Stadium Street Front: Integrating a sports arena into urban landscape
Contents Abstract 3 Thesis Topics 5 Sports 7 Stadiums 9 City Integration 11 Boston 2024 Olympics 13 New England Revolution 15 Thesis Proposal 17 Proposed Site 19 Precedents 21 Fenway Park 23 TD Garden 31 Estadio Nacional de Brasilia 35 Objectives & Timeline
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Bibliography 39
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Abstract
Sports play an important part of our daily lives physically, economically, politically and above all, socially. The cathedral of sport has always been a place capable of bringing a community together; dating back from the spectacular Colosseum to the mega structures we build today. Part of the struggle is effectively integrating these stadiums into our cities, and not just displacing them in suburbs surrounding them with parking lots. This thesis will explore methods to successfully integrate a stadium into a dense city, at different scales. The urban planning scale, the city block scale, and most importantly the street front scale will be researched and designed as a model that cities can use to help bring sports closer to where we live.
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Thesis Topics
The next few pages will talk a little bit about each section of inspiration and key elements of the thesis. It is essential to understand these topics and to see how they are related, to easily grasp the idea of the proposed thesis. • • • • •
Sports Stadiums City Integration Boston 2024 Olympics New England Revolution
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“Sports inspire passion. Pride. Spirit. They give us something to root for as individuals and unite us as a community...”
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– stantec.com
Sports
Sports are an important part of life. If you don’t play a sport yourself, chances are a family member or friend probably does, whether it is professionally, or as a pass time. We make some of our closest friends through sports, from childhood through puberty and adulthood to old age. Whether we meet friends through an elementary school soccer team, or start talking to the football fan next to us at the local bar, sports can bring us all closer together. Sports are for everyone, male or female, black or white, healthy or disabled, young or old. Not only do sports have an impact on our social life, but they affect our community, city, country and world economically and politically. A soccer field brings the community together in Rio de Janeiro
Handicapped Badminton in Sri Lanka
“Sport can reach parts politicians can’t reach. It can help in bringing divided conflicts together in a way nothing else can.” -Tony Blair
When the Ivory Coast national soccer team qualified for the 2006 World cup, the Civil War was put on a temporary truce as the players begged to see the country united again. The government and the rebels put their differences aside in 2007 as the city of Bouake hosted an African Nations Cup qualifier, a match that symbolized the reunification of the two sides of the country. The captain of the team, Didier Drogba said in an interview: “I knew that we could bring a lot of people together. More than politicians. The country is divided because of politicians; we are playing football, we are running behind a ball, and we managed to bring people together.”
The Boston Marathon
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“Buildings for sport and leisure, and the happiness and sense of community they generate, touch all aspects of our lives, economic, political and social.”
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– Rod Sheard, Sports Architecture
Stadiums
The Colosseum is perhaps the most popular historic stadium
Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York
Camp Nou in Barcelona is the biggest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 98,787
The modern stadium is a remarkable piece of architecture. It allows us to travel into the TV set to be part of the live spectacle of sport. It is where the individual becomes one in a million, a water droplet in the Atlantic Ocean, a tree in the Amazon rainforest. Yet for each of us the thrill of travelling to a stadium is different, the experience of a stadium is an individual memory. Stadiums are the pride and joy of a city and country. As sports become a more and more important industry in the world, stadiums will follow. Though they are extremely expensive to build, they have the ability to generate large sums of money on an event day. Stadiums take the shape of its purpose. In most sports there are standard sizes fields, courts and tracks that cannot be changed. A baseball stadium is quite different from a horseracing stadium, which is different to a racecar or football stadium. Due to the regulations of FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) for stadium seating, many soccer stadiums look very similar on the interior. Therefore the major differences come in the exterior facade and the roof. Today’s stadium may have a capacity anywhere from ten thousand to eighty thousand spectators. They are massive structures. Many of them are constructed in suburbs where there is much free open land, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Integrating a stadium into the fabric of a dense city can be a task that poses many challenges. In his book, “Sports Architecture� Rod Sheard compares the modern stadium to airports, both places where people spend two to four hours. This time evolves into money being spent, and the layout of airports has changed, and so too, will stadiums start to become commercialized. 9
