Gran Parque Central
Montevideo, Uruguay
2025
How can the history of the Gran Parque Central, the first World Cup stadium, be projected into the future and positioned as a global icon of football? More than just a pitch, it once was —and can be again— a true park; it is neighborhood, institution, and an identity-shaping landmark with both local and global historical significance.
In response to the competition for a definitive masterplan, we propose an intervention that weaves together past, present, and future—placing the neighborhood, the fans, and the legacy of the Club at the forefront.
Since the early 20th century, the area designated for the stadium has been part of Montevideo’s park system, interconnected with Parque Batlle and the Estadio Centenario. Its origins in the historic Quinta de la Paraguaya, the city beautification plans, and the public transport network—culminating in hosting the first-ever World Cup match—reveal its dual identity as both a neighborhood heart and an urban landmark.
However, successive expansions aimed at increasing capacity and performance have gradually erased the original park, relegating it to memory and submerging the stadium within the urban fabric.
The masterplan dissolves the stadium as a singular object into a cohesive urban occupation that embraces the entire block, redefining the whole as a Gran Parque with a shared identity. The coexistence of the stadium’s monumentality with the neighborhood scale becomes an opportunity to expand the Club’s cultural projection—not as an isolated structure, but as an institution open to diverse uses and activities, creating a living space of mutual exchange with the city.
The new envelope visually unifies the heterogeneous pre-existing elements, creating outdoor spaces along the entire perimeter. Its gentle sectional curvature eases the transition between building and neighborhood, while enabling expansion areas that enhance the pre- and post-match experience.
Internally, we invert the two main stands: one houses the new Museum of Football History, honoring the memory of the site; the other is adapted to FIFA standards, minimizing unnecessary demolitions and making the most of the existing structure both structurally and programmatically. Memory and future.
Due to the limited space available for new structural supports, we concentrate the main loads in four large shear-wall piers located alongside the north and south stands. Resting on them are two massive beams that span—and illuminate—the stadium, supporting the secondary beams that hold the new roofs. This approach minimizes both the foundation footprint and structural stress on the façades.
In the freed-up corners, we introduce private boxes and lounges topped by four urban lookout points that evoke the picturesque glorietas of the original stadium, offering privileged views of the city along the building’s internal promenade.
Ultimately, the project consciously and sensitively integrates the Club’s identity symbols through an urban lens. The tripartite organization of the masterplan—park/podium, stadium/preexistence, and envelope/image—and the proposed architectural language draw from the chromatic, graphic, and textile elements that unite the fans. These features build bridges between tradition and contemporaneity, responding to “the unending search for the possible meanings of things in the world, which demands the perspective of time and the bringing together of its edges” (Lessa, 2013).
Autores: FROM + Vigliecca & Associados
+ Sergio Barreto
Equipo de trabajo FROM: Matías Carballal, Mauricio López, Alejandra Arribeltz, Paula Bachino, Sebastián Caram, Laura Castell, Pablo Courreges, Pilar Fernández Terra, Hernán Gómez, Emiliano Lago, Sebastián Lambert, Aldo Lanzi, Cecilia Mautone, Diego Morera, Federico Paz, Agustina Vigevani
Renders: Aldo Lanzi
Ingeniería Civil y Estructura: RDA Ingeniería
Ingeniería Hidráulica, Sanitaria y Ambiental: Estudio Pittamiglio
Acondicionamiento Lumínico y Eléctrico: Estudio Hofstadter Fregosi & Asociados
HVAC, Automatismos, Tensiones Débiles, Incendio: TAEtech
Señalética: I+D