Foster + Partners and Manica Unveil 71,500-Seat Replacement for San Siro

Foster + Partners and US practice Manica have unveiled a 71,500-seat stadium that will replace Milan's 99-year-old San Siro, with completion scheduled for the 2032 European Championship that Italy will co-host.

The new venue, named Generali Stadium after insurance giant Generali, which holds the naming rights, will rise directly alongside the existing San Siro. Both AC Milan and Inter Milan will keep sharing the current ground until the new stadium opens. San Siro will then be demolished, according to the BBC.

What does the design look like?

The stadium's defining feature is a structural facade of elongated X-framed concrete supports that carries the stadium bowl and a double-curved roof. It also frames and naturally ventilates lofty entrances and loggia-like spaces on the upper levels.

"The structural facade is the defining architectural concept of the stadium: a holistic and monumental piece of infrastructure rising approximately 60 metres in height, composed of interlocking low-carbon precast concrete segments connected through expressed structural joints," Norman Foster, founder of Foster + Partners, told Dezeen. That 60-metre height is roughly the equivalent of an 18-storey building wrapped around the perimeter.

"It is a celebration of Milanese and Italian engineering tradition, where architecture and structure become one," Foster added.

Foster said the overarching goal is "to create a new home for two storied football clubs, which captures the unique energy of the city and its distinctive architectural and structural traditions".

How are the fans positioned?

The seating bowl centres on "two curvas" — the curved north and south stands, designed to pull spectators close to the pitch with opposing fans facing each other. The north and south ends rise on a 37-degree pitch to house 11,700 spectators at each end: north for Internazionale, south for AC Milan.

"That relationship of two opposing walls of supporters, each tied to one of the city's great clubs, is unique to Milan and found in no other stadium in the world," said Manica founder David Manica. "The whole seating bowl is built around it."

"Rather than starting with an image or an icon, we began with the experience of the fans. The architecture is a result of that guiding principle," he told Dezeen.

The geometry draws on San Siro itself. "Its seating bowl is inspired by the San Siro itself, with its distinctive 'curvas', but with greater proximity to the pitch," Foster explained.

What about acoustics and sustainability?

The bowl's geometry is engineered to "amplify the roar of crowds within the stadium, enhancing the atmosphere during events while significantly reducing acoustic spillover and noise pollution", according to Foster.

"San Siro is famous for its noise, and the best way to honour that legacy was to capture that atmosphere – and amplify it," said David Manica. "We treated acoustics as a primary design driver from the very first sketches."

"The result is a stadium where the chanting and singing build on themselves, taking the atmosphere Milanese supporters love and making it even more powerful," he said.

The stadium is planned to be all-electric and carbon-neutral in operation, targeting LEED Gold Certification. Its roof will carry 27,500 square metres of photovoltaic panels — an area comparable to nearly four football pitches — and a "low-carbon precast concrete system" will be used to minimise waste and construction time.

The stadium sits within a wider 281,000-square-metre masterplan combining public spaces, green areas and leisure and retail zones.

Why is San Siro being demolished?

Designed by architect Ulisse Stacchini and also known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro was built in 1925 and has remained unchanged since the 1990 World Cup.

Demolition talk began in 2019, when both clubs announced they were exploring a replacement. They later selected a Populous design called the Cathedral, but the Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy blocked its development in 2023 because of the existing building's cultural significance.

The path cleared when Milan's city council approved the stadium's sale to the two clubs in October 2025, after a debate that ran nearly 12 hours overnight. Mayor Giuseppe Sala said at the time that the sale would prevent Milan from being left "with the burden of an abandoned arena", as the clubs had begun exploring separate stadiums on the city's outskirts.

Foster + Partners is also designing Manchester United's new 100,000-seat stadium in the UK, a tent-like structure Foster has called "one of the most exciting projects in the world".