Abstract

This thesis will focus on the importance of culture through team sports resulting in a shared society in Warsaw, Poland. The architectural outcome is a multi-purpose stadium with baseball being the primary sport used for the program. Baseball is considered an American past time but potentially has roots in Polish culture through the well-known game “Palant”. Baseball is played in Poland, yet is quite niche and underdeveloped. This situation creates an opportunity for the thesis to explore what the Polish baseball culture might be like in the future while simultaneously raising awareness on the culture of the game. The idea of the future stadium will also be challenged since in recent history many stadiums only have had a life span of approximately 35 years, making them wasteful both ecologically and economically. This was not always the case, as stadiums used to have usable lifespans lasting many generations, a prime example being the Coliseum in Rome, but newer stadiums have a shorter life span and are overwhelmingly underutilized day in and day out. It is therefore imperative that future stadiums are sustainable, socially integrative, non-stagnant, and adaptable. Implementing new building technologies such as advances in timber framing offer a unique path for sustainability and adaptive reuse while plausibly being a cheaper alternative building method. Parametric design tools within Grasshopper, (a plugin for Rhinoceros 3d) are implemented heavily into the final product of the thesis’ design and are focused on in detail within the thesis. Its unique capabilities to optimize environmental results like maximum solar radiation absorption for solar panels help define creative rules for the design outcome. A stadium is a place for social interaction, whether it is from the fans to the players or from the players to the game itself. The human psyche has an inherent need to play during all stages of its life making it ever the more important to create a sufficient space for creative freedom of sports play for all levels.

Keywords: Baseball, stadium, timber construction, parametric design, solar optimization, computational design, social integration