Wellington Regional Stadium
Bligh Lobb Sports Architecture
Hurricanes, Wellington Rugby Football Union, Wellington Firebirds, Wellington Phoenix
The Westpac Stadium (formerly WestpacTrust Stadium ) is a large sports arena in the New Zealand capital Wellington. Although the residents of Wellington's call it with its proper name or simply talk about the " stage ", the arena is colloquially " Cake Tin " ( German: cake box ) due to its characteristic architecture of many inhabitants of the country called. The stadium can accommodate 36,000 spectators, the capacity can also be temporarily increased to 38,000 to 40,000.
The foundation stone for the Westpac Stadium was laid in March 1998. The opening ceremony finally took place on 3 January 2000. Was built the stadium by the company Fletcher Construction. With the inauguration of the building about a kilometer north of the city center on the site of a former rail yard in close proximity to Wellington Central Station was the main stadium of the city at that time, the Athletic Park, who had previously given up over the years to decay, replaced. The latter venue was demolished immediately after and released for residential development. Although the new arena is one of the most modern in the country and is located in the capital, it does not have the status of " National Stadium ".
The multi-purpose arena is mainly used for rugby union matches and - used cricket games - because of its oval pitch also possible. The two rugby union teams, which the Westpac Stadium serves as the home arena, the Hurricanes, who compete in the multinational Super Rugby League and the Air New Zealand Cup participating team Province of Wellington, the Wellington Rugby Football Union. The Wellington Firebirds will play for the State Shield, the most important trophy in cricket in New Zealand. To replace more sports that are played in the Westpac Stadium Australian Rules Football, Rugby League and football, which won since 2007 in popularity, as Wellington Phoenix was founded in the Australian professional football league A-League, the New Zealand Knights.
In addition to the above sporting encounters serves the stadium as a venue for various events and concerts: In 2000, for example, was the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the biggest music event in Scotland held in the newly opened Westpac Stadium - the first time outside Scotland. Other events were, for example, the appearance of the Rolling Stones on their " A Bigger Bang Tour" as well as a show of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Exterior