Located near the banks of the Sabarmati River, Narendra Modi Stadium was designed as a prominent new landmark on the Ahmedabad skyline and the world’s largest cricket stadium, putting the city in Western India on the global sporting map.
Designed by Populous in collaboration with India’s top construction contractor, Larsen & Toubro, the world-class stadium hosts up to 110,000 passionate cricket fans, creating an iconic stadium for India.
Drawing on our global design expertise with cricket and major sports venues, from the history and spiritual home of cricket in Lord’s to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Populous mixed innovation with tradition to create a stadium full of atmosphere, elite training facilities and a masterplan for a thriving precinct for Ahmedabad’s future.
As a venue for both aspiring and elite men’s and women’s players, the stadium has more than doubled the capacity of the old stadium, built in 1986, within the same tight site.
The design of the large, elevated podium creates the feeling of space and a sense of arrival from the North. The podium also completely separates patrons from all service vehicles, creating a wide plaza for activity. To respect religious sensibilities the podium was shaped to ensure the existing Temple was untouched.
A key design driver is the seating bowl itself. Cricket is a religion in India, the game unites the country and in a ‘democratic’ gesture, the majority (1,00,000) of the seats are for General Admission tickets, offering the same uninterrupted views of the field and pitch no matter your seat.
The seamless open bowl consists of two large seating tiers, each with approximately 50,000 seats, designed to fill the lower levels for smaller events and still bring that sense of occasion; and with 360-degree views, the sight and the sound make every experience a special one. The design of a single large concourse to service both lower and upper tiers removed the need for vertical cores, increasing the time and cost-effectiveness of the design.
Other than the scale and tight site, a further challenge for the design team was the short timeframe from design to completion. Despite its size, the stadium had to be built within three years and hence precast concrete construction was adopted for a large part of the structure.
Visible on approach for all flights into Ahmedabad, the stadium’s simple cantilevered roofline adds to the comfort of spectators without columns located in the bowl, ensuring unobstructed views of the field.
Ahmedabad is also in a zone 3 seismic area. Keeping that at the forefront of the design, a PTFE tensile membrane roof reduces seismic demand and resists lateral loads from high winds and earthquakes. The flexible compression roof system is structurally independent from the bowl which allows movement in case of seismic activity.
Narendra Modi Stadium was not only designed for major local and international cricket matches. A community indoor cricket academy is housed under the podium, with a dormitory for up to 40 athletes, allowing students from across India and the globe to attend. The academy also has access to six indoor practice pitches, three outdoor practice fields and an Olympic-size swimming pool.
On May 29, 2022, the Narendra Modi Stadium set a new world record attendance for a limited-overs cricket match with 104,859 fans attending the 2022 Indian Premier League Final. The Narendra Modi Stadium treated the record crowd to a stunning light show before the Gujarat Titans, celebrated their inaugural season with a finals win over the Rajasthan Royals.
In 2022, the Narendra Modi Stadium was a finalist in the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards for Completed Projects—Sport.
Gallery:
Project Drawings:
Project Details:
Name: Narendra Modi Stadium
Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Status: Completed (2020)
Designed by: Populous
Client: Larsen and Toubro/Gujarat Cricket Association
Total Capacity: 1,10,000
Description: Populous
Photographers: Destination Photographers, and Courtesy of Populous
