I agree with incorporating the classicist elements in the design. How awesome would faux granite (or real granite pillars) echoing the Supreme Court or Capitol building be as the facade for the main entrance to the grounds? Call me retarded (before I beat you to it), but I like stadiums that look like something. Chicago's stadium is an excellent example of it and for DC to have a similarly cool stadium, why shouldn't the stadium look like the love child of an orgy involving the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials? And although I hate the school with the passion, you have to admire the stadium and its awesome use of columns at -choke- YooVeeYay.
Well, Gehry's designs are eye-opening. As long as he includes the inside features we want...let him make the outside look artistic. Just not artistic in a Maplethorpe kind of way. I don't want our home field to be nicknamed the Dick
I think that this is a terrific post and I could not agree more with everything Jaradvary has written. I hope that D.C. United's proposed stadium will be a bold statement. Perhaps, it really should be an extreme statement like the Bayern Munich mothership. Certainly, it should have a futurist design along the lines of the best Euro stadia that are going up. Another thing I've noticed about the Euro soccer stadiums is that they sometimes incorporate team colors right into the building materials itself. I have to believe that the colors are in the structural materials -- it's hard to believe that they'd create unnecessary maintenance problems by using paint. Since every American stadium that I'm aware of is the natural color of the building materials used, the selective use of color (black, red and white!) in the structural materials could be another way of making a D.C. United SSS distinctive.
Here are links to three mid-sized stadiums (30,000 seating capacity each, I believe) that have a nice design and an open end. The first two have "horseshoe" shapes and the third has separate grandstands: A horseshoe design (actually, it could be a bowl shape because you can't see the seating from the near end plaza - but no dobut it could be configured as a horseshoe design) from El Salvador and it's my favorite, although the seating could be snugger around the pitch and, perhaps, be more vertical. Note how the plan has a jumbotron set up in the open endspace: http://www.stadiumguide.com/arenamultiuso.htm Another horseshoe design, this time from the North of Portugal -- the problem here is that the seating is not as snug up against the pitch as I would like. Also, the exterior shell design is not all that distinctive: http://www.stadiumguide.com/coimbra.htm This is from the South of Portugal. The Clamshell-like roofs are interesting. http://www.stadiumguide.com/algarve.htm
I've really been enjoying the stadium discussion. stadionwelt.de is a great resource with loads of photos and news regarding stadium development. I was looking around and found what I think would be an ideal stadium for DC United. Not so much for its architectural style, but for its elements. MSV Arena in Duisburg, Germany. 31,000 Seats Total 800 "Business Seats" (box seats maybe?) 30 Luxury Boxes (up to 300 seats) 31,000 is really too big for the team currently and wouldn't provide that scarcity of seats that would be beneficial. However, this would make it an ideal venue for National Team matches, which could bring in lots of money for AEG. Of course, with the design modified to allow a permanent stage at one end, the capacity would probably be just right.
Yeah, I've been having a little too much fun with this whole stadium aesthetics discussion. I agree with you that this is a superb venue that would make a great model for the DC stadium. I see no reason why capacity would be a problem to design down by 5000 however, as the design seems amenable to that. In fact, if you just remove a portion of one end, insert a stage you probably chop off about 5-7000 seats right there. My favorite element is how they up-light the roof at night, as in this photo: I can imagine a very nice red glow to the underside of the roof of a future DC United stadium. Disclaimer: The above discussion is hypothetical. In no way should the above discussion be considered as constituting a "demand" or "necessity" for a stadium that has not yet been funded, designed, nor approved. The views of the above discussion are those of an individual representing a sole person's point of view, and not those of a group of individuals or "group." Therefore, any attempt by powers or unpowers that be to interpret the above discussion as representative of an opinion of more than one is highly discouraged.
Kind of: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/official_rules/objectives_1.jsp Official Rules: 1.00 Objectives of the Game ... 1.04 THE PLAYING FIELD. ... It is desirable that the line from home base through the pitchers plate to second base shall run East Northeast. In this picture, the line is running southeast, so this picture isn't correct. It would have to be rotated about 60 degrees counter-clockwise. True, the rules say that "it is desirable" rather than mandatory, but that is probably for the purposes of grandfathering in stadia that were built before that rule was passed.
MSV Arena really does look terrific -- it works for me! But, I am also becoming totally enamored of just about all the Italian designs on the future stadia section of the Stadium Guide. Although it's more conventional, I really just love the lines of this 28,000 capacity stadium: http://www.stadiumguide.com/nuovocomunale.htm I guess that it might be useful to know a bit more about what DCU intends to accomplish with its redevelopment plan -- the new SSS would have to blend in with the other structures and surrounding open space, I suppose.