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Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium are situated in a field of parking in a suburb outside of Kansas City
City Integration
Urban Planning Scale: Colosseum Site Plan, Rome 1748
City Block Scale : Sven Verbruggen, “New Stadium Typology”
Street Front Scale : Ryan D. Birkey “Thinking outside the Bowl : The Stadium as an Active Urban Amenity”
Why is it so important that we integrate these structures into our cities? Stadiums generate a sense of community, one that is essential to a thriving city. One can argue there is the experience of driving to the game, but there is also an experience of taking the train, seeing the fans slowly fill up the train car at every stop until you can barely breathe. If you weren’t going to the game, you definitely know there is a game going on. Stadiums are icons of cities. Although they are not affecting a skyline, they are tourist attractions. The Olympic Stadium is the second most popular tourist attraction in Munich, while Camp Nou in Barcelona sees more tourists than the Picasso Museum. Stadiums give people reasons to come into cities, even on non game days. Another reason stadiums should be in cities is the ease of access. Kansas City’s two main stadiums, Kauffman Stadium (baseball) and Arrowhead Stadium (football) are in the same area outside of the city, surrounded by parking lots. There are different scales of integrating such a structure into urban contexts. There is the urban planning scale; an issue of where a stadium is placed within a city and how accessible it is. There is the city block scale; the feeling the stadium generates around the neighborhood and the program of the surrounding buildings. Then there is the immediate street front scale; the facades of the stadium and how it can help fit into the immediate context. These facades have the potential to be permeable and open up even when there is not a game, adding energy to the community.
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“We don’t see a separate Olympic park as they have done in some cities, we think of Boston as the Olympic park.”
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– Dan O’Connell, President of the Boston 2024 Partnership
Boston 2024 Olympics
The scale of a Boston Olympics : Special Commission Relative to the Feasibility of Hosting the Summer Olympics.
Boston could host the most compact and sustainable games yet.
Harvard Stadium has the potential to be an Olympic venue.
The inspiration for this thesis is partly driven by Boston’s bid for the Olympics in 2024. Many believe that it wouldn’t be a success because there is no space for an Olympic park in Boston. But the idea could be that Boston is the Olympic park. It would mean that the stadiums and sports facilities would need to be integrated into the city. Instead of having a concentrated district of an Olympic Park, the events would be spread out over the greater Boston area, and the city has the public transportation foundation to allow for that. There are around 100 colleges and universities in the area, and Boston will use their facilities to support the games. Harvard Stadium would host field hockey, as it has hosted other Olympic sports in the past such as the group stages of the 1984 Olympic Soccer, and Track and Field tryouts for the United States team. The International Olympic Committee is favoring venues that are temporary, that will be re-used or that can be downgraded. The venues that would be built in Boston could be handed over to individual schools for their use of athletics. Not to mention the Boston area is in need of affordable housing, which is a requirement of the Olympic host city. Housing could be built and easily re-used as dorms or apartments. Boston is in need of a transportation upgrade. Although the cars are some of the oldest on the nation’s tracks, the “T” is quite a reliable service and reaches around the city limits. The Olympics would give the city a deadline to upgrade the train cars. The city is promoting a sustainable, walkable event that would keep the games affordable and compact.
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“You’re targeting young professionals — the ones who grew up playing soccer and now want to watch, drink beer, and sing songs, those are the passionate fans you want.”
