Years ago, after the match the football players from Belarus played at the Maribor stadium Ljudski vrt, they were so impressed that soon after "a somewhat indecent proposal was delivered to us," Rok Oman, the architect, explained with a hint of a smile on his face. We met in the office off the Architectural bureau Ofis architects (Ofis) at one of the highest floors of the old bourgeois building in the Tavčar street in Ljubljana, with a nice view of the former Evropa coffee house, and of the bustle on the Slovenska road. "They were interested in building a replica, but we answered that we were not interested in such a project, and that such a good team as Bate Borisov deserves something unique," Špela Videčnik continued the story.
The seventh best stadium in the world in 2014
And indeed they got it. The Arena Borisov Football Stadium, worth 55.8 million dollars, can seat 13,000 spectators, and has in total 3,000 square metres of public surfaces in four levels in the form of a silver envelope with rounded edges. The stadium has been awarded four stars according to UEFA grading, which is the top score, meaning that it complies with all the demands, including the luxury offer for VIP guests, and media requirements. According to the votes given by StadiumDB.com website users where 96,772 individuals gave their votes, Arena Borisov has been voted the seventh best football stadium in the world in 2014.

"Why all that wrapping, when all we need are seats?" the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko asked the engineering director at the occasion of the solemn inauguration of the building. He failed to grasp the concept of the silver envelope, explains Rok. "Only after he was explained that the envelope between the football pitch and the surroundings contains a number of programs, namely offices, fitness studios, locker rooms, restaurants, VIP areas, Lukashenko started thinking… Actually, the project could have been cancelled at any moment, regardless of the phase it was in."