WELSH NATIONAL TEMPLE.

The Welsh national rugby centre has been rebuilt to new standards, and locked into the centre of Cardiff with new squares and a river walk.

The Millennium Stadium encloses the holy turf of rugby, the Welsh national game. A 65 000 spectator stand was completed there in 1984 to the most up-to-date specifications, but 15 years later, it was out of date: consumer expectations that rugger should be watched sitting down and new, more stringent safety standards had reduced the capacity of the place to 53 500 - and even then 8000 people had to stand. The Millennium bonanza offered the opportunity of building a completely new stadium which could be used for other functions besides rugby: soccer, religious festivals and concerts for instance. (To achieve the huge project, Wales decided to scrap proposals for the Cardiff Opera House designed by Zaha Hadid, so that nation and the city could pour their energies into what Welsh people really revere).

Hadid's controversial design may have had many virtues, but response to the cold, rainy, grey-lit climate of Cardiff was not one of them. The Millennium Stadium avoids climatic crassness by being the first one in the UK to have a roof that can be completely closable over the pitch. It accommodates 72 500 spectators, all of whom are seated. HOK + LOBB were appointed as architects in 1995 and developed the proposal on the original site with a change of orientation. The city centre location was retained not only for sentimental reasons, but because the institution generates large sums for local businesses and it is easily accessible from local bus and rail stations, a factor found to contribute to success of new stadiums in the Antipodes. There is a new public walkway along the river Taff, and new urban squares (by other architects) are being created to lock the huge structure into the fabric of the inner city. It changes colour as it ascends: the lowest levels are green and blue; at the top red and plum panels line the overhang, while the roof is silver.

Within this coat of many colours are four main levels of activity -- two underground levels are devoted to car parking, services and players' changing rooms (the design of stadiums has not changed much since the Colosseum). Above ground, the first level has 25 000 seats, bars, shops and restaurants. On the second level 15 000 seats are given over to VIPs, and the third has hospitality boxes and restaurants. Level six has 32 000 seats for less grand people.

The most interesting parts of the building are the pitch and the roof. Because the grass is heavily overshadowed by the enclosure it is planted on 7400 pallets, each weighing about half a tonne; they are regularly rotated to ensure that each piece of turf gets its time in the sun. The roof's tubular steel structure has two primary trusses 220m long which flank the main axis of the pitch. Secondary trusses define the short ends of the pitch, and loads from the crucial points of connection between primary and secondary trusses are taken up by pre-tensioned cables, transferred to tall masts in each corner of the building, and then back to ground. Movable parts of the roof span 76m and roll along tracks supported on the primary trusses. On each side, five units 11m wide and 7m deep can be moved out to ensure that the great game will never be interrupted by the Celtic climate.