PANSTADIA & ARENA MANAGEMENT WINTER 2013/14


NORTH AMERICA SUPPLEMENT


THE REDISCOVERY OF A LOST ART


Where does architecture end and art begin? Alex Thomas and Paul Hyett of HKS Sports and Entertainment Group investigate.


F


igures and decorative scenes were regularly incorporated into the


external façades and interiors of the buildings of classical Greece and Rome and the narratives depicted by such work are deeply informative of the culture and history of those times. Ancient stadiums were amongst the myriad of building types to receive such embellishment – the Altis of Olympia, where the fi rst Olympics were held some 2,700 years ago, and the Colosseum of Rome being just two amongst many examples. Sadly, with the fall of Rome, the stadium as a building typology also fell into general decline.


Of course, from the ancient monasteries through the medieval churches and on to today, ‘Western’ buildings of worship have always incorporated art as an essential part of their architecture. Latterly (until ‘modernism’ intervened) other public buildings such as theatres, town halls, libraries, and the great commercial edifi ces such as banks, have also routinely utilised art as decoration both for their façades and their lavish interiors.


But not sports buildings – indeed, as a genre they had, until recently, all but disappeared – and with them their art. When at last stadium building did begin to re-emerge as a typology in the latter part of the 19th century the architecture comprised of little more than simple ‘sheds’. One might include some ‘comfortable’ accommodation for club-owners, directors and their families, friends with occasional invited dignitaries and business colleagues; but otherwise the facilities comprised no more than a few large sheds, pad-locked and empty when not in use.


An era of sheds


Indeed, for the fi rst half of the 20th century, stadium development was almost universally a process of incremental ‘shed-building’. First a shed on the Director’s side of the lateral; then a second on the other lateral followed, perhaps, by the addition of smaller sheds behind the goals. And that remains the stereo-typical diagram of most of today’s club facilities across


24


Europe, America and throughout the world. The larger and more successful clubs have usually also ‘in-fi lled’ the corner quadrants with additional seating (as recently at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United), but the architectural character has essentially been generated through the incremental evolution of a series of individually designed components.


Even more recently, as the latter half of the 20th century saw an increasing number of new stadiums delivered as holistically conceived architectural ensembles, these buildings have generally remained – as those early sheds – out of commission on all but event days: very much ‘private’ as opposed to public places. Yes, perhaps the odd letting of seminar rooms, an occasional wedding or mini-conference, but otherwise well and truly locked up.


And this is the point: any sense of these


buildings as ‘civic’ – as a shared part of the public realm – has, since Roman times, mostly remained all but lost. Manchester United on a Monday morning: pretty well all pad-locked. Nottingham Forest on a Thursday afternoon: similar story – monuments to exclusion.


Shining exceptions to this status quo are the newly re-organised Leyton Orient facility, with its rich and diverse programme of community facilities and activity, and its ‘corner’ developments of apartments with their balconies enjoying views across the hallowed pitch.


And perhaps Real Madrid with its club museum and public restaurants that offer luncheons and suppers with the pitch as an agreeable back-drop.


But all that has now changed in Texas! Dallas Cowboys, through its enlightened management and incredible programme of art sponsorship, has been unique in


Franz Ackermann – Coming Home & (Meet Me) At the Waterfall (2009).


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53