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Re: Playing home games at Whitten Oval
This a fantastic post with alot of thought put into it. Imagine a DFO type scenario at the Whitten Oval, that would attract large numbers.
I'll just keep talking to myself and anyone else who is interested in the trend of stadia throughout the world now. Recent design literature has discussed the various phases of stadium design over the last 150 years, and I'll just touch on them briefly here:
1. The 'classic' park/ballpark/oval. Suburban VFL grounds still follow this model, which was pretty much how all sports were watched 100-150 years ago.
2. The 'super-stadium' era, when the big cathedral stadia of the world (like the MCG) was built, which coincided with the relocation of the middle-class of urban centres into the suburbs. With the proliferation of cars and large roads and highways being built, it no longer made sense to nestle small sporting fields in urban areas, but to create an iconic singular location for the masses to drive to. This was the dominant model for many years and created the template for 'stadium' in the layperson's mind -- symmetrical design etc. These were built with public money as governments saw them as national monuments.
3. The 'boutique' stadium era, where instead of having centralised huge stadia holding 80-120,000 people, smaller, specialised grounds that held 20-25,000 people became the vogue. This trend accelerated as teams became privatised entities and wanted their own arenas and profit streams. These were generally built with a mix of public and private funding.
4. The 'regenerated classic' model -- this is the era we are in now. The trend of creating single-use arenas has been acknowledged as a largely unsustainable, especially where a lot of 'boutique' stadia have either been unprofitable or become white elephants. There is a recognition (as I said in my previous post) that urban, suburban or peri-urban land is becoming far too expensive for single-use, largely vacant sporting facilities, and from a design perspective, many of these high-tech so-called boutique stadiums have proven to be cold, soulless entities. As such, there is a very large movement, mainly in the US and UK but also in Asia and Europe, to reclaim the old 'classic' parks and sporting grounds (such as the Whitten Oval) and regenerating them with private money (ie. corporate investment), by converting these old grounds into vibrant commercial hubs with shops, cinemas, museums, galleries etc.
(Seating design also does not have to be symmetrical -- seating can only be to one side of the playing area, which can even be sunken somewhat to create room for super-structures over it. Asymmetry will be the biggest change to spectator's expectations of seating areas, but the playing area will remain an oval.)
The business model is transformative -- we've all mentioned needing to rely on the government to give us money to build stadiums (ie. the $30m upgrade to our training facilities etc.), but the 'regenerated classic' model relies on the corporate dollar and a sustainable profit model. For example (and this is just shooting the breeze), let's say we get Westfield to become the main developer for the W.O site. They would design a 'Shoppingtown' of sorts, with a major tenant like Aldi or Myer, cinemas etc., with multi-level carparking, and simple multi-tiered seating for maybe 15-20,000 that overlooks the oval, as well as incorporating corporate booths. I've been to WO quite a few times the last year, and I can just see it in my head -- I know a lot of posters have mentioned how small the area is, but that's by traditional standards.. there are a lot of cities in the world that make do with far smaller areas, and it really just requires an innovative design solution.
The end result could be both a great boost for the club, but also a really cool user experience for every different customer group that uses the facility -- the entire project will be self-sustaining as it would be a profitable commercial centre, you can have viewing areas from various vantage points to watch training during the week, seats can be accessed from a higher floor from inside the shopping centre (like entering a cinema), tickets and stadium food no longer have to be prohibitively expensive as the majority of the profit comes from the other businesses on the premises, and so increases patronage to games (and encourages people to 'drop-by' to watch a game while doing their Saturday shopping etc.). The corporate box experience also becomes multi-dimensional as you're not just limited to a sporting experience but can also incorporate other activities in the commercial hub.
A key to the venue would be designing the human traffic flows to ensure that the different user groups aren't getting in each other's way, but plenty of other building typologies deal with this problem (I've worked on various courts and tribunal buildings, for example, and there you design traffic flows so people like the judge, jury, public, accused etc. all travel around the building without running into each other).
Pie in the sky stuff I suppose, but plenty of cities around the world are doing it.
1. The 'classic' park/ballpark/oval. Suburban VFL grounds still follow this model, which was pretty much how all sports were watched 100-150 years ago.
2. The 'super-stadium' era, when the big cathedral stadia of the world (like the MCG) was built, which coincided with the relocation of the middle-class of urban centres into the suburbs. With the proliferation of cars and large roads and highways being built, it no longer made sense to nestle small sporting fields in urban areas, but to create an iconic singular location for the masses to drive to. This was the dominant model for many years and created the template for 'stadium' in the layperson's mind -- symmetrical design etc. These were built with public money as governments saw them as national monuments.
3. The 'boutique' stadium era, where instead of having centralised huge stadia holding 80-120,000 people, smaller, specialised grounds that held 20-25,000 people became the vogue. This trend accelerated as teams became privatised entities and wanted their own arenas and profit streams. These were generally built with a mix of public and private funding.
4. The 'regenerated classic' model -- this is the era we are in now. The trend of creating single-use arenas has been acknowledged as a largely unsustainable, especially where a lot of 'boutique' stadia have either been unprofitable or become white elephants. There is a recognition (as I said in my previous post) that urban, suburban or peri-urban land is becoming far too expensive for single-use, largely vacant sporting facilities, and from a design perspective, many of these high-tech so-called boutique stadiums have proven to be cold, soulless entities. As such, there is a very large movement, mainly in the US and UK but also in Asia and Europe, to reclaim the old 'classic' parks and sporting grounds (such as the Whitten Oval) and regenerating them with private money (ie. corporate investment), by converting these old grounds into vibrant commercial hubs with shops, cinemas, museums, galleries etc.
(Seating design also does not have to be symmetrical -- seating can only be to one side of the playing area, which can even be sunken somewhat to create room for super-structures over it. Asymmetry will be the biggest change to spectator's expectations of seating areas, but the playing area will remain an oval.)
The business model is transformative -- we've all mentioned needing to rely on the government to give us money to build stadiums (ie. the $30m upgrade to our training facilities etc.), but the 'regenerated classic' model relies on the corporate dollar and a sustainable profit model. For example (and this is just shooting the breeze), let's say we get Westfield to become the main developer for the W.O site. They would design a 'Shoppingtown' of sorts, with a major tenant like Aldi or Myer, cinemas etc., with multi-level carparking, and simple multi-tiered seating for maybe 15-20,000 that overlooks the oval, as well as incorporating corporate booths. I've been to WO quite a few times the last year, and I can just see it in my head -- I know a lot of posters have mentioned how small the area is, but that's by traditional standards.. there are a lot of cities in the world that make do with far smaller areas, and it really just requires an innovative design solution.
The end result could be both a great boost for the club, but also a really cool user experience for every different customer group that uses the facility -- the entire project will be self-sustaining as it would be a profitable commercial centre, you can have viewing areas from various vantage points to watch training during the week, seats can be accessed from a higher floor from inside the shopping centre (like entering a cinema), tickets and stadium food no longer have to be prohibitively expensive as the majority of the profit comes from the other businesses on the premises, and so increases patronage to games (and encourages people to 'drop-by' to watch a game while doing their Saturday shopping etc.). The corporate box experience also becomes multi-dimensional as you're not just limited to a sporting experience but can also incorporate other activities in the commercial hub.
A key to the venue would be designing the human traffic flows to ensure that the different user groups aren't getting in each other's way, but plenty of other building typologies deal with this problem (I've worked on various courts and tribunal buildings, for example, and there you design traffic flows so people like the judge, jury, public, accused etc. all travel around the building without running into each other).
Pie in the sky stuff I suppose, but plenty of cities around the world are doing it.
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