Megastructures - Rungnado May Day Stadium, Pyongyang - Korea

Rungnado May Day Stadium has 150 000 seats and a total floor space of more than 207 000 square metres. The area of the pitches is over 22 500 square metres. The stadium has eight storeys and is more than 60 metres high from the ground to the roof. The 60 metre long canopy is enough to cover the section of the stands. The pent of the inner roof is 60 metres long and the outer roof 40m long. The 16 arch roofs link with one another like flower petals.

The roofs look like a large flower floating on the clear water of the Taedong, or a parachute which has just landed, so it gives the impression of a dynamic sculpture. The stadium has 80 exits and ten lifts. It was built in two and a half years on the picturesque Rungra Island in the Taedong River, and commissioned on May 1, 1989. Every condition is provided for international games. The football pitch is covered with natural grass, and the 400 metre track and other parts for field events are rubberised.

The stadium has various training halls, recreation rooms, an indoor swimming pool, an ultrasonic bat, a sauna, beds and so on, which are indispensable for the players training and convenience. It also has dining rooms, and a broadcasting room and telex booths. The rubberised indoor running track is several hundred metres long and is on the sixth floor.