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– Victor Matheson, sports economist, former MLS referee
New England Revolution
Gillette Stadium in the Foxborough suburb is mostly empty for New England Revolution’s soccer games
Seattle Sounders FC has an energetic crowd of young fans
A possible new home for the New England Revolution at a site in South Boston - The Boston Globe
The New England Revolution soccer team is looking to building a new soccerspecific stadium. Gillette Stadium is too big for the soccer team’s fan base; it is scarcely populated on the Revolution’s game days. The average attendance is about 16,000 fans, not even a quarter the capacity of their current stadium. The emptiness is a turnoff for fans, as part of the live stadium experience is being part of a packed exciting crowd. They are one of the few Major League Soccer teams not playing in a soccer specific stadium, and one of the few not in the heart of a city. An ideal stadium in Boston would seat about 20,000 fans. However an article on GoLocalProv spoke about bringing the team base to Providence. There the Revolution would be the only top professional sports team, and would receive more attention than Boston. Boston is already home to the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and a number of college sports; the TV ratings for the Revolution are non-existent. I believe this would change if the stadium came to Boston; a town full of energetic young middle aged sports enthusiasts. “An MLS match loses 260 potential fans for every mile the stadium is located outside its nearest urban core,” according to Mark S. Nagel, a sport and entertainment management professor at the University of South Carolina. Soccer specific stadiums were built in the suburbs in the last decade, but now the resurge of Major League Soccer is coming from a younger age group from cities.
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Thesis Proposal
Integration at the Urban Planning scale
Integration at the Street Front scale
Integration at the City Block scale
With the understanding of the topics mentioned, the proposal for the thesis will be a stadium. As mentioned, for a stadium to be integrated into an urban landscape, there must be some kind of dense surrounding. A design for a small community around the stadium will therefore be required, but will not be the main emphasis. The main emphasis will be on the stadium’s street facades and how it can work on game days and kept energized on non-game days. The ideal condition would be that the stadium is built for the Olympics, which would have the required capacity of about 80,000 and then downsized after the games. The stadium would then be dedicated as a new home to the New England Revolution soccer team. It will not focus on the specifics of stadium design, which one can easily get lost in all of the technical requirements such as sight lines, views, code requirements and required support spaces. Instead I will allow myself some freedom to design around the typical stadium typology, effectively implementing my ideas. It will be about the exterior of the stadium and the concourse rings rather than the interior.
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Figure Ground map of Boston showing the train routes. Fenway Park (left) and TD Garden (right) are highlighted
Proposed Site
The area is a hole in the dense city off of Interstate 93.
The area is currently home to the food wholesale industry.
Widett Circle is being considered as a site for the Olympic Stadium and a New England Revolution Stadium
The site is not finalized by any means, this is just a possible site that has the potential to portray the ideas of the thesis. It is a strip of city-owned land off of Interstate 93. Boston has a large yard on the site for towed cars and public works. Widett Circle is about 20 acres and is currently home to the New Boston Food Market, a group of meat and seafood wholesalers that supply the restaurant industry in Boston. The South Boston property offers easy access from major highways and is near the MBTA’s Red Line as well as rail lines at nearby South Station. A light rail could be proposed from South Station to the site, which is one of the considerations if the site were to be used for the Olympic Stadium. Nearby shopping malls and institutions could be used for associated parking where necessary. The site is currently a hole in the city of Boston. It could provide for more of a connection from the South End to South Boston. The challenge would be dealing with the interstate and the train tracks.
