‘The Terrace’ Fan Zone at the American Express Community Stadium
- Location
- Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, Brighton, UK
- Client
- The Community Stadium Ltd
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Design Management
- Completion
- 2025
Shaped around Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club’s vision for a state of the art fan zone, our design approach for ‘The Terrace’ is centred around defining an inclusive sheltered environment for 1,000 supporters, and , creating the largest fan experience in the Premier League.
“We’re delighted to be expanding our sponsorship of Brighton & Hove Albion FC by partnering together to create the new Heineken Fan Zone. Just like the team at the American Express Stadium we are always looking at how we can elevate the fan experience, and The Terrace will be the perfect place to do just that. We’re looking forward to seeing supporters old and new enjoying our beers and ciders whilst celebrating an Albion matchday.”
The space will provide a new forum to activate fan engagement through a super-scaled immersive digital ‘media wrap’, both internally and externally. The fan zone welcomes supporters with a varied food and beverage offer and two large bars, storage and toilets. Split over two levels, the ground floor level hosts a comprehensive food and bar offer, addressing a double-height events space within the immersive media-rich environment. In addition, a central spine accommodates catering space, storage, cellars, support space and customer toilets. Stairs and lifts provide access to an upper mezzanine level which houses an additional second bar with seating, incorporating dedicated sponsors area and entertainment stage. The mezzanine level enjoys views out over the main ground level events space and the immersive media wall within the double height space towards the prow of the building.
The design of the fan zone structure is based around a triangular diagrid which creates an efficient structural form which fits neatly within the circulatory constraints defined by the stadium’s outer spectator concourse and the railway boundary. The fan zone offers the exciting opportunity to enhance and extend the fan match day experience, both pre and post-match, and also provide an alternative independent function space for non match day events. Located at the apex of visitor arrival from Falmer Station, the proposed fan zone has an immediate presence to capture visitors upon arrival and departure, and creates a new opportunity to further enhance brand presence and fan engagement through media content utilising the large digital activation wrap and contained enclosure.
“We couldn’t be more excited to partner on The Terrace at the American Express Stadium™ and to extend our longstanding relationship with Brighton & Hove Albion FC.
“We love nothing more than granting special access and creating unforgettable moments for our Cardmembers and Albion fans. So, we are thrilled to be launching the American Express Clubhouse – a dedicated, elevated space for Amex® Cardmembers and their guests before and after every match on the upper level of the Heineken Fan Zone – to ensure that the matchday experience will be even better.”
The building’s dynamic envelope creates a fully permeable ground level in which the entire façade opens and closes to suit the requirements to cater for the ebb and flow of crowds on events and match days, also offering weather enclosure utilising large sliding-folding metal screens. Green walls to either gable contribute to enhancing biodiversity and set the building into the surrounding landscaped context of the South Downs National Park. At the middle level, a storey-high immersive media wrap encloses the buildings within a dynamic content-rich skin, engaging fans and visitors across the wider stadium outer concourse. At the uppermost level a glass louvred clerestory provides daylight and ventilation, while a generous overhanging roof brings in further daylight and captures solar energy with large rooflights and photovoltaic cells, also affording further shelter and dwelling space to welcome visitors.
The Brighton and Hove Albion Fan Zone will also have a positive impact on the local economy and local suppliers, creating more than 50 full and part-time jobs.
‘The Terrace’ officially opened to welcome fans into their amazing new fan activation space in the Premier League on Tuesday 1 April 2025 for the club’s Premier League match v Aston Villa.
“I am sure fans will be extremely excited to see these plans and designs have been approved by Brighton and Hove City Council, and this is another incredibly generous investment by our chairman Tony Bloom. "We all loved the BOXPARK experience on our two most recent trips to Wembley, and we wanted to give supporters something similar for every home game at the Amex. "The new Fan Zone will provide an excellent pre-and-post-match experience, in an even bigger pre-turnstile bar, with a modern and innovative fit out and a wide variety of food and drink offerings, using the best local Sussex suppliers wherever possible."