| The death of the football ground 18:57 - Jan 31 with 5203 views | jasondozzell |
Anyone else repulsed by the designs of the prospective new United and Newcastle stadiums? They all look the same, horrible doughnut type enormodomes that seem to all copy Bayern's Allianz arena.
I'm not against modernity but they aren't football ground are they - they're giant entertainment venues.
Would be such a shame for for them to leave St James Park and Old Trafford
Spurs' stadium is impressive but the best things about it are where they've put football first. Outside looks like an airport.
So glad we have PR. True beauty in it! [Post edited 31 Jan 19:01]
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| The death of the football ground on 15:06 - Feb 1 with 541 views | Nutkins_Return |
| The death of the football ground on 19:34 - Jan 31 by _clive_baker_ |
More so than the design & style of the ground it’s the location of a lot of the ‘newer’ ones that offend me. I love the fact you roll off the train into Ipswich and see PR in all its glory over the bridge. 10 minutes walk into town too. Proper. Numerous away fans this season have said how cool it is, and it’s so much better than a lot of the out of town ‘practical’ stadia that are dumped out in cheaper real estate areas where parking is plentiful and access is easy by road. Fine, but it’s all a bit soulless. Colchester is a good example, Layer Road was a bit of a dive but and training at the Garrison isn’t ideal, but at least it was in the heart of the city. It’s great for the local economy too. The Weston homes community ikea flat pack eyesore sat on the A12 is an absolute abomination of a set up. |
Totally agree on location but I think some of the new stadia are fantastic and I think it's a bit of envy that comes in. I love Portman Road but if we had the opportunity to build a brand new state of the art stadium it would be fantastic. I would certainly settle for a really well done upgrade of our current ground though because I think it's really well positioned. |  |
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| The death of the football ground on 11:42 - Feb 8 with 461 views | urbanpenguin |
| The death of the football ground on 08:00 - Feb 1 by jasondozzell |
Thanks for that. I had only seen the 'mocked up' photos and perhaps I'm being unnecessarily cynical but I have very little faith that either party will avoid what has become the trend in modern stadia with US sports field style bowls.
Liverpool have done a good job because you can see that the new stent is still designed to fit in with the football ground and has nods to classic football architecture.
As someone who is close to it all through work, do you think any modern designs woek better than others?
I thought the inside of spurs ground was impressive but the outside just looks like a spaceship) airport to me. Everything looks like a shopping mall. |
"As someone who is close to it all through work, do you think any modern designs woek better than others?"
I remember back in the 90s when a teenager being excited to go see Ipswich away at Huddersfield in the then-named McAlpine Stadium. Designed by Populous (now the main stadia architects across the world) it completely failed for me - sure, it looked kind of iconic and interesting formally, but with those open corners in a hugely windy valley it not only suffered from a constant drive of cold air, that wind took all the atmosphere out of the ground. It's a good go-to as reminder that architecture and stadia are more than just a shape (or, now, an AI render or cheap newspaper assumption of form).
I also remember going to Bolton for the 2000 playoff semi - when I was mid-studying architecture - and detesting the ground. Sure, it was functional and sheltered, but for me the joy of going to a football game whether in Barnsley or Milan is to see the city and place as well as the match, and those out-of-town stadia where police ensure you don't linger at all away from the away section is, for me, the opposite of what culture is, of what cultural architecture should offer, and of adding any value to the place it purports to be for.
Populous do a lot of good too. They were behind the Ipswich North Stand which I think is an excellent solution to the site and has held up very well in my view. Populous were also behind the new Tottenham stadium. I have not been inside, but did speak to the lead architect not that long ago and the work they went to with regards to acoustics, seating arrangement for sightlines and atmosphere was immense and I think hadn't been done to that level previously. Materially, I have walked around the outside and I think it looks dull as dishwater, plug-on-panels of pre-fab cladding that could easily be a Westfield shopping centre or anything anywhere. There are, however, some nice touches, including retaining some (not all, they got rid of too many) listed buildings and incorporating them into the build, including one inside the club shop that is now OOF!, the only football-focused contemporary art gallery in the country (which also has a great magazine I have written in a few times)...
Effectively, stadiums haven't changed much in 2000 years. I was in Nimes recently and looked around the Roman amphitheatre, built soon after the Colosseum and to similar (scaled-down) designs. Squint your eyes and it could pretty much be a modern bowl stadium today - albeit with fewer gizmos, electrics, etc etc. I do understand that when new "multi purpose" stadiums are built they lose the specific qualities that make a place great for football, but economically and environmentally it isn't really sustainable to build a many-hundreds-of-millions-of-pounds building to only be used 20 times a season for a match - I understand why anybody investing in such a project would want it to be used as much as possible for as many things as possible. Though, yes, that is usually at the expense of the football fan in terms of matchday experience and cost of a seat. |  | | |
| The death of the football ground on 23:34 - Feb 8 with 396 views | jasondozzell |
| The death of the football ground on 11:42 - Feb 8 by urbanpenguin |
"As someone who is close to it all through work, do you think any modern designs woek better than others?"