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Precedents
The following are precedents that have been analyzed for different reasons. They are all interesting in their own way and attention will be paid towards how they are set in context, their facades, or just have a unique idea that applies to the proposal. • • •
Fenway Park TD Garden Estadio Nacional de Brasilia
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Fenway Park is Major League Baseball’s oldest ball park. Photo courtesy. http://philip.greenspun.com
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is embedded in the urban Fenway context
The surrounding context includes shopping, bars and restaurants
Fenway Park is usually filled to capacity at every Boston Red Sox home game - www.bluechipphotography.com
Fenway Park is home to the Boston Red Sox and is Major League Baseball’s oldest ballpark. It was opened on April 20th 1912, and since then has gone under many renovations and makeovers. The surrounding context has slowly developed around the stadium since then making Fenway one of the liveliest neighborhoods in the greater Boston area. It is an urban stadium that is rooted in the area’s culture and identity. Known as “America’s most beloved ballpark,” the size of the stadium and the closeness of the 37,400 seats make the crowd feel as though they are part of the game, as opposed to being just spectators. The stadium facades consist of brick that show the building’s age while fitting right into its context of Boston and the popular red brick structures. There are parking lots along the stadium’s façade which at times can be a bit bland, with no sense of interaction and permeability. However there are a couple of bars at street level that are embedded in the stadium. Surrounding buildings across the street consist of bars and restaurants that give the area exciting nightlife, especially on game day. On other sides there are parking lots and the Fenway High School and Boston Arts Academy. Yawkey way closes off on game day and creates an incredible atmosphere where fans can buy food and souvenirs before entering the stadium. The street is gated off and only fans with tickets have access to the street before the game. There is a sense of connection to the city and surroundings from inside the stadium where there are some open areas, concession stands and circulation paths that allow for views out to the street. There is more of an interior to exterior relationship, than an exterior to interior one. 23
“I came to love Fenway. It was a place that rejuvenated me after a road trip; the fans right on top of you, the nutty angles. And the Wall. That was my baby, the left-field wall, the Green Monster.”
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– Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox Hall of Famer
Fenway Park The Green Monster
The stadium typology extends to the exterior along the street
The Green Monster overhangs Lansdowne Street by 17.5 feet
Essentially a single wall separates the playing field from the street
The Green monster first started as a simple wooden fence in the stadiums early years. John I. Taylor then built a 10-foot wall for privacy from the fans that didn’t want to pay for a ticket. In 1934 a concrete wall was built and within a few years it was painted green “to match the grass” and advertisement boards were added. 269 Green Monster seats were added in 2003 and are the stadium’s most expensive seats that offer a great view from left field. It overhangs Lansdowne Street by 17.5 feet and gives the street a sense of character. The overhang allows people to know there is a stadium there, as you look up and see the underside of the concrete stepped seating. There is a single wall that separates the playing field from exterior of the stadium, which does not happen in other stadiums. Usually there are rings of concourse areas, restrooms, and ticketing areas that separate the exterior to the action area of the stadium. I think the green monster is a unique design feature that has potential and can produce many ideas. Since it overhangs the street it is one way to fit more people in an urban stadium, that may not have much space to play with. The actual wall could be an interesting element as well. It leads me to some interesting design questions such as: what if that wall could be transparent to allow for spectators on the street to catch a glimpse of the game? Would there be a fee to charge for entering that area on Lansdowne Street? The following pages show an analysis at street level of Fenway Park. The pictures were taken on a Sunday at around midday.
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TD Garden acts as a billboard for Bruins and Celtics advertisements.
TD Garden
TD Garden seats 17,565 for hockey and 18,624 for basketball
The height of TD Garden blends well with the surrounding buildings.
The arena sits at a point of entry into to the city from the north.
TD Garden was completed in 1995 after 2 years of construction. It was built to replace the old Boston Garden, which is now the big empty lot south of TD Garden along Causeway Street. The Arena has a maximum seating capacity of 19,580 and is home to the Boston Celtics (basketball), the Boston Bruins (ice hockey) and hosts many different events and concerts. It is located in Boston’s north end, near the Charles River Dam. Underneath it is North Station, where the orange and green lines run as well as the commuter rail. This brings thousands of commuters through TD Garden everyday, and provides easy public transportation for the fans on a game day. Its location near the river is an excuse for the tall bare walls. If we were to switch TD Garden with Fenway Park, the Garden wouldn’t be much of a success in the Fenway area. It is part of the identity of the North End. Though the walls are overwhelming, they are not as obstructive because of the empty lot in between the street and the arena, which acts as a buffer zone. However this empty lot prohibits any interaction with the façade of the building. The only point of permeability is North station and the main entrance into the arena. With that in mind, it can be seen as a point of entry into Boston from the North. With big Bruins and Celtics posters on its façade, the blank walls act as an advertising board for traffic along the Zakim Bridge. It is a reminder that you are entering, or leaving Boston. The following pages consist of stills from a video created documenting the process of getting to a Boston Celtics game at TD Garden on November 7th 2014.
