Real Madrid’s €1bn rebuild of the Bernabeu is fun, futuristic – and almost finished

Head north out of Madrid’s city centre along the Paseo de la Castellana and you will soon encounter what looks like a spacecraft rising on your right.

A steel frame weighing 7,000 tonnes envelops the structure, which is more than 57 metres high and weighs as much as the Eiffel Tower. By the time it is finished, it will have cost more than €1billion ($1bn; £862m).

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In 2011, Real Madrid decided to carry out the most ambitious renovation project in the club’s history. Eight years later, that vision started to become a reality with the first redevelopment works at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. It is now just a few months away from completion.

From the outside, Real’s redesigned ground looks like something from a futuristic film set.

From its stands, look up and you see a huge 8,000-square-metre blanket of six movable fences that can cover the pitch in 15 minutes.

In its depths, a novel design system — the most challenging part of the project — allows the pitch to be folded neatly away below the playing surface.

Here, The Athletic speaks to the architects behind the revamp to tell the story of the Bernabeu’s transformation — a process that will be completed in December.

Some say it will be “the most modern” stadium in the world, others call it a “physical icon of Madrid”.

Others see it more critically.

The history of the Bernabeu dates back to the 1940s, when Real’s president, Santiago Bernabeu, decided to build a 100,000-capacity stadium. It was opened in 1947 and stood in stark contrast to where Madrid had previously played — the 22,500-capacity Estadio Chamartin which was next door to what would become the Bernabeu.

It would be the largest stadium in the world until the inauguration of the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro