Stade de France

What you see when you walk up to the Stade de France is a vast, rolling roof. The structure sits in Saint-Denis. The perspective from the outside sets the tone for what happens inside: it is a building that demands space. The construction photographs show the scale of the ambition, with cranes lifting sections of the roof against a backdrop of the city skyline.

The roof covers the pitch, which is a hybrid surface stitched with synthetic fibres. The capacity shifts depending on what is on the programme. For football, the seats are full, and the noise travels. For athletics, the lower tier pulls back to reveal the track, and the stadium breathes a little differently. It was designed to host the 1998 World Cup final, a match that has become part of the stadium's identity, but it is the French national teams that use the ground most often, treating it as a fortress rather than a venue for occasional spectacle. The attendances are large, often pushing the limits of what the surrounding roads can handle, and the atmosphere tends to be serious, focused on the result rather than the pageantry.

The building is known by its official name, but during the planning stages it was called the Grand Stade, a working title that stuck in the memory of those who watched it rise. The cost of the project has been debated ever since the first stone was laid, with figures bouncing between millions of euros, but the final number matters less than the fact that it was completed on time for the tournament. The surface is maintained with an undersoil heating system, a necessity for the winter months when the northern sky turns grey and the wind cuts through the open stands. It is a functional space, built for endurance rather than elegance.