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1. The orange line gets more crowded as it approaches North Station
2. The crowd heading off the train towards TD Garden
3. Following the crowd exiting North Station
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5. About 100 feet separate the North Station exit and TD Garden
6. Fans show their tickets to enter the arena
4. The first glimpse of TD Garden
7. Going up the escalator to the upper concourse
8. Fans get food and drinks before the start of the game
9. Concourses start to fill up with Celtics green before the game
10. Heading towards the appropriate section into the arena
11. Through the tunnel catching the first glimpse of the arena
12. The view from the seat, ready for the game
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The Estadio Nacional sits in the heart of the capital of Brazil
Estadio Nacional de Brasilia
The stadium seats about 72,000 fans
The facade consists of a field of columns that allow natural ventilation
A section of the stadium shows the open feel of the facade leading into the concourse and tiers of seating.
The Estadio Nacional de Brasilia is located in the heart of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The stadium was completed in 2013 and seats about 72,000 making it the second largest stadium in South America. It is also the second most expensive stadium in the world, after Wembley Stadium in London, rounding up to about $475 million. The stadium is pursuing to be the world’s highest rated LEED Platinum certified stadium, and the first net-zero energy stadium as well. Though Brasilia is known for its urban sprawl, the stadium is within a two-mile radius of most hotels, it is in the city center, and very easy to reach by public transportation. The esplanade that runs around the stadium acts as a circulation ring that is supported by slender reinforced concrete pillars. It fits in well with the context of Brasilia, while creating a welcoming feeling to the stadium. Brasilia is very warm, but also dry. The architects designed a breathable façade consisting of a field of columns that provide natural ventilation to flow into the arena bowl and concourse, reducing the amount of air conditioning needed to cool the building. There are a total of 288 columns ranging from 1.2 to 1.5 meters in diameter, 46 meters tall. The façade is what is most interesting to me and relevant for this thesis. The openness the columns bring to the stadium has potential to push the design ideas even further in a different setting. It is a very permeable façade. It leads me to some design questions: What if these columns held up the tiers of seating as well as the roof? What if there were layers of activity along this arcade of columns?
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Objectives & Timeline January
February
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Select Final Site Site Analysis Decide on program around stadium Design for integration at urban planning scale
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Finalize building shapes and sizes Details of how community will work around stadium Design for integration at the city block scale Traffic patterns, pedestrian circulation
Objectives: • Understand ways a stadium may be integrated at different scales. • Blur the amount of energy and activity between game days and non-game days. • Come up with a model that stadiums can look to for better integration. Timeline: The draft timeline on the left is about time management, making sure I do not get caught up in one area or another for too long. 4 months is a short time to design and integrate a stadium into a new urban plan, but the main focus will be on the street front scale.
March
April
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Design for integration at the street front scale Work out plan details of concourses, stores, landscaping, sidewalks etc.
Final Presentation Digital model Physical model
Criteria of Evaluation: The success of the end result of the project should be evaluated based on how well the stadium has been integrated into the surroundings, and if enough options were thought about at the different scales, especially the street scape and city block scales. As always I plan to learn as much as I can about the topic and have fun while exploring.
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Bibliography “2014 Brasilia National Stadium.” , accessed November 16, 2014, http://castromello. com.br/en/project/estadio-nacional-de-brasilia-2014.