I remember back in the 90s when a teenager being excited to go see Ipswich away at Huddersfield in the then-named McAlpine Stadium. Designed by Populous (now the main stadia architects across the world) it completely failed for me - sure, it looked kind of iconic and interesting formally, but with those open corners in a hugely windy valley it not only suffered from a constant drive of cold air, that wind took all the atmosphere out of the ground. It's a good go-to as reminder that architecture and stadia are more than just a shape (or, now, an AI render or cheap newspaper assumption of form).
I also remember going to Bolton for the 2000 playoff semi - when I was mid-studying architecture - and detesting the ground. Sure, it was functional and sheltered, but for me the joy of going to a football game whether in Barnsley or Milan is to see the city and place as well as the match, and those out-of-town stadia where police ensure you don't linger at all away from the away section is, for me, the opposite of what culture is, of what cultural architecture should offer, and of adding any value to the place it purports to be for.
Populous do a lot of good too. They were behind the Ipswich North Stand which I think is an excellent solution to the site and has held up very well in my view. Populous were also behind the new Tottenham stadium. I have not been inside, but did speak to the lead architect not that long ago and the work they went to with regards to acoustics, seating arrangement for sightlines and atmosphere was immense and I think hadn't been done to that level previously. Materially, I have walked around the outside and I think it looks dull as dishwater, plug-on-panels of pre-fab cladding that could easily be a Westfield shopping centre or anything anywhere. There are, however, some nice touches, including retaining some (not all, they got rid of too many) listed buildings and incorporating them into the build, including one inside the club shop that is now OOF!, the only football-focused contemporary art gallery in the country (which also has a great magazine I have written in a few times)...
Effectively, stadiums haven't changed much in 2000 years. I was in Nimes recently and looked around the Roman amphitheatre, built soon after the Colosseum and to similar (scaled-down) designs. Squint your eyes and it could pretty much be a modern bowl stadium today - albeit with fewer gizmos, electrics, etc etc. I do understand that when new "multi purpose" stadiums are built they lose the specific qualities that make a place great for football, but economically and environmentally it isn't really sustainable to build a many-hundreds-of-millions-of-pounds building to only be used 20 times a season for a match - I understand why anybody investing in such a project would want it to be used as much as possible for as many things as possible. Though, yes, that is usually at the expense of the football fan in terms of matchday experience and cost of a seat. |
Thanks for this! Really interesting reading.
I completely agree that stadia within the town or city that allow fans to see the place and sample local culture and sights are what makes football grounds special.
With you on Spurs as well. I thought the inside was very well done, they've managed to make a gigantic stadium feel intimate and the steep one tier stand is an impressive sight. But your spot on about the outside - just the usual steel and glass Westfield type construction that dominates so much of London nowadays. Nothing special about it.
Multi purpose point also well observed. I hadn't really thought of that but with the way the game is going, the money at the top, and the American sports model influence, it probably means as you say the end of the football only ground.
PR is a beautiful reminder of a different style in football architecture. Will always prefer that over anything new.
I'm going to have to pay OOF a visit! | | | |
| The death of the football ground on 11:12 - Feb 9 with 280 views | Hipsterectomy |
The money people at football clubs want open concourses for a number of reasons: more opportunities to sell food and drink, faster service to sell things quicker, pop up shops and other merch stalls, fans wanting to mix before the game and at half time with mates in different stands, it increases revenue for non-segregated events such as music concerts, better and spacious hospitality, I assume it’s better for fire safety and evacuation as well.
Sadly that means those circular/oval bowls are the only option.
I went to Spurs vs Wolves and it does really work though. You can get a pint in under a minute where I was. There were queues for merch stalls as the main shop was too slow getting in. It must make a mint on matchdays, particularly as they keep kiosks open for fans to meet after the game and grab more beers. |  |
| Walter Smith's Barmy Army |
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| The death of the football ground on 11:52 - Feb 9 with 258 views | OldFart71 |
| The death of the football ground on 19:34 - Jan 31 by _clive_baker_ |
More so than the design & style of the ground it’s the location of a lot of the ‘newer’ ones that offend me. I love the fact you roll off the train into Ipswich and see PR in all its glory over the bridge. 10 minutes walk into town too. Proper. Numerous away fans this season have said how cool it is, and it’s so much better than a lot of the out of town ‘practical’ stadia that are dumped out in cheaper real estate areas where parking is plentiful and access is easy by road. Fine, but it’s all a bit soulless. Colchester is a good example, Layer Road was a bit of a dive but and training at the Garrison isn’t ideal, but at least it was in the heart of the city. It’s great for the local economy too. The Weston homes community ikea flat pack eyesore sat on the A12 is an absolute abomination of a set up. |
PR now looks great from many angles. Far better than that sh*thole called Carrot Road. | | | |
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