Membrane roof to protect Roman amphitheater

A fan-like shade canopy is proposed to cover the almost 2,000-year-old Roman-era arena in the Italian city of Verona. Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) in collaboration with German tensile experts schlaich bergermann have won the project to protect the stone amphitheater by placing a compression ring at the top of the elliptically-shaped arena.

The compression ring will be nearly unnoticeable from street level. Using a movable membrane and a cable network that fans out from one end of the structure’s cornice rim, the retractable roof will protect the entire arena against inclement weather or contracts back into the compression ring when weather is fine. More information is available at