Bryant, Paul. “Between the Stadium and the City: An Urban Response to the Current Trends in Stadium Design.” Master of Architecture, University of Cincinnati, 2008.
“Boston’s 2024 Olympic Bid Relies Heavily on City’s Colleges.” , accessed December 3, 2014, http://college.usatoday.com/2014/11/27/bostons-2024-olympic-bidrelies-heavily-on-citys-colleges/ This article starts to go in detail about the Olympic venues, how they could be sustainable, what happens after, public transportation upgrades. It also gives an idea of the Olympic stadium downsizing after the games for a New England Revolution soccer stadium.
Dyckhoff, Tom and Claire Barrett. The Architecture of London 2012: Vision, Design and Legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Chichester: Wiley, 2012 This book gives in depth information about the planning of the 2012 Olympics. Details of the site before the Olympics are given. The fact that it was a toxic wasteland before and today is one of the most sustainable areas is written about. There is a section on previous Olympics and the pros and cons of their aftermath, and what kind of Olympics London wanted to have. There is information on all the major sport venues, energy stations and facilities outside of the park. Toward the end there are a few pages about the afterlife of the park. Great Images, (some that can’t be found on the internet.) Easy reading.
“Bring the New England Revolution to Providence - we Know the Perfect Spot.” GoLocalProv Editorial, accessed December 2, 2014, http://www.golocalprov. com/business/editorial-bring-the-new-england-revolution-to-providence-weknow-the-perfec This article talks about putting the New England Revolution stadium in the heart of downtown Providence, Rhode Island. There is discussion about a site that is constantly reused and under renovations. They talk about how Providence may be a better location for the team than Boston, where the potential site is in noman’s land, there are not bars no restaurants and no night life on the site in South Boston next to I-93. Boston already has many sports teams, Bruins, Celtics, Red Sox, BC College, Patriots, the New England Revolution has non existent TV ratings in Boston. Since providence doesn’t have many sports teams, a soccer team based there would receive more attention and more fans than it would in Boston. There is also talk in the article about multi-use. Stadium Design. Cologne: DAAB GMBH, 2006. “Sustainable Stadiums and Arenas.” www.wm.com, accessed 12/2, 2014, http:// www.wm.com/sustainability-services/documents/insights/Stadiums%20and%20 Arenas%20Insight.pdf This 4-page article touches on the idea of integrating stadiums and arenas into cities in terms of sustainability. It speaks about the importance of a transportation system and the greenhouse gas emissions from people going to an event. It also gives some sustainable facts and figures about modern stadiums. Birkey, Ryan. “Thinking Outside the Bowl: The Stadium as an Active Urban Amenity.” Bachelor of Architecture, Ball State University, 2005 This is directly related to my thesis idea. The focus is about promoting an atmosphere outside of the stadium while having open configurations. There are a few good precedents of Camden Yards and urbanism. There are thoughts on Interior commercial concourse, stadium massing and cladding. Plaza plans and diagrams are very useful. Sketched perspectives give the atmosphere the author desires. He also gives some post-presentation comments at the end, talking about the critics input, use of a retractable roof and giving the stadium more character.
