As both a sports infrastructure architect and an athlete, I believe stadiums must transcend their traditional event-only function. The issue of underutilized "white elephant" stadiums is a missed opportunity for community and economic value. Instead, stadiums should be designed as "unicorns"—multi-functional spaces that remain active year-round, integrating community uses like markets, services, and social spaces.
In my thesis design of an integrated sports hub, I employed similar strategies and concepts, focusing on creating flexible, community-centric venues. By prioritizing adaptability and local integration, these spaces can deliver long-term social and financial benefits, justifying their higher initial costs. My goal is to design stadiums that are vibrant, inclusive, and valuable to their communities every day of the year.
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The stadium is perhaps the most likely type of civic infrastructure to attract public scrutiny. Home to a vast range of experiences, the typology hosts the highs of public life – providing the stage for performances and grounds for sporting matches. Events are formative in every city’s public psyche, so their setting – the stadium – must meet the highest of standards.
But what happens when the event is over? Across the world, stadiums are only used for events approximately 10 to 20 percent of the year and are left to languish the other 80 to 90 percent. Expensive and deeply antisocial, these buildings are a lost opportunity for social and financial contribution to their communities, owners and operators. Stadiums should, and can, be useful every day of the week.
Knowing this, how can we design stadiums to be better neighbours? Featured on Australian Design Review, Senior Associate Matt Reynolds' latest Insight explores this question. Read the article here: https://bit.ly/3WdHXd2
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