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This week will be quite momentous for Everton football club and the fans, and the club have prepared a video to mark it too.
After months of speculation, and indeed, years of waiting and decades of hoping, we will finally get to see what the Toffees’ new home at the Bramley-Moore docks are going to look like.
️ | Later this week we embark on one of the most important projects in our history… pic.twitter.com/wx3s7uIAd3
— Everton (@Everton) July 22, 2019
There’s a few activities planned for this week, key among them being the kickoff of the second round of public consultations with the people of Merseyside in which designs for the new stadium as well as plans for the dockside area will be shown officially for the first time, starting Friday 26th and going on until Sunday 25th August.
However, for a select few, a private event will be held on Thursday 25th with architect Dan Meis in attendance where they’ll get a sneak peek on what the club’s vision for their new permanent home will be.
https://t.co/kiqGMimDXX just another picture of a big blue wave...
— danmeis (@Meisarch) July 12, 2019
Meis has been touting the ‘blue wave’ idea for some time on social media, fueling speculation on what that would mean for the new stadium. Having previously stated that he was very impressed and equally inspired by Borussia Dortmund’s home end (the Yellow Wall), we are likely to see a gigantic home end that will tower over the pitch while creating an intimidating ‘fortress’ effect much like the current ‘bearpit’ at Goodison, but magnified many times over.
During a previous stadium consultation, a couple of concept designs were shown, including a steep home end and a main stand as well. So here’s a couple of thoughts on what the ‘Blue Wave might be with regards to the new arena.
Since it is quite unlikely the entire stadium is going to be covered, one guess is that the ‘Blue Wave’ is referring to a covered main stand which will be shaped like a big wave to reflect the waterfront heritage of the location of the stadium.
Seen someone post something about it earlier but cant find out who but would love the stadium to be something similar to this that was knocking around couple of years ago. Stands over hanging Dont worry if its not @Meisarch i know its too late to change it now! #bluewave pic.twitter.com/yFqCyOiRTO
— Gary Savage (@sav4efc) July 13, 2019
However, Meis responded to that tweet saying that was incorrect as there were limits to how steep a stand can be, and the multi-level concept was ‘fictional’.
Which then brings us to the other idea, that the shape of the home end might be such as to look like a wave, such as the design posted to Meis’ Instagram account.
There have been some complaints from fans that having a steep home end like Dortmund would be copying the concept, but Meis was pretty vehement about his viewpoint -
A friend once said “nailing a sardine to your forehead is “unique” but not a particularly good idea”...I never said we were “copying Dortmund” but rather referred to the power of a large, steep section. It will be both brand new and representative of the best ideas in stadiums.
— danmeis (@Meisarch) July 18, 2019
Meis went on to add -
My job is not to design something that has never been seen before but rather to build the most intimidating football ground possible...on that site, while meeting budgets, planning guidelines, schedules etc...
— danmeis (@Meisarch) July 18, 2019
Numerous other comments have been made about preserving the look of the dockside area and and taking style elements from Goodison Park (like the Littlewoods clock and the Archibald Leitch latticework) as well as the docks, such as the old Tobacco warehouse nearby.
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This has given rise to conjecture that there will be plenty of exposed brick used in the new stadium, though probably not as much as used in the LucasOil Stadium.
Meis: stadium will be “brickwork, wood and panels in a contemporary way”
— Terry Peers (@terrypeers) April 3, 2018
Earlier today we also heard more details emerge, including the orientation of the stadium on the dock site, with the pitch running alongside the River Mersey.
I picked up a few details on how Everton's new stadium is likely to look when unveiled on Thursday.
— James Corbett (@james_corbett) July 22, 2019
- Pitch will be on north-south axis
- Exec seating in west stand, with views of the Mersey on the far side
-Water link to Pier Head preserved
- Clock tower not part of plans.
It appears that Meis has dropped enough hints during the stadium consultations and on social media for Blues to get a pretty decent idea on what to expect this week, but there’s certainly nothing like seeing for ourselves what the club has planned for our new home.