchester United had commissioned an acoustic engineer to survey Old Trafford, to find out why 75,000 football fans were producing so little noise.
The engineer's findings remain undisclosed, so wired asked Populous, the architecture firm that built Wembley Stadium and the Olympic Stadium, to redesign the Theatre of Dreams, with the aim of generating a better atmosphere. Christopher Lee, senior principal at the firm's London office, explains the modifications, all of which "are very feasible -- nothing we're talking about here is prohibitively expensive". Quick, Moyes -- sign him up!
Fanzone Ground
"The experience of a game starts when you leave home," says Lee. A fanzone, featuring screens, drinks and food, "extends that experience for the final mile into the stadium".
Crowd Energy
Harness the crowd's power: "These piezoelectric rockers move less than half a millimetre. Each time someone steps on one, energy is captured." It is then used to heat seats.
LED Screen
Double-sided OLED screens would update Old Trafford and allow the club's millions of fans worldwide "inside". "Branded United bars could have a live feed into the stadium."
LED Pitch
Lacing the turf with LEDs could add an edge to replays, highlighting how the play developed. "It's about bringing the information that you get at home into a three-dimensional arena."
Sound Cloud
With acoustic materials, "you can start directing sound in realtime, using reflective materials in the sound cloud that hangs over the whole stadium."
Communications
Populous fits its stadia with turbo Wi-Fi. "This is about using mobile devices to order a drink, and to get social interaction between those in the stadium and the remote audience."
Fanzone Roof
This extends the fanzone to the top of the stadium -- it could be a venue for pre- and post-match entertainment, or a viewing area for fans without tickets.the Kop A single-tier stand for 20,000 people. "It becomes the engine room for the atmosphere in that seating bowl.As it gets noisier, everyone else gets noisier -- it's natural amplification."
LED Façade
A Populous-designed stadium in Kazakhstan has a 160-metre-long video façade of "embedded red-green-blue LEDs on a mesh. You could have a 1,500-metre board to play live video."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
