Sport and architecture are two elements of contemporary life that have a broad and profound impact on the world around us. The role architecture plays in shaping buildings and societies has occupied historians for centuries. Likewise, the cultural, economic, and political importance of sport is the subject of sustained academic inquiry. When sport and architecture converge, as in the 2012 London Olympics or the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, then the impact of these two forms of social activity is redoubled.
This book presents a new and dynamic study of the complex relationship between sport and architecture. It explores the history of sport architecture and examines the buildings and events that create sites where sport and architecture converge in particularly telling ways. Its chapters discuss the following topics:
- sport architecture and urban redevelopment
- sport architecture and technology
- sport architecture and nationalism
- sport architecture as social activism
- sport architecture and global capitalism.
By considering the importance of architectural form alongside these key themes, this book represents a landmark study for anybody interested in the social and cultural significance of architecture or sport.
1. Sport and Architecture: An Introduction
2. Stadia: Past and Present
3. Technology
4. Global Capitalism
5. Urban Redevelopment
6. Starchitects
7. Identity
8. Non-sporting Ends of Sport Architecture
9. Stadia Activism
10. Future Stadia: Exploding the Program
11. Conclusion
Bibliography
Biography
Benjamin S. Flowers is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. His work examines architecture as a form of social activity situated within the intersecting spheres of politics, culture, and economy. Looking in particular at skyscrapers and stadiums, he focuses on the ways these structures are constructed, the ends to which they are used, and the nature of public reactions to them. His research has attracted recognition and funding from Columbia University’s Buell Center for Architecture, Cornell University’s John Nolen Fellowship, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Hagley Museum and Library.
Flowers knows how to engage the reader with his refreshingly personal accounts, sharing insights into how, throughout his life, sport grounds have been important places of identity building.
Tobias Zuser, The Education University of Hong Kong