That is a very nice stadium there tallguy. However, for my tastes, I would be disappointed with an oval stadium...any case where the stands do not meet up closely to the field would be a missed opportunity, in my opinion. Even though RFK is great, the stadia that I've been to games where the fans are really close to the field stand above the rest. Cheers, Tim Disclaimer: The above discussion is hypothetical. In no way should the above discussion be considered as constituting a "demand" or "necessity" for a stadium that has not yet been funded, designed, nor approved. The views of the above discussion are those of an individual representing a sole person's point of view, and not those of a group of individuals or "group." Therefore, any attempt by powers or unpowers that be to interpret the above discussion as representative of an opinion of more than one is highly discouraged.
Agreed- The stadium designers should do everything in their power to minimize the distance between the front row of seats and the boundaries of the playing surface. Disclaimer: The above discussion is hypothetical. In no way should the above discussion be considered as constituting a "demand" or "necessity" for a stadium that has not yet been funded, designed, nor approved. The views of the above discussion are those of an individual representing a sole person's point of view, and not those of a group of individuals or "group." Therefore, any attempt by powers or unpowers that be to interpret the above discussion as representative of an opinion of more than one is highly discouraged.
I like this one if we expand the capacity. Elementary enough to be affordable, roofed, elegantly plain http://www.stadiumguide.com/borasarena.htm
Agreed. I said earlier in the thread that the tight wrap around the field and the near vertical slant of the seats was why I like the interior design of the future St. Pauli stadium. (Of course, it looks like the future St. Pauli will be all benchs and standing room inside, so that wouldn't do for our purpose.) Isn't that Italian job I linked to just like the national stereotype? (Beware -- This is a politically incorrect moment). Great design, but crummy functionality and practicality. The German modernist soccer stadiums, on the other hand, seem to combine great design with great functionality and practicality. And, the German modernist stuff all seems to be sort of hyper-masculine. Whether it's the Bayern Munich mothership, the MSV arena or St. Pauli, it's like they're all stadiums on steroids or something. By the way, the modern Brit stadiums don't do much for me. It seems like the new Premiership stadiums are kind like typical new NFL stadiums. Very nice looking, of course, but not really much of a conversation piece. And, while the old Brit stuff like Reading is very cool, I don't think that it's our tradition -- maybe, we just shouldn't try to harken back to it.
Nice. I could see this nestled next to a nice restaurant/retail district with kind of a warehouse/loft feel.
Well, I agree that the model/concept looks elegant, simple, and affordable and effective for our purposes. It has a timeless look about it too without looking cheesy retro. My only issues are the light stands (of the four shadow-inducing variety) and the implication that the entire building would be brick, though that's a supposition. It is my understanding that if we had nearly an entire stadium with a brick exterior that we'd be way over budget for the $30 million. Hence, we could need to consider more cost-effective materials. Otherwise, that is a good design that I would be just thrilled to have from the looks of these drawings. Cheers, Tim Disclaimer: See disclaimer in Lowecifer's post above...I can't format like Lowecifer, his looks more official.
I can't remember the source, but I have the $30 million stuck in there from somewhere...the Post maybe? Perhaps that is Anschutz' share or the city share, I can't recall. Tim
Well, I know you have to take it with a grain of salt, but Zack has promised in the past that the stadium would have a roof, which if I recall correctly, was about $8 million for the Galaxy. Hopefully they're willing to put more than $22 million into the stadium itself, or we're going to get screwed like FC Dallas fans. Of course, after today's events, I will be very happy to hear that a stadium is being built in DC.
Well, hopefully we've shown on this thread that DCU can come up with an distinctive and clever look for the SSS without having to spend a lot of dough. It would really be a shame if D.C. fans, not to mention the residents of the District, Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs, don't wind up with a stadium that is at some level worthy of the glorious tradition of our team.
The current Comiskey Park (as opposed to the old one it replaced) has home plate in the northwest corner, with that line running SE. It was built in the early 1990s. I dunno when that rule was written. Here's some other discussion of this: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_379.html
The disclaimer stuff is cracking me up. But I must spread some reputation around before giving it to TEConnor again.
Thamlin, I presume by "today's events" (from yesterday) that you meant the news that Hunt was sweeping the Wiz out of the bed of his truck in a location to be named later? Or is there actually some news or an event related directly to DC United and a district stadium that I am unaware of now? Do tell, because as it stands I certainly don't know what you mean through your post. Tim
Hard to say. In this aerial the old and new Comiskeys are next to each other. The line in the old park runs northeast. Maybe they changed it so that opposing players could see fans rushing the field better.