Goeman, Steven. “Rotterdam 2028 Olympic Stadium Fleet: A Life Cycle Approach to Sustainable Olympic Architecture :” 2012. http://resolver.tudelft.nl/ uuid:6a0dfdc9-c627-41f7-bd40-208979d5827b. Gordon, Barclay F. Olympic Architecture: Building for the Summer Games. New York: Wiley, 1983. Ijeh, Ike. “Brazil’s World Cup Stadiums: Estadio Nacional De Brasilia, Part 6.” , accessed November 16, 2014, http://www.building.co.uk/brazils-world-cup-stadiumsestadio-nacional-de-brasilia-part-6/5068931.article. Jewell, Don. Public Assembly Facilities. 2nd ed. Malabar, Fla.: Krieger, 1992. Kirsner, Scott. “Boston, Go for the Gold with Creative Solutions.” The Boston Globe, November 16, 2014, sec. Business. Lonergan, Paul Joseph. “Cultural Sustainability: Means of Perserving a Neighborhood.” Master of Architecture, Wentworth Institute of Technology, 2011. MacLeod, Finn. “Salvaged Stadium: Harvard GSD Student Yaohua Wang’s Proposal for Post-Olympic Adaptation.” ArchDaily, accessed December 2, 2014, http://www. archdaily.com/?p=571282 This article describes a thesis project for on Olympic stadium in China, that can be reused after the Olympic games as a school, while still having a capability as a stadium. It is sited in an urban context. The designer talks about the circulation spaces around the stadium bowl that are no longer needed after the games and tries to reuse the space. He is also interested in the audience’s experience of the games. By integrating the practice field into the façade of the stadium he gives an opportunity for the audience to circulate around to perhaps follow their favorite athlete. After renovations, half of the concourse spaces go to the school while the other half is for athletes and media. There is a fifteen minute video that basically takes you on a tour of the design. 39
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Bibliography Martorell Codina, Josep Maria. Transformación De Un Frente Marítimo: Barcelona, La Villa Olímpica, 1992 = Transformation of a Seafront : Barcelona, the Olympic Village, 1992. Barcelona: G. Gili, 1988. Mendez, Soledad. “Mega-Event Stadiums as Vehicles for Urban Transformation: An Argument for Integration .” Master in City Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010.
Verbruggen, Sven. “New Stadium Typology.” Youtube Video, 12:10. Posted January 23, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR_6-maoL54. Zimbalist, Andrew. “Fool’s Gold in Boston Olympics.” The Boston Globe, October 13, 2014, sec. Opinion.
Mezher, Jad. “Evolution in the Design and Construction of Stadiums.” Master of Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003 This thesis focuses mainly on construction materials and methods of stadiums, comparing modern stadiums to the Colosseum in Rome. It would be useful as a reference for information about the Colosseum, and about roof structures. Ross, Casey, Callum Borchers, and Mark Arsenault. “Kraft Family Looks to Build Soccer Stadium in Boston.” The Boston Globe, November 18, 2014, sec. City and Region This article talks about bringing a stadium for New England Revolution Soccer team into the heart of Boston. They talk about the problems of the current stadium, Gillette Stadium which is primarily for football. The stadium is too big and supporters are not willing to drive all the way. There is a diagram at the bottom that explains driving distances from stadiums to city centers in the US, and the New England Revolution is one of the furthest. It also talks about bringing young urban fans into the mix and a stadium sited near South station could help soccer become more popular in the area. There are also talks about a light rail running from South Station to the site, providing the fans with even better access to the Stadium. Sheard, Rod. Sports Architecture. London: Spon Press, 2001. Sheard, Rod, Robert Powell, and Patrick Bingham-Hall. The Stadium: Architecture for the New Global Sporting Culture. Pesaro Monograph Series. Balmain, N.S.W.: Pesaro Publishing, 2005. Siegfried, Jeremy and Sasha Truong. “Sustainable Sports Stadiums: Integrating Development into the City.”Cornell University, 2009. Sturgis, Sam. “Why the Future of Major League Soccer is Downtown.” CityLab, accessed December 2, 2014, http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/11/why-thefuture-of-major-league-soccer-is-downtown/382942/. Stürzebecher, Peter and Sigrid Ulrich. Architecture for Sport: New Concepts and International Projects for Sport and Leisure [Architektur für Sport.]. Chichester, West Sussex, England: Wiley-Academy, 2002. Varney, Martin. “Contex-Ture: The Active Edge and Asymmetrical Destabilisation.” Master of Architecture, Unitec Institute of Technology, 2010.
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Rahul Nebhani
Prospectus M.Arch Thesis Wentworth Institute of Technology Fall 2014 Cover Image: stadiumartmovement.blogspot.com