MANICA ARCHITECTURE
David Manica, president and owner
What new projects are
you working on and
what’s interesting
about them?
We have a lot of
projects in various
phases on the
boards right now all
around the world
including: South
Korea, Japan, China,
Italy, Austria, UK, Sydney,
and the US. One of the most
interesting projects we are
developing is the new 18,000 seat
arena in Seoul. It has a fantastic
ability to host both indoor and
outdoor events.
Have you encountered any
particular challenges?
All our projects have the different
variations on the same challenges.
Budget always seems to be a
driving challenge for any large
project. The design and delivery
schedule is also becoming
increasingly compressed. I see
that our clients are wanting more
building for less money in half the
amount of time. That’s the new
normal in our industry. And as we
succeed, the bar just gets lifted a
bit higher. For example, in Miami
we just fi nished a new
18,000-seater outdoor stadium for
Major League Soccer side Inter
Miami FC. We designed and built
the project in a total of 10 months,
for less than US$100m. That’s an
incredible accomplishment that
I’m really proud of.
The Raiders’ Allegiant
stadium is near completion,
what was it like working on
this project?
Allegiant Stadium was an
incredible experience in every
way. Designing such a unique and
customized building for the NFL’s
Las Vegas Raiders was a lot of
fun, and the collaboration
between the ownership and our
team resulted in something really
special and forward thinking. And,
spending time in Las Vegas was a
fun perk of the job too. All in all, I
think the building will stand out as
a new benchmark for the industry.
What new stadium design
trends are you expecting
to see more of this year?
There are many. We’re seeing
more and more multi-use
flexibility for event programming,
there is the rise of dedicated
venues for esports, and the
industry is introducing a wider
variety of seating and ticketing
options. In addition to this, there’s
bigger and bolder technology
being more integrated throughout
the venue.
Clubs are offering fans more
personalized guest experiences,
and making spaces within the
stadium available to be used on
non-matchdays, which is
something that its local
communities can benefi t from.
Finally, as I already mentioned,
stadium owners are demanding
projects that have faster and faster
delivery schedules.
ARCHITECTURE
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, USA
Have current world events
with the coronavirus
pandemic affected you in any
way? How will it impact the
industry going forward?
This is a really interesting
question. We just fi nished the
Chase Center in San Francisco.
When the team decided to play a
game in a completely empty arena
I never would have guessed that a
brand-new state-of-the-art venue
after years of design and
construction would be one of the
fi rst in the world to play an offi cial
“sold out” game with nobody in
the seats. Then, the NBA decides
to suspend the season altogether.
I hope the world heals from this
latest pandemic, and that we can
all return to enjoying ourselves in
the company of large crowds. But
in the same way that 9/11 changed
airport security forever, I can
imagine a day in our near future
where security at the door of our
large sport facilities may soon
include bio analysis to ensure we
are not spreading disease.
I remember entering Hong Kong
during the SARS breakout, and
there was a temperature
checkpoint where they analyzed
every person for elevated
temperatures and fever. Those
that were even slightly elevated,
were pulled aside for more testing
before allowed entry into the city. I
can defi nitely see that kind of biosecurity
becoming the new
normal at the doors of our venues.
www.stadia-magazine.com March 2020 27
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