According to a retrospective by L'Equipe journalist Bernard Lions, French architect Daniel Pouzet never expected his dinner at an upscale Guadalajara restaurant to redefine his career. His host, the late Mexican billionaire and Omnilife founder Jorge Vergara, suddenly proposed that Pouzet build an ultra-modern stadium for Deportivo Guadalajara, famously known as the "Chivas". Vergara, who had owned the club since October 31, 2002, believed the historic Estadio Jalisco was outdated and viewed Pouzet as the perfect visionary for the ambitious project.
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Subscribe Sekarang →Before this life-changing meeting, the biggest project managed by Pouzet and his French design partner Jean-Marie Massaud was merely an international showroom for Renault. Pouzet recalled thinking the stadium offer was a joke, noting that no one in France would ever entrust such a massive undertaking to a novice. However, inspired by the explosive natural landscapes of Mexico, he drafted the design three times by hand to fit the current budget of 270 million Euros, aiming for an eruptive energy.
Based on the final architectural blueprints, the unique stadium-volcano concept features an artificial hill covered in green grass sloped at a 30-degree angle. The Estadio Akron is crowned by an oval, white teflon-coated fiberglass roof that appears to float like a cloud over a volcanic crater. This innovative membrane structure allows the venue to capture rainwater, directing it into large underground reservoirs used to irrigate the entire site, though engineers had to recalculate the steel support pillars to meet local seismic requirements.
The avant-garde arena was officially inaugurated on July 30, 2010, with a celebratory match against Manchester United, a game that marked the high-profile transfer of Mexican star "Chicharito". While the stadium itself became a landmark, Vergara's broader 300-hectare urban planning vision, the Centro JVC, never materialized. Pouzet expressed some regret that the surrounding area ultimately became an 8,000-space parking lot rather than achieving the cultural impact of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
From editorial monitoring of the World Cup 2026 venues, the architectural mastery of Estadio Akron continues to captivate global soccer fans, earning Pouzet unexpected celebrity status in Mexico. Despite the stadium's global acclaim, neither Pouzet nor Massaud ever designed another sporting arena, with Pouzet later channeling his creativity into building a Buddhist temple in Guadalajara and eco-resorts in the Philippines.