A sports stadium is essentially a huge theater for the presentation of heroic feats. The combination of dramatic function and monumental scale can result in powerful civic architecture. Stadia are one of the great historic building types, representing some of the very earliest works of architecture (Greek stadia), some of the most pivotal (Roman amphitheaters and thermae), and some of the most beautiful (from the Colosseum in Rome to the Olympic Park in Munich).
Unfortunately, few stadia have become functional civic monuments in our culture, but rather cold, uncomfortable places, often sitting empty and unused, in sharp contrast with the brief periods of extreme congestion on game days. The best stadia provide a comfortable and safe place for entertainment, but even these stadia often fall short of becoming integral and functional members of their community.
There are three significant parts to this thesis: (1) what the stadium as a focus for sports signifies to a city or region, (2) the importance of sports as a representation or image of a city and within a city, and (3) how stadium sites can be invigorated to create an active place within the urban landscape. These three parts can be broken down more simply as stating that the sports stadium should be a signifier of civic pride, civic identity, and civic functionality.
Stadia by nature exhibit aspects of civic pride and civic identity simply through society’s seeming obsession with sports, yet many fall short of becoming functional pieces of the urban fabric. In order to create a truly urban sports facility, it is imperative that stadia not only create a symbol of civic pride and civic identity, but also become a functional component of the urban fabric through the development of ancillary programs.